Integrity, Morality and Ethics

Your best friend is a computer whiz and can design anything on the computer, even fake student I.D. cards that look exactly like the real thing. Since you’re not 21 yet (bummer!), you can’t go to many of the hottest clubs or nightspots near campus. Your friend asks, “Do you want me to make one for you? It’s so easy. Think about all the great times you’ll have. You don’t want to miss out, do you?”

Your roommate has a work-study job in the biology undergraduate office and helps out with the department’s printing from time to time. They have easy access to the next mid-term and offer to obtain a copy for you before the exam is given. “It’s O.K.,” your roommate says. “No one will ever know.”

How do you respond? Your responses to these scenarios could be quite telling.

No doubt an area where you will likely face challenges in college is the issue of your character or integrity.

Ask yourself, “Would I consider myself a person of integrity, high morals, and ethics? Am I trustworthy? If I were a prospective employer, would I want to hire a person like myself?”

Ralph Wexler, vice president of the nonprofit Joseph and Edna Josephson Institute of Ethics, sums up the situation succinctly when he states: “Clearly the youth of today didn’t invent cheating, stealing, or lying, but they are perfecting it. . . . In today’s society, less than 2 percent of the high school and the college kids get caught. We’re creating a society where cheaters do prosper, and we can’t tell them honestly, that honesty is the best policy.”

As you go through college, you will need to establish the basis for your moral and ethical decisions. Upon what will your personal standards be based? Which of the following will they be based on?

• expediency: “I just do what is quick, easy, and convenient”
• emotions: “It just felt right”
• experience: “I’ve always done it like this, I’ve never been caught, and I’ve never hurt anyone or myself along the way”, or
• culture: “C’mon! This is America in the ’90s! Nobody believes or behaves that way any more.”

The problem is that these “let-your-conscience-be-your-guide” mindsets make it incredibly easy to rationalize or justify any behavior or action.

So, what’s the answer? It’s not a matter of establishing an ethical system and adhering to it. Nor is it a matter of simply following some rule book or “how-to” morals manual.

Morality is something that is better caught than taught. It’s learned as it is observed in the life of another. It’s best learned in relationship with one who is an impeccable model of morals and ethics.

But is there any person who has proven to be such an impeccable model of morals and ethics?

Copyright WSN Press. Used with permission.

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