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| NEWS > 01 April 2007 |
Other related articles:
Police accused of sex cover-up
THE Police Commissioner, Ken Moroney, was under fire last night after being accused of failing to act for four years to stop sexual misconduct at the police academy in Goulburn.
The NSW Ombudsman, Bruce Barbour, said that every year for the past four his office had asked senior police for a clearer code of conduct concerning relationships between staff and students.
He said he had sent a report to Mr Moroney and the Police Minister, Carl Scully, in January raising concerns about the police follow-up to serious misconduct at the college in 2002 and he was not satisfied wit... Read more
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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -
01 April 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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The value in teaching values
I would suppose that teaching ethics and promoting character development, at least in an informal and general way, would be evident in most classrooms. It would be quite challenging to make ethics and character development a part of every textbook and perhaps just as challenging to design a separate, specific course.
The reasons this issue is again coming to the fore are obvious - they are related to our environmental crisis; religious extremism; corporate, political and business scandals; materialistic values; and the general "in your face" rudeness so rampant in American society. The coarsening of our society is evident in many areas - even high school basketball games must have a police presence.
Public education, from secondary schools to colleges and universities, offer limited ethical training or character development. This formerly was the purview of families and churches. However, families in America are in crisis. Most children receive their character development and ethical training from the media: role models such as Britney Spears, Howard Stern, wrestlers, Comedy Central or violent video games.
How would such a course in ethics and character development be designed? By "character development" I mean basic behavior and manners in a civil society. Manners and ethics go together.
Perhaps we could start with a list of "core values" that are evident in all cultures, independent of religious faith (or non-faith) background. Some of these are: compassion, truth, justice, responsibility, respect and dignity.
The way these "core values" are lived out is called "ethics." Unethical behavior is a violation of the "core values," but it is not always as easy as right vs. wrong. More often, the issue comes down to choosing one core value over another.
For example, if you see your best friend cheating on an exam, do you report him or her? This is a question of loyalty over truth. If someone taunts you or your friends at the mall, do you ignore him or stoop to his level and end up violating the rights of others at the mall?
The larger issues of today often are questions of the rights of the individual vs. the rights of the community or issues of justice over mercy. The point is that one can teach ethics and core values without teaching religion.
But what's wrong with having a general course in religion or even combining a course in religion and ethics? Religion and ethics are intimately connected.
A recent article in Time magazine pointed out that more than 90% of Americans say they believe in God but only a tiny portion of them know anything about religion. The article points out how important religion has become in world politics.
Every American should have basic biblical knowledge as well as knowledge of world religions. At the high school level, this course could become part of the social sciences without favoring any particular religion or denomination.
In the process, students would learn how each religion defines moral development and ethical behavior as well as basic historical data, geography, linguistics, anthropology, sociology, archeology and culture. They could explore the complex interaction of religion and politics throughout the world.
Students would also learn how religion influences and has influenced the development of both Western and Eastern values and culture. The results could only be positive - our students would hopefully learn and understand the importance of moral development and ethical behavior.
They would be exposed to the often traumatic and detrimental effects of unethical and uncivil behavior. They would also become better equipped to tackle today's complex ethical, political and religious issues. It would at least give them some basic tools to understand how to live in today's multicultural, pluralistic societies.
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