Ethics and schools

[marlynnp]

Quote:
Originally Posted by marlynnp
And I fail to understand how a person can state that their children are well-rounded individuals and have "good heads and thier own thoughts" and yet be afraid that if they are exposed to other thoughts and ideals that they will suddenly be 'brain washed'.


Ok, I think I may have missed something! Seriously!

Isn't this thread about public universities should be or shouldn't be allowed to have a specific set of ethics/values?
I'm seeing a lot of responses about not being exposed to other thoughts and ideals. Is anyone really arguing that? Not being snarky, really confused!

My lunch break was over before. But I wanted to check back.

From the OP post #1 ~

I guess I have lots of research to do before I send my kids off to college, there is more to it than just the books and how well the school performs academically. No way am I paying some public school $20-40,000 a year to tinker with my kids' heads, they've got good ones and I'd prefer their thoughts be their own. Such a shame, it seems ethics is completely dead in this country...


Sorry, this is what stood out to be as being most important to the OP. Not so much ethics but exposure to different and sometimes opposing views.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

My lunch break was over before. But I wanted to check back.

From the OP post #1 ~

I guess I have lots of research to do before I send my kids off to college, there is more to it than just the books and how well the school performs academically. No way am I paying some public school $20-40,000 a year to tinker with my kids' heads, they've got good ones and I'd prefer their thoughts be their own. Such a shame, it seems ethics is completely dead in this country...


Sorry, this is what stood out to be as being most important to the OP. Not so much ethics but exposure to different and sometimes opposing views.

What is interesting, I think the OP misunderstands what ethics is all about and certainly misunderstands that having an open forum is not the same thing as endorsing an individaul.

I guess when I earned my degree at a public institution--that is one thing we did learn.

 

[Aisling]

I guess I have lots of research to do before I send my kids off to college, there is more to it than just the books and how well the school performs academically. No way am I paying some public school $20-40,000 a year to tinker with my kids' heads, they've got good ones and I'd prefer their thoughts be their own. Such a shame, it seems ethics is completely dead in this country...

Ok, I missed thatt.

To the OP, I'd like to say that if the public university is saying "WE believe this, WE believe that", then absolutely take your money and your college kid and send them someplace else. They'd be oversteping their boundries.

If the public school is saying "we're giving you an opportunity to hear the ideas of others", then it's a GOOD school. Even if it's the most controversial person alive today, the chance to listen and have the choice to believe it or throw it in the garbage is what true freedom of thought is all about.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Wow.....
Almost anything that anyone says, anywhere, at any time, can be considered a point of view.... Any presentation of any kind can be considered a 'point of view'....
(just look at some threads here on the dis.... even things that seem 'common sense' to some posters are an adversarial 'point of view' to others.

So, we should BAN points of view????

Seems that everytime one hears that kind of comment, it is really only the points of view that the person does not agree with that they want to identify and censor.

OP,
ONCE AGAIN, just HOW are you alleging that a university is 'funding' any particular organization (point of view)????
I've never heard of a check or funds transfer being directed to 'a point of view'.

Until you annie up and answer that question, then there really is no answer.

IMHO, you would have to prove that a university was writing checks to some organization(s).... And, it would also have to be shown that this organization has one specific religious or political point of view that is being supported, while others who apply for the same funds are being denied, based SOLELY on point of view.

I feel that you are being less than forthcoming because you know, deep down, that if you give the details, it will not garner support for your feelings. If this is indeed a public university and public funds involved, then there should be absolutely nothing for you feel that you should hide.

No, you are off the mark. The reason I do not ante up is because then the ethical point is diluted by the unavoidable reality that people will fall in line behind their beliefs. By this I mean that once the actual situations are laid out people will soften their view if they agree with the ideology or harden their minds if they are opposed. This is why Ethics is such an important moral compass, the topic should be looked out without prejudice. Once real world situations are presented all objectivity goes out the window unless you don't have a dog in the fight. I have no dog in the fight so I just tend to notice where things go off course from impartial territory and then weigh whether or not the bias is appropriate. If it doesn't seem to be appropriate I'm going to notice, and I'm going to roll it around in my head for a good long while. I'm just fleshing out my thoughts and feeling out other people's thoughts before I reach any conclusions.. I like to do that, it keeps me from being too insulated.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Ok, I missed thatt.

To the OP, I'd like to say that if the public university is saying "WE believe this, WE believe that", then absolutely take your money and your college kid and send them someplace else. They'd be oversteping their boundries.

If the public school is saying "we're giving you an opportunity to hear the ideas of others", then it's a GOOD school. Even if it's the most controversial person alive today, the chance to listen and have the choice to believe it or throw it in the garbage is what true freedom of thought is all about.

I agree on both points. I have listened to many who I sometimes just don't get to see if they can bring me somewhere worth going. Sometimes it's useful, and sometimes not so much but most of the time I give them space in my head to make a point.

One of my favorite quotes ever is from the song Dream On, "Half my life is books, written pages live and learn from fools and from sages." LOVE IT!

Presenting an idea is fine, not only is it natural it is absolutely necessary. However, a public institution furthering one framework of ideas over another is cause for careful consideration in my mind.

 

[Aisling]

One of my favorite quotes ever is from the song Dream On, "Half my life is books, written pages live and learn from fools and from sages."

Oh wow, THAT'S what he was saying! I always mumbled whenever I got to that part!

 

[LuvOrlando]

Boy, am I confused.

I did go to a private Catholic University but the philosophy was pretty much "anything goes" and that was in the 70s. The university funded an Arabic chair with a Middle Eastern country's contribution, hired Henry Kissinger to teach a semester, taught classes trying to prove there wasn't a God, etc., etc.

It's all good. It's thought provoking and mind bending. That's what education should be.

I don't get the distinction between public money and public schools. Learning is learning. And let's face it, no one will ever agree on basic principles and morality. For every person that believes X is right, another will believe Y is right. So whose public money is being misused....X's or Y's?

Both x and y are ethically challenged, and you can throw in the rest of the alphabet for that matter. It's not the particular belief that makes it possibly unethical, its the fact one is embraced... any one, whether I believe in it or not. The issue is much bigger than any individual idea itself.