Advantages of the PLUS Model It’s time for ethics educators to think outside the box. Traditional ethical decision-making models based solely on philosophical reasoning methods may miss the mark because students simply provide the answer they think teachers want to hear by applying one or more of these methods. They... Read more →

Fairness, Personal Responsibility and Moral Hazard Issues This blog was first posted on my Ethics Sage website. I’ve made a few improvements since then. Should student debt be forgiven? If so, how much should be wiped clean? This is a big issue for Democratic Presidential candidates and the country. Bernie... Read more →

Avoiding Conflicts of Interest in the Grading Process One of the most difficult decisions for college professors is whether to engage in a personal relationship with a student. The relationship might start innocently. Perhaps the student goes to office hours frequently. The professor might devote more time than is customary... Read more →

Is it Time to Institute 'Ungrading'? I just read about professors who seem to believe going gradeless in college classes is a good idea. There seems to be serious consideration in some corners to change the traditional way of evaluating the work of college students. Quite frankly, this scares me.... 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 →

U.S. News Data is Skewed Towards the Richest Institutions Do you look at college rankings to decide which college to attend or where to send your kid? Stop it! It’s a waste of time and the information is not reliable. That’s the opinion of Valerie Strauss, education reporter for the... Read more →

The Case for Ethical Pluralism Most ethics education at the university level encompasses discussions about moral right and wrong; good and bad decisions; motivations for actions; consequences; and our duties to others. There’s nothing wrong with these approaches and philosophical reasoning methods play an important role in ethics education. However,... 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 →

Situational Ethics is Problematic on College Campuses Situational Ethics was pioneered by Joseph Fletcher. In situational ethics, right and wrong depend upon the facts of each situation rather than societal or cultural norms. There are no universal moral rules or rights – each case is unique and deserves a unique... 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 →