Check out this story on NPR's Morning Edition
Here.
It listens in on an Ethics class at West Point. One cadet makes the point that he is tired of "having all this ethics junk rammed down his throat" and he believes that taking classes, PME, etc. can't teach him to be a better person. He believes ethics is entirely subjective and "personal", so why waste my time with these kinds of classes?
This cadets complaints sound eerily familiar (although in the vast minority) to some cadets here as well. Any thoughts?
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21 comments:
I must admit sometimes it gets tiresome constantly debating what would you do in tis situation. Hell, USAFA gave seniors a survey on ethical decisions and it was obviously easily identifiable how they wanted you to answer. Supposedly an annonymous test, however it included our state, last 4, squadron, gender, hmm now how hard could it be to identify whos who.
But in all of the constant moral and ethical debate and questioning hopefully that person over four years has been able to identify exactly what they believe what is right and wrong. That way they can make a hasty decision regarding situations that may be gray. Some people may argue it would be better to learn the RoEs or Laws of War more indepth, however if you trust your ethics and morals then you should be able to make a decision and not violate a laws. Because most laws are based upon commonly accepted morals and ethics. Just my 2 cents.
First I would like to say that Ethics classes should not be compared to PME, becuase they are completely different. Its rediculous how quickly i can recite the military's definition of sexual harrassment or explain the 4 i's of transformational leadership . . . but i digress.
ethics is not as "simple" as leadership which we can observe and analyze. if we see or experience a bad leader we can pick out the characteristics we don't like and choose not to be that kind of person. but if you are faced with some kind of ethical dilemma, it would be much more difficult make certain decisions. while i do feel that many of the ethical topics we have talked about in class do have some root in subjectivity, it is the ethics classes that try to shove more "objective" concepts down your throat to help mold your own personal subjectivity. especially in the military there is a good chance that we will be faced with much more complex ethical situations than the average person and we are going to need to understand much bigger ethical concepts that we would not even be able to fathom without formal ethical training and education.
I think it's not just the topic that cadets get sick of, it is how it is presented. When it seems artificial, forced, or not applicable, cadets tune out and prioritize their attention elsewhere. It is hard to show its importance when every teacher, every class, every officer, says "listen to me/this is the most worthwhile thing you will learn here." people that are sharing the ethics lesson need to get interaction to get results, and also need to remember: quantity is not better than quality. one good 1/2 hour is put to better use than 4 long hours of debate.
it is however, important for leadership to figure out this important distinction so that cadets can learn to find the absolute truth in a situation. the emphasis should not be on situation, but on approach.
I strongly agree with Jandi. Views on ethics and morality when it is presented by a powerpoint and a monotone voice at seven o'clock at night is extremely tiresome. I don't think ethics is something you can teach like you teach physics and math. Ethics is more applicable and more subjective than that.
People are going to develop their morals and values based on what they feel is right and wrong. They aren't going to take notes on ethics at a lecture and look at them everytime they come to a moral dilemma. Unless they understand the applications of ethics to their daily life, they will continue to view CPME and other ethical briefings just like they view physics 215.
There is a HUGE difference between the actual ethics class we sti in every T-day and our PME lessons taught every Tuesday after lunch. It is without a doubt something I personally do not get too much out of. I also believe if the information was presented in a different way, MUCH more could be taken away from it by all. not only would it not create as much cynacism about the subject, but it would also create an environment where cadets might actually pay attention and try to learn the material.
The West Point cadet’s remarks are alarming. He says that classes on ethics and PME are a waste of his time and that ethics is entirely personal and subjective. He displays a very relativistic view of ethics. If he does not believe that there are certain morally right and morally wrong things to do as a soldier, I wonder what he is doing in the military. If I shared his view, I’d be very nervous about serving alongside people who, in my mind, had every right to subjective determine what they believe is right or wrong. Shoot, if a soldier was to become incredibly stressed out by a combat situation and want to kill a civilian and he thought that would be the morally right thing to do, then why not let him do that? I mean after all, according to the cadet, we have every right to subjectively determine what we believe. No, classes on Ethics and morality in the military are very important. We need to understand the more code that we serve and accept that code in order to be adequate service members. Otherwise, we endanger the moral dignity of those around us by serving with our subjectivity.
I find it sad that this person is so ignorant and closed minded. He either has a bad philosophy teacher or is not fit for any sort of college degree or higher education. I think that comparing PME and Philosophy class is apples and oranges. PME is a waste of time and is not engaging, it detracts from what could be a productive day. Philosophy class however, at least in the method that is was taught to me, was a class that asked questions but did not give answers. Instead it taught me how to answer deep questions, how to wrestle with the problems life may present, and gave a foundation for logically arguing through tough ethical dilemmas. If that is not a skill that can be used in life, I don’t know what is.
I disagree with Cait that he should only be serving if a moral realist, but I see Cait’s points. I think the ability to discern what you think is ethical is an ability that anyone can benefit from, especially in the military, realist or relativist, it is something an officer who will be leading troops should not be without.
I will second most commentors on this blog in their concern for some of the answers expressed in this story. Ethics are not relative. If we are not fighting for a right or wrong, then why bother doing anything. I also can't believe that philosophy and ethics are such a small part of our military education. I am an engineer, and I think it is important to learn lots of technical information to help in a career defined by technology. However, I think it is even more important to have at least two or three classes on the importance of making the right decision. I am not going to argue about whether situations like Abu Ghraib, Gitmo and Haditha are necessarily horrible; I think most people would agree that they are, but in the long run, I think it's important to realize how much they hamper our country's efforts. We must maintain some moral high ground. It is essential to not be arrogant about whether we hold a monopoly on moral truth, but we have to take a stand morally and we have a responsibility to stick to that stand. I also agree that PME is a waste of time; a class centered around just teaching how to think and not what to think is the best, and I believe we need more of that form of instruction to be effective officers.
while such classes may get old and may seem stupid and simple, but obviously they are needed or we'd be at perfect acadmey and these scandles wouldnt come up. so its important to remember while you may not need these classes, do you really think some of your classmates dont? I hope that certain people i can think of get something out of such lessons because they need to. also, i dont think anybody is ever done growing in these areas. we can all learn something new from these lessons and they also remind us and force us to think deeply about things we think we already know or may have forgotten. i think this guys complaints stem from the teacher rather than the lesson too. its important to have a good teacher who presents the info well if you want people to really listen and try to pick something up.
scuba steve is a smart kid. i dont care what other people say.
The teacher hit the rebuttal on the nail, as military officers it is essential that they be equipped with the ability to handle ethical situations. Regardless of realist or relativist, it is important to have the foresight of possible consequences and some sort of guidelines or ideas in which others would use to reference to make such a difficult decisions. In fact in some cases I would rather have a realist who may even debate further the factors, possible consequences, and ideaology, than one who is so confident in their superior intellect than to bother to even struggle with a decision. We cannot be professionals without understanding our purpose and social contract.
To the other point any student knows class impact relates to the teacher.
He thinks that ethics are being shoved down his throat, but if it's anything like our classes here they are just presenting ethical situations for us to wrestle through. If it really makes him that uncomfortable maybe it is something he needs to take a hard look at. It sounds like when people start talking about ethics it makes him uneasy because he really doesn't have an ethical opinion or an ethical base to go on. Ethics classes are a place to disuss those hard choices you may one day have to make. It's a good thing to talk about it before you are in that position so you can react properly
I don't know what that kid is thinking saying that ethics classes are worthless and he's tired of them . No matter how set in his ways he might be, how adamant his opinions; they will still teach him to approach situations from differing viewpoints. It is essential for today's military to look at issues such as these before they are exposed to them. You may be able to have an idea of how you might approach these situations and how it is possible to look at them from other angles. Being well versed in other cultures is also essential.
Assuming that the military is a profession as we defined in class we can assume that society is entructing us with an important job, namely, their well being. In order to justify this trust we must act according to the dreaded word, professional. However, in order to be a professional we must have an increasing level of competency in our line of work. If we do not improve than we are not looking out for the well being of the U.S. citizens and we are not being professional. Since our job requires us to kill people, which is typically an immoral action, it is important for us to questions the reasons behind our actions. Since philosophy studies the truth and ethics is covered under this study it is important for us as professionals to have an understanding about the truth of our job. Although we may gripe at times about the training and that we "get this stuff too much" I do not feel that it our place to make this decision. How many times have you said, if I knew then what I know now..., well the people that make the decisions about what we learn and how we train are looking back and using what they know now to help us during our "back then" time. If we are goign to be good officers it is important to have a solid understanding of the moral and ethical ramifications of our job.
In my opinion many of the ethics classes that we take here are the types of classes that we won't appreciate for a long time. The lessons that we are learning now seem to make sense and we can understand them, but to actually internalize and value them I think that we need to apply them.
Unfortunately, practicing ethics here at USAFA does not seem to be happening very much. There are many leadership lessons about how to motivate and direct others, but most of the time there isn't much in the way of ethical decisions. The point I'm trying to make here is that although many of us have a bad attitude when it comes to these types of classes, myself included at times, we should keep it in the back of our minds that these are important questions, and questions that we wouldn't otherwise be asking of ourselves. We should try to realize that asking ourselves difficult questions now may help to prepare us to make better decisions in the future.
Ethics is not something that is subjective and of one's own opinion. Somewhere one ethics were formulated through experience and teachings. This process is still going on and when faced with a situation that is uncommon, ethics debate and training with come to the surface and allow one to act without complete ignorance.
I think that teaching ethics is a good idea. Not everyone can think of every possible theory by themselves and its revealing to know what others think and how they function. This is crucial to making an ethical decision. There is also the satisfaction in knowing how your own mind works.
It looks like we're all in agreement that learning how to reason regarding ethics is important. And I think we can all agree that PME is worthless. So, what the Cadet at USMA should have done was differentiate between learning about the fundamental principles that govern human action and the platitudes that we get in CPME classes. Take, for example, General Waken's speach that we've heard during ACES as well as during the reflection weekend. The meat of his speech is that showing character is important because character is important. The argument stops here without any support. No wonder Cadets get fed up with this stuff. Its just moralistic cliches. Reading the classics, however, at least teaches us to think.
In the NPR article, the WP senior talked about how morals and ethics are "subjective." I found this comment a little surprising in regards to his position as a graduating firstie. His comment sounds suspiciously like moral relativism, which all of us know is way off kilter anyway. To me, his comment sounded cynical at best, and simply immature overall. Anyone who is entering the armed forces willingly should know what their morals are and the exact reason why they are committing at least five years of their life to military service and all its attendant requirements - to include killing people and being killed. Some classes (frivolous honor sessions and CPME lessons included) are a waste of time yes, but ethics should be taken seriously. Moral realism applies even in the fog of war, and the impact on one's conscience after making a possible wrong decision is very real.
It's true that we have a lot of things repeatedly shoved down our throat at the Academy, but as "dumb guy in the back says," ethics should be distinguished from the countless axioms of professionalism we take in. The military is worthless and even damaging unless it is working out of a firm ethical foundation. For that reason, a keen awawreness and working understanding of ethical principles is critical for all military leaders to achieve.
It is difficult to see the ethical scenarios as reality if we have an imbalance of discussion and action, however. Reality of ethical action is something we can practice in casual situations among ourselves and our instructors. An important part of learning ethics is example from officers who have seen the reality of ethical dillemas in the military. Unfortunately, cadets do not see that example as much as they should from permanent party officers, and this surely contributes to cynicism against the "professional education" system we have here.
It seems there truth to both sides of this story. While 90% of PME lessons might seem tireless and useless, the other 10% might help someone to make a crucial decision in times of conflict. For example, perhaps if the army major depicted in the story had been briefed on LOAC and ethics/morality of war, he would know that sending an innocent child to his death would not be an appropriate decision.
However, it is very true that a vast majority of military education is not teachable. Instead, one must use his or her own experiences and form his or her own conclusions based on actions they personally have been involved with.
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