Ethics as a Mandatory Course in Public Schools

[moralpeace7]

Imnotnuts... I think you are nuts. And if multiple people are telling you this, then that's a big hint.

Well logical reasoning and intelligence aren't things that can be taught.

If intelligence cannot be taught then why can I and the rest of my classmates make better arguments for the rest of our lives after a logical reasoning class in college? And why is your argument littered with fallacies and flaws; perhaps you should take that class too or read up on it online. - http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/fallacies.html
More importantly, this has nothing to do with whether or not children should learn the importance of ethics.

This argument is not about the difference of home schooling, so I do not know why you bring that up. It is obvious and have been proven that kids given more attention can learn more.

There are plenty of things that other people believe are right that I disagree with. Affirmative action, abortion, handing condoms out to kids etc. Does that make me unethical?

No, that just makes you short sighted for failing to see there are also many things that any decent human can agree is malicious to society and ourselves. For instance, suppressing the electric car and killing thousands with smog, saving money on maintenance that leads to one of the biggest oil spills, defrauding investors and lying to home owners to cause a global recession that's still going.

Many are unaware about the disadvantages of unethical acts such as:

-immorality spreads to others and the more you commit immoral acts, the more you surround yourself with it

- if reincarnation does exist (which is neither proven nor unproven), then immoral acts will make the world more difficult when you return

- there are many consequences for immoral behavior, but you cannot go wrong staying on the right path

- the gratification of immoral behavior is usually short lived

- immorality is not worth the risk especially when you can achieve happiness without it

[Twinkling Butterfly]

The same thing can happen with ethics, and what's more, if children don't study morality, if they don't learn about the nature of it, then what keeps them from rejecting the morality they're given once they're old enough to question it?

This is the problem. there is nothing wrong with people rejecting what morality they're given and forming their own.

Of course there isn't, but I rejected my old morality in favor of one that makes more sense to me. What I mean is that parents cannot reasonably expect their children to remain true to their morality unless their children understand that morality within the context of morality itself. I don't think the purpose of ethical education is to keep young people from rejecting the morality handed down to them if they find it unreasonable, just as I don't think the purpose of science education is to keep them from rejecting the view of nature handed down to them if they find it unreasonable. But if a person is to reject one belief, teaching, or view in favor of another, that rejection should be an informed judgment. (See my "Youth Rebellion" thread.)

because empathy is the compass for ethics, and without it you can reason as much as you like but you just end up with nihilism every time and nothing to counteract it.

For the compensated psychopaths, you should hope not...but time will tell.

[katana]

i agreed with all of that.

For the compensated psychopaths, you should hope not...but time will tell.

but with this bit, i think the compensated psychopaths are going to end up with this every time without developing empathy. i mean there's no reason for them to believe something that makes no sense to them just cause someone (or even everyone else) says its right. they might get it logically, but logically is not really enough to genuinely internalise it. there's no motivation to want to.

[Chic Geek]

@katana

First of all, there is no need to call me nuts because you disagree with me. As I said before, there is no point in arguing because neither of us are going to change our minds.

@twinkling

I'm in the ASPD forum a lot because my mother is a sociopath.

[pheonixrise]

Public schools around where I live can't even get the basics right - I would not want them taking on ethics as well. Not only that, if it were a gov't-designed course, it would be tailored to the gov't standards of ethics (not what they live by, but what they preach).

I loathe public schools and their mandatory BS from the government. We don't need any more.

I agree. The gov't makes education a frustrating mess already. Why add more to that?

[Twinkling Butterfly]

Not to insult anyone's intelligence, but you are all aware of the difference between studying ethics and being indoctrinated with someone else's morality, aren't you? Would it help if I pointed to the difference between studying dietetics and being told to eat a certain way?