The Key to Saving Society From Itself Most educators are aware of the importance of technical skills in fields like accounting, computer technology, engineering, finance, and the sciences but do not necessarily recognize the importance of “soft skills” to carry out technical skills in a way that communicates personal values... Read more →

Is Free Speech in Jeopardy? What does it mean to “cancel” someone? No, it’s not to cancel a transaction you did online. Today it means to diminish someone’s significance as an influencer by personal boycott, public shaming, or simply shunning them. We call it the “cancel culture,” or” call-out culture.”... Read more →

The Role of the First Amendment Free speech on college campuses has been under attack during the past several years. The alleged offenses seem to have declined this past academic year. Does that mean limitations on free speech on college campuses is no longer of concern? The answer is ‘yes’... Read more →

Do College Students Really Care? The problem with teaching ethics to college students is they may not care. Some of my students ask me: Why should I care about being ethical now…when it seems people can get ahead in life by taking the easy way, which is not always the... Read more →

What Ever Happened to the Fundamental Value of Academic Integrity? Having taught at the college level for over 30 years, I thought I had seen it all but along comes hoax scholarship – papers written by academics solely to get publications without regard to the accuracy of statements/facts in these... Read more →

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” (Aristotle) There are many good expressions to use in teaching ethics to college students. I find students remember important points by using expressions; writing them on the board; and discussing them every day so it is etched in... Read more →

How and Why to Discuss Ethics in the Classroom How should we think and talk about moral issues with our youngsters: pre-teens, teenagers, and young adults? The first way to discuss these issues is from the perspective of The Golden Rule, a long-standing moral compass for societies. This ancient Greek... Read more →

What is More Important: Learning Soft Skills or Hard Skills? I recently learned that the School of Public Affairs at the American University in Washington, D.C. is attempting to combat the adverse political dialogue taking place in today’s society by launching a new project on civil discourse. This project, designed... Read more →

Can Cheating Be Controlled? Cheating in college has reached epidemic proportions. Even though the rate of students who admit to cheating at least once in their college careers has held steadily around 75 percent since the first major survey on cheating in higher education in 1963, the ways in which... Read more →

The Sale of University, Inc. I just read about the University of Wisconsin-Madison's corporate partnerships that bring revenue for the institution but also raise ethical questions. One is example is Mentos. It conducted a campaign that challenged a student to hand out 43,000 packs of the company's gum in order... Read more →