Ethics

Howard Gardner believes that an ethical orientation begins at home where children observe their parents at their work and play in civic responsibilities. In contemporary society, peers and colleagues also assume importance from an early age, and the quality of one's peers proves especially critical during adolescence in the development of ethical training. My children know what is expected of them but compare my parenting style with that of their peers parents. I often remind them that I am not their friends mother.
In 5 Minds of the Future, Gardner writes about living in a world characterised by good work that is excellent, ethical and engaging. My children attend a very small school that has a family type atmosphere. If my son had his way; after football practice he would go out to eat with friends, watch the girl's volleyball game, miss Wednesday night church service (because practice was too long), hang out with the football players on Thursday and Friday and on Saturday hang out with friends more. I know his friends and consider them good young men but it is obvious that their parents do not share the same values that I have in regards to school. Because he has rules I often hear, "I'm the only one out of my friends who can't hang out and when will I be able to be a teenager and have fun". His justification for hanging out with his friends is that he makes A's in his classes. I am proud of his academic success but if he is not at home, it is difficult for him to observe ethics and good works being implemented in the home. It is very difficult to teach ethics and morals when they are not practiced by all parents. What I believe is ethical might not be what others view as ethical.

Make time to Reflect

I decided that I would take a mental break from reading my textbooks and just relax and read one of my magazines for pleasure and relaxation. The editor of Essence magazine, Angela Burt-Murray wrote on the topic When things fall apart. To summarize her story; At the onset of her career in media, as a young arrogant and inexperienced employee, she decided to share written information, regarding her boss, with one of her friends. The information got back to the boss and needless to say the boss did not agree with her comments regarding her leadership style; as she was fired. In the article, Mrs. Burt-Murphy states, " sometimes we allow a misstep to push us off the path we're trying to follow. And even if we're able to get back on course, we often don't take the time to reflect and learn the valuable lessons about what brought us to that place of discontent, confusion and sometimes despair". This ties in with the conversation that took place in EDAD 7306. Eventually if we are really true to our selves either now or after years have past, we will replay the scenario in our heads and reflect on what we should have done or how we could have done things differently. Sadly some people let years go by before they come to grips with the fact that if they would have reflected sooner they wouldn't have had to live with so much pain and despair for so many years.

"Most of our experience, our knowledge and our thinking is organized as stories" (Pink, 2005). Stories are important pieces of information that allows others to understand our actions, emotions, and knowledge and vice versa. A few weekends ago, unintentionally, I participated in one of the activities in A Whole New Mind, Whip out the tape recorder (without the tape recorder). My husband invited his employees and their spouses over to our home to fellowship. The employees knew each other but the spouses, including me, did not know each other. We started to share how we meet our spouses. The stories (personal information) appeared to create a sense of warmth, trust and hopefully new friendship among the participants.