Teaching Morals

I recently read an article by an ethics professor about whether or not he believed that ethics and morals were something that could taught. He argued that a better question was whether or not they could be learned. It was in response to a writer for a college newspaper saying that if a person didn't have ethics or morals by the time they reached college, they would not develop. Higher education does give students a chance to further delve into these ideas, but aren't there the ones that don't seem to care about them either way and suddenly grow up, have kids, and have morals? Can you develop morals after not abiding by them?

Multiple Meanings

Have you ever been at a party, sitting in class, lounging in the grass, or even walking through campus and overheard a conversation that you didn't want to? Did it go something like, "oh did you hear that so-and-so and so-and-so hooked up last night? Well, what does that mean? In college "hook up" can have a broad range of definitions which can be troublesome if you don't know what it means to the person you're talking to. On college campuses, you'll hardly hear the word "date," but "hook up" seems to be part of everyone's vocabulary.
After overhearing a conversation that I couldn't avoid, it made me think about the overuse of this phrase. Is certain behavior more easily acceptable because it can be described vaguely without showing actual intent of what you really meant?

All the same?

This definitely isn't the first time this is happened to me, but I was recently in a psychology class where we started discussing cultural differences. Someone in the class mentioned that they didn't think there were any differences and they just viewed people as people. Everyone is the same. This person proposed that people have similar fundamental values and core beliefs. I have definitely heard arguments like this before and it got me to thinking, is assuming that we all have the same fundamental beliefs what gets us into trouble in the first place. I think even within cultures we cannot assume that we're the same. Suppose a girl comes from a family where fidelity is valued and the guy she starts dating doesn't believe it is until rings are exchanged. They never voice their views because they assume that the other person has similar values. Are we really all the same?

Moral Gray Area?

We recently had a program at school titled "How to Maximize Your Buzz." The premise of the program is not to discourage students from drinking, but to teach them to drink responsibly through methods like learning their own limits based on body type, etc.
Throughout college we've had other programs that have a similar premise to this one. One that I distinctly remember was during our freshman orientation and covered topics like safe sex. It seems like the trend in college educational programming isn't to tell us not to do something, but how to do it more responsibly if we choose to do it.
I thought this was interesting, that as we've aged, the messages that are being thrown at us have changed from "don't do it" to "do it, and here is how to do without making 'bad' decisions." Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to knock either approach. It's just interesting how the message has changed. An issue that was previously black and white, now seems a little gray.
It seems that programs like this have some statistical backing that they seem to be helping people make better decisions. As was discussed last post, if someone is intent on doing something they probably will regardless. Is it better for students to know how to do something and be safer about it then to just be told not to do it?

Co-Ed Housing = Sex Driven Livin?

I recently read some responses by college students to parental outcries they heard about co-ed housing and how it was just a set up to foster immoral behavior amongst college students. The premise of the students' arguments was that if it was going to happen it was going to happen with or without co-ed dorms. If students are going to be sexually active they are going to be regardless of whether they live in same-sex or co-ed dorms. The greater convenience doesn't necessarily equate to greater likelihood. "It is an individual’s own choice and morals that influence sexual behavior, not coed living arrangements. If a student is sexually active, it is not necessarily the result of coed housing."
It's not a secret that parents worry about their children while they are away at college. College is a time for more temptations than they have experienced before. However, it's up to the student to decide what values they want to continue to uphold (although to many parents dismay, some of these may be gone long before they get to college anyway) and which they want to continue to stand for. If a student chooses to be sexually active in college, it's their choice, not the choice of co-ed housing. "College students are emerging adults, capable of making their own decisions of morality."

Retrospective

Just stop for a moment. Think about your life right now. What are your goals, dreams? What are you working towards becoming? Who are you now?
Now I want you to think about your five year old self. Who was that person? Did you dream of becoming a firefighter, an astronaut, a police officer, or the president? Where are you in reaching that goal? Ok, so maybe you're not going to be what you thought you would at age five. But what would your five year old self think of you today? Would they respect you? Have you turned out to be the kind of person you wanted to? What can you do to reach that?
Think Disney's The Kid........

Grade Grubbers

Have you ever been sitting in class and gotten back a test, the professor talks about the class average and says that any individual questions can be saved for after class, but that one person raises their hand to ask a question anyway? Their question is definitely an individual question and they cannot understand how they got a certain question wrong, it was obviously phrased wrong or everyone else must have missed it too. No, it was just them. Now they're wasting your precious learning time (and $) by arguing the professor for those 1 or 2 extra points that won't in fact change their overall score into the next range anyway. Ah yes, grade grubbers are everywhere.
What do you think about grade grubbing? Do you think they should wait until after class or make this injustice public? Are you a grade grubber or do you find them to be irritating?

Everyday Morals

A lot of focus on morals is on big issues that seen detached from most people. However, it's everyday decisions that really come into play. What if you let something slip up once, are you more likely to let this keep happening? I think so. It's the little things that create one big cycle. How are your everyday decisions deterring from what you think is morally right?

Being the Example

I previously talked about integrity in leaders. I think this also falls into setting examples for others. A phrase that is talked about in many leadership circles is not asking anyone to do something that you wouldn't do yourself. I think this should apply to all leaders, but especially to student leaders on campus. Knowing a lot of people in leadership on campus, I hear discussions about where this frequently fails. They see leaders who ask people to put in the hard work, but themselves sit on the sidelines and watch it happen. What do you value in leadership?