Professing To Be Wise...
Dec. 2, 2006 at 11:00 AM
Politics
...they look like fools.
Students at the Columbia University School of Journalism were caught cheating on an ETHICS exam.
You can't teach a class on ethics without right and wrong being defined at some point. But what did this professor base his ethics course on? Christians have chosen the Bible as our standard, believers of other religions have their book as well, but I never could grasp where unbelievers of any sort get their standard of right and wrong. Without an independent standard, it all becomes arbitrary and relative to the situation.
For example, if I asked you to tell me the length of my header you would tell me your guess, I would tell you mine. Then we would get a ruler and measure the distance to see who was correct. That's an independent standard. Without one, we would both go on believe our answer is correct.
So in a morally relative world, can somone please explain to me why students cheating on a test is wrong? (I'm assuming the professor did not use a religous book to teach his class on ethics.)
Students at the Columbia University School of Journalism were caught cheating on an ETHICS exam.
The course, which includes such issues as "Why be Ethical?" and "Tribal Loyalty vs. Journalistic Obligation," is taught by New York Times columnist Samuel G.Did they expect anything less from a New York Times columnist as their professor?
Freedman, who could not be reached yesterday.
You can't teach a class on ethics without right and wrong being defined at some point. But what did this professor base his ethics course on? Christians have chosen the Bible as our standard, believers of other religions have their book as well, but I never could grasp where unbelievers of any sort get their standard of right and wrong. Without an independent standard, it all becomes arbitrary and relative to the situation.
For example, if I asked you to tell me the length of my header you would tell me your guess, I would tell you mine. Then we would get a ruler and measure the distance to see who was correct. That's an independent standard. Without one, we would both go on believe our answer is correct.
So in a morally relative world, can somone please explain to me why students cheating on a test is wrong? (I'm assuming the professor did not use a religous book to teach his class on ethics.)
1 Comments and Trackbacks
posted by Genesis1x28 on Dec. 2, 2006 at 3:16 PM
My husband has said the same thing about the school shootings. If ethics are relative, then why not go shoot the local lunch money bully?