What privacy issues result from using genetic genealogy in crime investigation? What ethical challenges involving free speech are related to regulating social media platforms? How have minimum sentencing laws contributed to mass incarceration? These questions were just some of the complex issues 14 Rye Country Day School (NY) upper school students unpacked during the school’s fourth annual RCDS Ethics Retreat.
Rye Country Day School (RCDS) has always been deeply committed to character, leadership, and ethics, and the Ethics Retreat was developed in 2015 as a collaborative way to realize this commitment. An interdisciplinary faculty group develops and leads the four-day, on-campus retreat, which is open to rising 10th, 11th, and 12th graders. The retreat format enables students to be fully immersed in generative discussions about complex subjects in a setting that promotes a vigorous exchange of ideas, builds awareness of different perspectives, and strengthens community.
In June 2019, students explored case studies and ethical issues related to the creation, enforcement, and evolution of the law. After reading and analyzing the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, students attempted to rewrite the bill to make it “more ethical.” They also discussed incarceration and sentencing laws; watched sections of Ava DuVernay’s documentary 13th, an in-depth look at the U.S. prison system; and spoke with law enforcement and parole officers, an immigration lawyer, and a leader in restorative justice, education, and workforce development programs.
Drawing on the experience, students drafted a proposal to the upper school administration that advocated for the creation of Coalition of Differences, a monthly after-school meeting to promote diversity of thought within the school community through student-initiated and faculty-monitored “Brave Spaces,” which encourage open discussions in a small-group format.
2019 RCDS Ethics Project student and faculty participants/Photo courtesy of Rye Country Day School
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