I am currently working with another teacher in conducting a course in global ethics and literature. After my fiasco regarding the teaching of spirituality I have dramatically lowered my expectations about what these students have been taught about the realm of ethics and ethical thinking. Instead I set out to change my method. I would take the two days that I would be in the classroom not to lecture but to listen. I have found that the one thing students don't do enough of is sharing their opinion on something that is relevant to the world and to them. So rather than bore them with the theories of ethics (which I plan to do later), I would present them ethical dilemmas that test their decision-making processes and force them to choose what they would in a variety of situations.
The first one was a timely one. With the one year anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti I decided to test the reactions these students would have to being called to help. I gave them the following scenario.
You are a student at a college or university and the earthquake in Haiti has occurred. You have an indispensable skill that would save lives if you went down there. However, you also have exams that you must take. All but one of your professors will excuse you, giving you an extension. The last one will not relent and announced that you will fail if you do not take the exam when it is given. The added twist is that if you fail the exam you will lose your scholarship, your only means of paying for your education.
I posed this question with some conditions. You cannot appeal to a higher authority and the professor will not relent. You needn't worry about transportation or room and board while in Haiti. I also asked them to present a rationale for their decision which weighed the risks and consequences of either decision.
I was not shocked when I learned that the majority of the students decided to stay and not go to be a part of the humanitarian effort. Our society has placed such an emphasis on the importance of education that our very lives seem to be tied to what degree we earn and the money associated with the career we choose. What shocked me were the rationalizations.
One student rationalized that they could do more good by staying in school and graduating so that they could help more people later. Other students volunteered to aid the effort in other ways such as fund-raising and campaigning. These students were able to recognize their ethical obligation and come up with a solution. What concerned me were the students who had a knee-jerk reaction to the entire exercise and just decided not to go. One student went so far as to say that his life, his future, was considerably more valuable than these people in Haiti.
The point of the exercise was not to come up with a single correct answer. Following one's conscience is not as easy as it may seem. The point of the exercise was to determine if the students were able to have a process that they could use to make these decisions. What saddened me most was not so much that the students chose to stay when lives were at stake, lives that have the same inherent value as yours and mine.
Ethical quandries and conflicts are all around us. As Christians we are called to rely not on our standards but upon the standards that have been set for us by Jesus Christ. The question of "what would Jesus do" may same cliche but it is still no less valid. We are called to a higher purpose and a higher standard than the world. It is interesting to see how we react when called to tough ethical decisions that challenge our safety, our priorities, and our comfort level. Will we respond by what the world tells us to do, what seems rational and intelligent? Or will we respond by what Christ would have done, which flies in the face of the world's wisdom and society's standards? Ultimately, whom we decide to listen to is whom we decide to serve.
"Choose this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord"
Joshua 24:15
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