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ON COURSE

by Scott Aubrey

The nine students seated about theconference table in the basement

of Cochran Chapel had been pre-sented with what could have been anunenviable task: build a better soci-ety. Using the philosophy of the lateJohn Rawls as springboard, the “law-makers” discussed essential governingprinciples—some easily conceded,some ever slightly more divisive. Thestudents agreed theirs would be a tol-erant secular state in which universalhealth care and Social Securitywould be guaranteed. But what ofpublicly funded day care? Or required military service? InTom Hodgson’s Global Justice class, general agreement was nottoo difficult to reach: the students, like-minded in theirviews, laced their conversation with laughter and smiles.

The U.S. Congress, it was not.But then Hodgson raised the stakes. Instead of representing

a single community or country, the students would be asked toapply the same questions on a global level. Consensus surelywould be more difficult to find in a world of diverse nations thana classroom of consonant teenagers.

Such is one principle driving a central question of this phi-losophy course: “What does the search to understand and pro-mote justice entail in our increasingly interconnected world?”

Hodgson, chair of the Department of Philosophy & Reli-gious Studies, says thinking about the economic, environmental,and political dimensions of justice on a global scale is nothing new,but the concept has gained momentum in the last 10–15 years.Contributing factors to the increase in discourse reach back further:two world wars, battles (ideological and military) between Com-munist and capitalist states, and growth of a global marketplace.

“Technology has made the world smaller,” he adds. “It hasalso made us more productive, more dangerous, and more knowl-edgeable about the broad and deep consequences of our individ-ual and collective actions.”

Hodgson developed Global Justice, now in its fourth year, as areaction to growing humanitarian concern about worldwide issuesof genocide, poverty, the ecosystem, and the use of military strengthto spread electoral democracy and capitalism. “I felt I had a re-sponsibility to help myself and my students better understand ourplace in the interconnected world we share,” the longtime Andoverinstructor says. “I was excited to see a reference to something likeglobal citizenship in the Academy’s Strategic Plan, and I wantedstudents to help me think through just what that might entail.”

Simone Hill, a senior from Atlanta, says she opted for the fallterm course as a means of gaining a more eyes-wide-open perspec-tive on global living. “Global Justice has prompted me to thinkabout what my own contribution to the world should be—and takeinto consideration how my everyday actions can impact the worldas a whole,” she says. “The course has definitely heightened myglobal awareness, encouraging me to think about current issues andcontroversies I had never really had any interest in before.”

Fellow senior Lydia Dallett came to Global Justice already in-terested in countries’ economic and political interactions. But afew weeks into fall term, the novice philosopher admitted somefrustration with what she describes as the hypothetical nature ofthe class material. “Global leaders are not going to get together todiscuss the moral rights and wrongs of their individual or collectiveactions,” says the Andover day student. “Those who have gottentogether have produced documents, like the Universal Declara-tion of Human Rights, that set out wonderful notions of harmonythat governments can choose to ignore. If recognizing and follow-ing the declaration was a prerequisite for engaging in the UnitedNations or aspects of global trade, countries might be more inclinedto improve human rights.”

Hodgson surely appreciates such desire for forward action.Despite assignments hinged upon building societies, global changecannot be fully realized in an Andover classroom—but seeds forthe future can be planted.

“We know our students will be influential,” says Hodgson,“but for them to be the best kind of leaders, they will need to un-derstand a wide range of relevant facts, be familiar with a useful setof normative concepts, and continue to follow the effects of dif-ferent policy initiatives on the lives of others and on the overallhealth of the planet.”

This is part of a continuing series of Bulletin articles spotlighting coursescurrently offered at Phillips Academy.

Preparing Tomorrow’s Leaders to Work toward Global Justice