Ethics in College

Honesty, promise keeping, free expression, and nonviolence, words written by Derek Bok, explaining his opinion on why it is important to teach basic moral values on the college level. It is quite evident that the teaching of ethics has been a controversial subject, but by no means does that allow it to go unheard. "Colleges and universities should be well aware of the moral messages contained in the countless institutional signals sent to students."(500) Derek Bok uses a plethora of sub-topics to explain his view 's when discussing ethical values amongst college students. When discussing "Moral Dilemmas" he states "by studying problems that commonly arise in personal and professional life, students will be more likely to perceive moral dilemmas they would otherwise ignore, thus they will believe that every ethical view is entitled to tolerance and respect."(504) Mr. Bok strongly disapproves of settling with mediocrity when discussing ethical values in the classroom. He feels that neither history nor the classics can sufficiently justify how to teach students to lead a virtuous life. Therefore he feels that once the students have completed their college careers they will be inept to realize the moral dilemmas that will occur within their professional institutions. Crime and negligence that occurs on college campuses is due to the lack of communication between the administration and the student body. Bok clearly is concerned when faculty members or administration will seek to camouflage embarrassing incidents to avoid adverse publicity. In the essay there is an example used to explain his view more in depth. A particular resident teaching in one of their hospitals was caught sexually assaulting several patients. The board of directors chose to keep this incident as discrete as possible, "needless to say, the lesson conveyed by this episode could hardly have been worse."(506) Bok concludes his statement with what he feels should be accepted and freely

Cited: Shaw, William H. "Social And Personal Ethics". Fourth Edition. United States: Wadsworth, 2002. 500-509