Monday, March 16, 2015

How to tell right from wrong... It ain't easy!


Do your kids think there are “moral facts”?  Are there circumstances where it is okay to lie, cheat or steal?

Philosopher and college professor Justin McBrayer concerns himself with such questions and was upset enough about what his second grader is being taught in school to air his opinion in the NY Times.  He discovered that the common core curriculum, by its definitions of fact vs. opinion, teaches our children that values (or value claims as he describes them) are not facts.  They are opinions.  

Connecting the lessons his son is being taught in the second grade to cheating on college campuses, he observes “that the overwhelming majority of college freshmen in their classrooms view moral claims as mere opinions that are not true or are true only relative to a culture.”

I sent the article to my brother who is a bit closer to this issue than I.  He has worked on education issues with Georgia’s state government and his wife spent her career teaching grammar school.  He expressed amazement that “parents of grade school children extend small things into the cause of the world’s problems.”

He’s probably right.  But, there was something about Professor McBrayer’s argument that stuck in my head.  Then, it came to me. What’s missing in his essay is any mention of a social contract, an implicit agreement among members of society who embrace a common set of values. “All Men Are Created Equal”, for example, is part of a value system that forms the basis of a social contract.  In a literal sense, it is not a fact. Some people are created smarter or stronger or prettier.  However, the statement — which is really meant to convey “All Men Have Equal Rights” — drives legislation and government enforcement of equal opportunity laws.  That is part of the social contract that we accept prima facie.

I agree with Professor McBrayer that it’s appropriate to separate mere opinions from value statements.  "Copying homework assignments is wrong" is a statement of our values and a good lesson to teach our children.

However, children’s values are learned more in their activities and day-to-day experiences than in classrooms.  Kid’s taught to play golf are charged with scoring and adhering to the rules.  There are valuable lessons in this activity that have nothing to do with fact vs. opinion.  They have to do with personal responsibility and how we treat others.  It’s a social contract of a sort.  

Another example of how children learn comes from comparing parents’ behavior to what they say.  You can tell your kid that it’s wrong to lie.  But, they learn that lying is part of the fabric of society.  If Mom tells someone how nice he or she looks and then tells Dad how awful that person looks, the kid learns that - at least in that situation - it’s okay to lie.  Ultimately, they figure out that an overwhelming number of people cheat on their taxes or steal office supplies from their employers.



Teaching kids not to lie, cheat or steal is important.  And, Professor McBrayer is right when he says, “consistency demands that we acknowledge the existence of moral facts.”

However, in a world where the social contract is constantly evolving, distinguishing fact from opinion is an important skill.  People’s values go well beyond clear rules about what is right and what is wrong and our perspective is constantly changing. Witness the change in people’s attitudes about gay marriage, for example. 

Moreover, I contend that many “moral claims” are relative to culture.   In a complex global community, moral relativism is required to address society’s larger issues.  

In politics… How much should we tax the rich to provide for the poor?

In medicine… Should we administer an experimental drug to a critically ill patient?

In business… Are we treating our customers ethically?

In foreign affairs… When should we send troops to defend another nation?

In a post a few years ago (From Deadly Sin to Virtue), I quoted Barry Schwartz, a Swarthmore professor and co-author of “Practical Wisdom:  the Right Way to Do the Right Thing”.  He compares finding what’s right to jazz improvisation.  The notes are on the page but the musicians play a variation that results in beautiful music.

In American society, our response to people and institutions that are unprincipled is to create rules to govern their behavior.  But, that doesn’t work.  What we need, Schwartz asserts, is the moralwill to do the right thing and the skill to figure out what that is.

Let’s figure out how to teach that lesson to our children.


WHO WILL LEAD?

9 comments:

  1. Daniel Herrscher
    Workflow/Labor Utilization Coordinator at San Diego Unified School District
    When a society's moral standards become "situational", then there's no solid foundation on which to build anything.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Abe WalkingBear Sanchez
    formerly "America's Best Bill Collector"...Speaker/Trainer on Revenue and Sales Enhancement
    You can't put anything over on your kids. The prophet who said "even as children by their acts you shall know them"...and yourself

    ReplyDelete
  3. Shari Cox
    at Dept. of Children and Family Services

    I think we have a pretty good starting point. The 10 commandments of Judaism and Christianity are also found in the Quran. Versions of commandments 6-9 are precepts of Buddhism and Hinduism. That covers a fairly large portion of the global community. Can we discuss some of the larger issues one at a time?

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  4. Kevin Wallace
    Instructor Leadership Minor Program at John Carroll University

    I agree with Shari, most of the world's major religions have overlap in their tenants. Values have under pinning's in religion or religious tenants, as people move away from learning/practicing any religion they tend to drift towards moral relativism, but the question then becomes relative to what...?

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  5. Great thoughts and I like the reference to religion. Even in a society that increasingly moves away from organized religion, one can find the basis for our social contract in the 10 Commandments. I would also observe that separation of church and state are central to a society that evolves its beliefs. It used to be heresy to suggest that the planets revolve around the Sun. Whenever religion is tied to government, freedom is restrained and citizens suffer. It is incumbent upon our leaders to promote principled beliefs without imposing their's on us.

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  6. Shari Cox
    at Dept. of Children and Family Services

    I wouldn't want to live in a theocracy, but there's no point in denying the roots of most of our ideas of right and wrong. Who's going to argue that "Thou shalt not steal" and "Thou shalt not murder" shouldn't be followed? And there are worse guides regarding right and wrong than "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

    We benefit most from the separation when the church and state keep an eye on each other - checks and balances. Regarding the heresy, the Catholic Church wasn't limiting its teachings to what was included in the Bible when it did that - and quite a few other things as well. Clergy in all denominations everywhere do wrong (or, if you will, sin), too. We shouldn't follow either the church or the state blindly.

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  7. Manfred Ruzsicska
    Sector Analyst and Policy Specialist at SMEC International Development

    Just saw this and can't read the article (server is under maintenance) but it got me thinking so I thought I would table some views while they were fresh.

    While I understand and somewhat agree with what you are saying Shari I think the reason "it ain't easy" as John put it can be attributed to who is looking at the action and determining if it is write or wrong - i.e. my definition of what is wrong may be different from yours and that is a product of our respective frames of reference which in turn is influenced by culture and a host of other variables including where someone is at in terms of needs, education etc..

    Even where you have very specific and apparently clearly defined rules e.g. in religious texts and written legislation there is still a function of awareness and education to get people to understand. I witness on a daily basis staunch adherents of religion breaching the core tenets of their faith - probably because their interpretation is different from how I would interpret it.. Even on basic fundamentals such as "thou shalt not kill" people and states have different interpretations with responses including state sanctioned executions, vigilante groups, revenge killings etc.

    Ultimately, as I see it, you will never have a consistent definition of right and wrong that everyone shares. Global legal systems will continue to seek to provide a definition and with luck we will get increasing homogeneity in these. Our communities will also work to communicate what is right and wrong (through outrage, promotion, electing of legislators who share their values etc.). As we progressively more towards a shared consistent understanding and internalise this then we will find it increasing easier to agree and discriminate right from wrong. >> Hope this isn't all straying off the topic.

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  8. Abe WalkingBear Sanchez
    formerly "America's Best Bill Collector"...Speaker/Trainer on Revenue and Sales Enhancement
    You can't put anything over on your kids. The prophet who said "even as children by their acts you shall know them"...and yourself

    ReplyDelete
  9. Daniel Herrscher
    Workflow/Labor Utilization Coordinator at San Diego Unified School District
    When a society's moral standards become "situational", then there's no solid foundation on which to build anything.

    ReplyDelete