Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/844299
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 2 JULY 2017 9 News in things like science, humanity, or secular ideologies. Ethics for pre-teens and teens The ethics programme in Form 1 focuses on the modern idea of rights, including that they are never absolute and that they always come attached with duties and responsibili- ties, and about whether some rights should also be extended to animals. It is in this year that students are instructed to start keeping a weekly Ethics Journal, in which they record the ethics sessions of the week. Discussion be- comes more so- phisticated in Form 2, where students discuss the limitations on human free- dom and whether they should be morally obliged to obey harmful commands from authoritative figures. In Form 3, discussion for the 12-13 years old ethics students revolves around respect for self and others – with tricky discussion topics such as integrating into foreign cul- tures, pornography and child pornography, cyber-bullying, censorship, addictions and self-harm, with a brief discussion on sui- cide. They are also in- troduced to moral dilemmas – such as whether they would choose to save a friend or three com- plete strangers from a burning house. Love and sex are the key focal points of discussion in Form 4, with stu- dents instructed in topics such as the difference between love and sexual at- traction, responsible sex, sexual consent, and the sexual abuse of minors. The most controversial topic in the course is saved for last, with Form 5 ethics students engaging in discussion about life and death issues – such as war, torture, ter- rorism, capital punishment, euthanasia, su- icide, contraception and abortion, with the teacher obliged to keep an open discussion and not advocating any particular stance. Abortion, so far a taboo in Maltese politi- cal discourse, is the final topic for discus- sion and is specifically discussed separately from contraception so as to encourage stu- dents not to conflate the issues. Students are asked to discuss deep ques- tions such as whether the unborn have an absolute right to life, whether mothers should be allowed abortions in life-threat- ening situations or in cases when the life in her womb suffers from a condition of very serious disability. tdiacono@mediatoday.com.mt Students are asked to discuss deep questions such as whether the unborn have an absolute right to life, whether mothers should be allowed abortion in life-threatening situations or in cases when the life in her womb suffers from a condition of very serious disability