I. Students:
Seven step path to ethical decisions using good judgment
II. Parents & Teachers:
Two options of "Work out Guide" and Ethical 'case studies' for discussion with youth
III. Activities:
April is Alcohol Awareness month. Talk with your child (especially by 5th or 6th grade) that using alcohol involves using good judgment!
CADCA has partnered with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to teach fifth- and sixth-graders about the dangers of underage drinking through the Reach Out Now National Teach-In initiative. The program brings prominent community leaders into fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms across the country to educate students about the effects of alcohol on the brain and body and about alternatives to alcohol use. Teach-ins will take place during the week of April 18-22 to kick off Alcohol Awareness Month. To learn more about this nationwide initiative, visit www.teachin.samhsa.gov.
IV. Quotes
Character Corner compiled by Nancy Caggia, WCPTA Character Education Committee
GOOD JUDGMENT
We make choices every day about doing the right thing. Ethics involves seeing the difference between right and wrong. Ethics are moral rules for the right behavior which may differ from culture, religion or on a personal basis.
I. HOW STUDENTS CAN DEVELOP GOOD JUDGMENT:
CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition, a project of the Josephson Institute of Ethics, suggests the seven step path to making ethical decisions using your good judgment:
1. STOP AND THINK— Just as children, we are taught to look both ways before they cross the street, we should make a habit of looking ahead before making any decision. To do so it’s necessary to first stop the momentum of events long enough to permit calm analysis. The well-worn formula to count to 10 when angry and to a hundred when very angry is a simple technique designed to prevent foolish and impulsive behavior. But we are just as apt to make foolish decisions when we are under the strain of powerful desires or fatigue, when we are in a hurry or under pressure, and when we are ignorant of important facts. So, stop and think!
2. CLARIFY GOALS—Before you choose, clarify your short- and long-term aims. Determine which of your many wants and don’t-wants affected by the decision are the most important. The big danger is that decisions that fulfill immediate wants and needs can prevent the achievement of our more important life goals.
3. DETERMINE FACTS—To determine the facts, first resolve what you know and, then, what you need to know. Be prepared to get additional information and to verify assumptions and other uncertain information. In these situations part of making sound decisions involves making good judgments as to who and what to believe.
Here are some guidelines for evaluating the information to make a good judgment:
· Consider the reliability and credibility of the people providing the facts.
· Consider the basis of the supposed facts. If the person giving you the information says he or she personally heard or saw something, evaluate that person in terms of honesty, accuracy and memory.
· Remember that assumptions, gossip and hearsay are not the same as facts.
· Consider all perspectives, but be careful to consider whether the source of the information has values different than yours or has a personal interest that could affect perception of the facts.
· Where possible seek out the opinions of people whose judgment and character you respect, but be careful to distinguish the well-grounded opinions of well-informed people from casual speculation, conjecture and guesswork.
· Finally, evaluate the information you have in terms of completeness and reliability so you have a sense of the certainty and fallibility of your decisions.
4. DEVELOP OPTIONS—Now that you know what you want to achieve and have made your best judgment as to the relevant facts, make a list of options, a set of actions you can take to accomplish your goals. If it’s an especially important decision, talk to someone you trust so you can broaden your perspective and think of new choices. If you can think of only one or two choices, you’re probably not thinking hard enough.
5. CONSIDER CONSEQUENCES—Two techniques help reveal the potential consequences:
· “Pillar-ize” your options. Filter your choices through each of the Six Pillars of Character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. Will the action violate any of the core ethical principles? For instance, does it involve lying or breaking a promise; is it disrespectful to anyone; is it irresponsible, unfair or uncaring; does it involve breaking laws or rules? Eliminate unethical options.
· Identify the stakeholders and how the decision is likely to affect them. Consider your choices from the point of view of the major stakeholders. Identify whom the decision will help and hurt.
6. CHOOSE—It’s time to make your decision keeping in mind some factors:
· What would the most ethical person you know do? Think of that person as your decision-making role model and try to behave the way he or she would. Many Christians wear a small bracelet with the letters WWJD standing for the question "What would Jesus do?" Whether you are Christian or not, the idea of referencing a role model can be a useful one. You could translate the question into: "What would God want me to do?" "What would Buddha or Mother Teresa do?" "What would Gandhi do?"
· What would you do if you were sure everyone would know? If everyone found out about your decision, would you be proud and comfortable? Choices that only look good if no one knows are always bad choices. Good choices make us worthy of admiration and build good reputations.
· Golden Rule: do unto to others as you would have them do unto you. The Golden Rule is one of the oldest and best guides to ethical decision-making.
7. MONITOR AND MODIFY—Since most hard decisions use imperfect information and "best effort" predictions, some of them will inevitably be wrong. Ethical decision-makers monitor the effects of their choices. If they are not producing the intended results or are causing additional unintended and undesirable results, they re-assess the situation and make new decisions.
II. HOW PARENTS & TEACHERS CAN HELP DEVELOP TRAIT:
A. Workout Guide: To practice exercising good judgment, the Workout Guide at http://www.charactercounts.org/pdf/Exercising-Character/Exer-Char_11-13-decisionmaking.pdf is designed for developing this skill in pre-teens, but can be done with your child of any age.
B. Ethical Case studies starting with students in fourth grade through twelfth are available at JA website www.ja.org/ethics/default.shtml . Recently, Junior Achievement rolled out a reinforced "Excellence through Ethics" http://www.ja.org/ethics/ethics_excellence.shtml program designed for grades four and higher, thanks to a collaboration with Deloitte. Lessons illustrating ethical business and personal behavior can be found woven throughout our K-12 curricula. It's all available free on-line and is an amazing collection of 28 activities which may look like a math lesson using money in a bankruptcy case, but really is an ethical discussion. Each of the 28 activates has an Overview, Objectives, Preparation and Time Required, Presentation Notes, Student Handouts, and Summary and Review suggestions.
I highly encourage a look at this excellent free resource!
III. USING GOOD JUDGMENT BY NOT ABUSING OF ALCOHOL
The theme for 2005 April's Alcohol Awareness Month, "Together, We Can Stop Underage Drinking," is more urgent than ever. Drinking is associated with the leading causes of death among young people, including car crashes, unintentional injuries, murder, and suicide. In fact, a 16-year-old is more likely to die from a drinking-related problem than any other cause.
You can help young people understand the serious consequences of underage drinking. CYFERnet (Children, Youth & Families Education & Research Network) has many resources regarding alcohol and teens:
Finally, CYFERnet has 22 other links to other resources/publications available free of charge at http://cyfernet.ces.ncsu.edu/cyfdb/browse_3.php?cat_id=227&category_name=Alcohol&search=Youth&search_type=browse (please cut and paste! )
IV. QUOTES:
"Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere."
— G.K. Chesterton, English essayist and poet (1874-1936)
"That which is beautiful is moral. That is all, nothing more."
— Gustave Flaubert, French novelist (1821-1880)
"In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so."
— Immanuel Kant, Prussian geographer and philosopher (1724-1804)
“Without civic morality communities perish; without personal morality their survival has no value.”
— Bertrand Russell, British mathematician and philosopher (1872-1970)
“The essence of morality is the subjugation of nature in obedience of social needs.”
— John Morley, British statesman and writer (1838-1923)
“Ethics is a code of values which guide our choices and actions and determine the purpose and course of our lives.”
— Ayn Rand, Russian-American novelist and philosopher (1905-1982)
"There's a hole in the moral ozone and it's getting bigger.”
— Michael Josephson, American ethicist
