When I applied for the Dean’s Service Award back in February of 2018 a member of the interview panel asked me how universities should implement ethical education. Naturally, I asked that professor to define “ethical education” for me. We came up with a list of items that included CSR, rights and responsibilities, as well as volunteer service.
Perhaps those in the field of computer science may be familiar with SQL and the following statement may make sense:
INSERT into Students
VALUES (?)
But even if you aren’t a computer science major you might understand the gist of it; what kinds of values do we want our future graduates to have?
The most important mindset to have is to understand that doing good is good in itself and requires no recognition or reward. To recognize that each and every one of us have a responsibility to contribute to building the society that we want to live in. To understand that there are no rights without responsibilities and no responsibilities that do not yield benefit to society.
Don’t make this about the coursework, don’t make this about graduation requirements, and don’t make this about getting a glossy certificate to show off. Make this about doing your duty, make this about sharing responsibilities with others, make this about being a good steward of our Earth.
If we want the right to universal suffrage then we must take responsibility to make sure that our right to the franchise is not abused. To make sure that people make decisions that are best for society as a whole instead of populist agendas that only provide self-serving short term benefits. The attitude towards what is “right” and “responsible” is crucial. When students understand the real consequences of their actions they will be armed with the necessary critical thought to make those decisions.
Then there’s the incessant complaining online of everything that’s wrong with the world. Students must be equipped with the skills to contribute to building and improving society in material ways. An hour spent complaining on social media is an hour spent not working towards solving the problem you complain about. Got a problem? Do something about it, talk is cheap. Don’t complain until you exhausted all your options. When students understand that they need to be the ones to take responsibility for shaping a world they want to live in, they will be compelled to act.
Foster a sense of civic awareness by providing interesting learning materials that link classroom content to real world problems. Perhaps this could be looking into soaring urban housing prices by way of economic models, discovering the root causes of blight in urban planning, or developing methods to access basic utilities in underdeveloped areas of the world. Identify the problems and empower students to solve them by showing them that they can apply what they have learned in real life to the community around them. If students wake up one day and read the newspaper thinking “What can I do about this?”, rather than “I feel bad for these people”, then they’re already closer.
To foster a genuine sense of responsibility there has to be a certain level of trust and continuity in the community. This trust translates into a sense of belonging that compels the members of that community to contribute to it just because they feel proud to belong. Continuity gives the students an opportunity to reflect on their actions and how they have made a positive impact, encouraging them to continue to serve in the long-run. Don’t just serve – believe.
