Ethics is Not the New Math

I won't elaborate here the news out of Illinois that the Governor is accused of trying to sell President-elect Obama's Senate seat. You have probably heard more about that than you ever wished. The whole ugly affair raises a series of new questions about ethics for me. The was a "new low" as one of the prosecutors said. Bribery, fraud, and tax evasion are the usual suspects for dishonest politicians (and others) but this really takes us to rock bottom. There are a multitude of platitudes and Monday morning quarterbacking that we can do here. They go something like this: start in the home, have tighter rules for public officials, have more transparency in government, hold people accountable...you get the drift. These are all true and defendable but they are not likely to make much difference except maybe the home part. We have countless rules and regulations for government employees--some border on ridiculous. These rules couldn't have stopped this situation. Neither could transparency or accountability. What children and their parents need to see and hear at home, at their places of worship, and at their jobs are people who make ethical decisions everyday no matter the personal consequences. 

Ethics is exhibited when companies who pay their employees a living wage; companies who offer proper severance packages even though they don't have to; politicians who do what is right even though it will cost them votes; parents who have honored traditions about right and wrong. I remember a Dear Abby column years ago where a mother and her child were in a grocery line. The child dropped the cookie package he was holding and broke most of the cookies inside. Instead of sending him back for a new package or scolding him, the mother simply said something like "looks like we will be eating smaller bites of cookies." The writer of the letter said that it was a lesson in ethics that has stayed with her. Well broken cookies are not equivalent to trying to sell an election but seeing parents do the right thing sends a clear message about what is right. Here are a few free tips from the Josephson Institute on how to teach ethics but the real teacher is example. I am not sure that you can learn ethics from a book, from a lecture, or from doing word problems exclusively. It is not the new math but it is the one thing that we should be sure that every child gets a chance to learn and practice.

 

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