http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wium/local-wium-959007.mp3
Keokuk, IA – On paper, they are as different as can be.
Alfred, 45, is a doctor who is working on a cure for cancer.
Bill, 27, is an auto mechanic with a second child on the way.
Cora, 30, is a mother of five.
David, 19, is engaged and attending college.
Edna, 34, is a business executive who volunteers her time.
They do have one thing in common. They all need a heart transplant to live.
The futures of these men and women were placed in the hands of about 120 high school students from Midwest Academy and Keokuk, Warsaw and Harmony High Schools.
David Wendt is the Director of Student Services at Keokuk High. He has led the Keokuk Area Chamber of Commerce's Ethical Decision-Making in the Workplace and Society Symposium for the last five years.
"You have the kids who look at this as a game," says Wendt, "and you have the kids who are emotion and really get tied into this. We talk about values and values acquisition and moral values and ethical decision-making."
The students were divided into groups and provided only biographical and psychological profiles to make their selection.
Wendt says the heart transplant scenario is specifically designed to show the students how their life experiences and personal values factor into each decision they make.
"It is interesting to hear some of the discussions because (they can) get pretty heated when it gets down to the final two," says Wendt, "some of the candidates have families, some are older, some are younger, so it comes back to the first exercise of the day. When they figure out what their top values are and whether it flows through with each decision that's made."
The six students at Table 10 made their decision after about 45 minutes.
They felt David, the 19-year-old engaged college student, should get the heart.
Keokuk junior Alexis Lozano-Dobbs says reaching that decision was not easy.
"You had to weigh everyone's options and how it would benefit them," says Lozano-Dobbs, "or how it was going to benefit them and their families. You had to put yourself in their shoes and how you would feel if someone overlooked you or picked you and didn't pick someone else."
Lozano-Dobbs scribbled two words on a piece of paper after the decision was made. DAVID LIVES
Lozano-Dobbs says she did that out of a sense of relief.
"I was happy with the decision cause I am young and if I had the opportunities that he had," says Lozano-Dobbs, "I would want to live too."
Table 10 felt David needed an opportunity to reach his potential. Its members were not alone in that assessment.
Out of the dozen groups in the room, five voted for David. Five others chose Bill, the 27-year-old auto mechanic with a second child on the way.
The other two tables chose Alfred. He is the 45-year-old doctor working to cure cancer.
David Wendt says the results differ each year. But those results are not as important as what the students should learn from the exercise.
"That decision making is important," says Wendt, "that you support your decision and that being an ethical person is a good choice. To understand where your values come from and why they are important and not just to make decisions without a thought process.."
The symposium forced the students to decide who lives and who dies based on a couple of pieces of paper and their own thoughts and views.
Their futures might not lead them to face similar life-or-death scenarios.
Seeing how one decision can change someone's life could help them decide whether to return the wallet they found or to cheat on that exam.