"Is it right to cut off one group of people in order to protect the rest of the world?"

Pupils at Ulverston Victoria High School in Cumbria asked a question... now schools around the world are sending in answers - these were sent before May 21.

Find out how your school can get involved.
Find out more about swine flu from the BBC News Q&A.

Ulverston Victoria High School (UVHS) in Cumbria is twinned with Secondaria Technica 44 Francisco Villa School in Mexico City.  Both schools teach Philosophy.

When preparing for an online video conference with Francisco Villa School, pupils at UVHS decided that they wanted to explore the ethics of quarantine.

They asked the question, is it right to cut off one group of people in order to protect the rest of the world?

BBC World Class took their question and shared it with schools around the world through our interactive project.

"I had my friend running away from me in fear"

Young people in Nigeria shared their experiences of contagious illnesses.


Odunayo, age 12, from Wisdom Brook in Lagos, Nigeria had a rash.  "It was a very bad issue for me," he says, "because I had my friends running away from me for the fear that I would affect them."  Odunayo missed two weeks of school. 

Eleven year old Peculiar felt bad when the Head sent her home in case she was contagious. "But then," she writes, "it dawned on me that I could get other pupils infected so I didn’t take it too hard." 

Odunayo's experience has made him wary of quarantine: "I would say that it would be unfair to cut the rest of the populace from them because I know what I went through."  
Peculiar advocates isolation: "After my experience, it’s almost impossible to say that the affected people should not be cut off to protect the larger population."

"Hong Kong is a city with a high density"

Most of the young people in Hong Kong were in favour of isolating infected groups.  

Matthew, age 13, noted inhabitants of the densely populated city would be vulnerable if swine flu spreads.  "It is right," he concludes, " to cut off a group to protect others." 

Classmate Chloe pointed out isolating an infected community might have benefits giving medical researchers more time to develop treatment.  

But Harry, also from Hong Kong, was uncomfortable with recent efforts to control the spread of swine flu in his city:   "Hong Kong government has cut off a group of people in a hotel for seven days because of one affected tourist.  I don't think it is right to cut a group of people off to protect the others because it leaves the people in the group with no choice."

"It wasn't their choice to get swine flu, so why should they pay for it?"

Choice was also important to young people in the United Arab Emirates, a country which has yet to report a case of swine flu.  

Thirteen year old Bayan thinks isolation is wrong. "Think of how you would feel if you were isolated from the world," she writes. "It wasn’t their choice to catch swine flu, so why should they pay for it?"

Several young people argued that responsibility isn't relevant.  

"It might be true that humans have brought this upon themselves (as we really are a despicably inconsiderate and careless species)," writes Neamah, age 14.  "Those who have been infected are not always to blame."
 
Others took a more practical approach.  "It is right," writes Reanne. "It could save the lives of hundreds or even thousands of other people who would have contracted it otherwise." 

"A very touchy subject"

Fourteen year old Bart from Cumbria was one of the pupils who came up with the question at the end of April.
 
"After everything that has happened, I still think it is a very touchy subject," he writes.  

"On the one hand, you have the world’s health at stake. On the other hand, we do not want to go back to the old attitudes of the Leper Colonies. 

"In a global society everyone is equally valuable whether they are sick or well, rich or poor, and from whatever national background." 

How did they do that?

Find out how your school can take part in the Swine flu interactive project.

Read more answers from schools around the world.

Read about the swine flu outbreak from the point of view of UVHS and Francisco Villa's school partnership.

Read more about swine flu on BBC News.

Join BBC World Class and our partners will help you twin.

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