Schenectady Christian School
ACSI Region: Northeast
Academic Enhancement
Program Objectives : (1) to give students a historical and ethical overview of pro-life issues and (2) to motivate students toward constructive and responsible civic action
Summary of Program
At Schenectady Christian School, we have created a program called the Ethics of Life and Death. This collaborative, interdisciplinary program integrates various pro-life issues into portions of our Advanced Placement Government, High School Public Speaking, and Ethics courses. In the program we endeavor to help students understand the historical roots, ethical implications, and cultural responses to various life issues, including abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, and embryonic stem-cell cloning. In AP Government, students study and analyze a variety of Supreme Court cases dealing with life issues, especially focusing on Roe v. Wade. The students trace and discuss the history of abortion in government and its precedent-setting implications for other life issues. In addition, students analyze the political philosophy of Supreme Court justices on matters of life and death and the bearing of the justices’ beliefs on past and present court decisions.
In the Ethics course, students learn to differentiate between the central moral concerns that life issues raise and the peripheral concerns often associated with them. The students not only study the scientific, philosophical, and biblical evidence in support of life but also learn to tactfully, respectfully, and persuasively make an ethical pro-life case from the evidence. Each year, as part of this program, we work in coordination with the New York State Right to Life Committee, which trains our students to lobby their state representatives on pending life-related legislation; we then take the students to Albany to lobby their representatives on these issues.
As part of speech class, some of our students participate in an oratory contest for juniors and seniors that is sponsored by the Capital Region Pro-Life Council. For this contest, we help students use their training to write and present an original pro-life speech. Each year our students place in the competition. Two of our students have won first place, and one has gone on to compete at the state level.
In addition to the academic offerings, we provide other opportunities for students to get involved in pro-life issues as volunteers through our Students for Life organization. As part of Students for Life, a number of our teens provide babysitting services for the Alpha Pregnancy Care Center so that unwed moms can attend Bible studies and parenting classes. Moreover, these students conducted a schoolwide baby shower that brought in hundreds of dollars’ worth of baby items that they donated to the pregnancy center. The students also participated in a local walk for life to raise money for the same purpose.
As part of this program, we participate in two annual banquets, one in October sponsored by Schenectady County Right to Life Committee and one in March sponsored by the Alpha Pregnancy Care different aspects of the pro-life issues that we address. At the first banquet, the speaker, usually a nationally known expert on some aspect of the pro-life cause, gives a talk on the ethical, legal, and social aspects of a pro-life issue. For the past two years, we’ve invited the speaker to address the student body on the same issue in a special high school assembly. These speeches help orient students regarding broader cultural concerns and frequently motivates them to get involved.
The second banquet, sponsored by the Alpha Pregnancy Care Center, exposes the students to young people their age who find themselves in the throes of an unwanted pregnancy. This speech helps students see beyond the broader concerns to the personal side of the pro-life issues. We want our students to feel passionately about these issues, but we also want them compassionately with those who face the challenges that arise in a culture that simply wants these issues to go away.
We attempt to provide a well-rounded opportunity for students to engage in these issues at various levels. We encourage them to avoid just sitting on the sidelines and criticizing; instead, we want them to take an active and constructive role toward solving a particularly heinous cultural problem.
The Ethics of Life and Death 10 ESP