According to Dr. Christina Sommers in her article “Teaching the Virtues,” the main problem today is failure to provide students with a foundation of moral virtues. According to the author, the major problem today in schools is that ethics lessons lay so much emphasis on social policy issues and pay little or no emphasis on private morality. As a result, there is significant moral drift among students in learning institutions and the society at large. In the article, Dr. Sommer talks about the problem with teaching students social morality only and what can be done to inculcate virtues in students. In the absence of virtue ethics, people cannot differentiate between right and wrong.
The author presents the importance of morality and uses examples of her life such as her experience teaching issues which include abortion and DNA research. She makes an important point on the present way of living and the existing social policies. Sommers states “There have been major cheating scandals at many of our best universities and a recent survey reported in the Boston Globe says that 75 percent of all high school students admit to cheating; for college students the figure is 50 percent.” In addition, she states that “Part of the problem is that so many students come to college dogmatically committed to a moral relativism that offers them no grounds to think that cheating is just wrong.”
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Dr. Sommers argues that cheating scandals have been an issue in many generations because students are not taught moral virtue. Human beings should be moral and an individual cannot be moral without knowledge on ethics (Sommers, 1991). In addition, teachers do not teach individual ethics for fear that they might be indoctrinating their students. Learning institutions teach teachers that they should not determine what is right or wrong for their students but allow them to discover for themselves. This according to her has further compounded the issue of individual ethics/morality among students.
To solve the problem, Dr. Sommers proposes that teachers/instructors in learning institutions teach individual virtues. When students are not conscious of their individual moral values, they are not able to tell what is right or wrong. As a result, a person cannot provide a judgment that is rational because he/she is lacking in individual virtues. Such a person may therefore end up doing things that are immoral. One important question posed by Dr. Sommers is “How can a person who does things that are not moral have a rational judgment?” According to the author, a person without understanding of virtues will be selfish, a liar and a hypocrite. Such an individual can deceive people and cause big problems.
Students learn nothing from the social policies education offered by teachers today because it does not include individual virtues. Dr. Sommers gives an example of a teacher who tells her student that cheating is not bad if a person is not caught. In such a case, the student cannot develop moral values because he/she is not taught in a right manner. However, when the teacher informs the student that cheating or other immoral actions should be avoided, such a student would avoid repeating such things in the future because their conscience would not permit them to do so. The example proves that it is important to teach individual ethics. Christina Sommer’s suggestion is that learning institutions ought to teach individual ethics first. Social policy should be taught after individual ethics. After understanding private morality, a student will also be in a position to better understand issues related to social policy.
Dr. Sommers also recommends three steps towards instilling virtue in students. The three steps include:
Having behavior codes in learning institutions. They should insist on being kind, honest and civility.
When teachers emphasize on values such as civility and honesty, they should not be blamed for indoctrination or brainwashing.
Teachers should tell their young students stories that instill goodness. Students in high schools, colleges and universities should study, read and discuss moral classics (Sommers, 1991).
Teachers ought to assist students in becoming familiar with their ethical heritage. She suggests that it is possible to teach virtue. In addition, the author suggests that successful moral learning is appealing to both emotions and mind. When best moral learning is offered, a student can be inspired to become conscious of the fact that one’s conduct is at risk. She further recommends that although teaching the logic of ethical discourse and implementing moral reasoning in seeking for solutions is crucial, sophistry should not be the beginning point. This is due to the fact that dilemma ethics provide no moral grounds in the long term (Sommers, 1991). In addition, teaching students about dilemma ethics alone makes students think that ethical reasoning is meant for lawyers only.
I am convinced that individual ethics should be taught in learning institutions. Teaching moral virtue help in the development of a virtuous conduct which makes an individual become virtuous in all aspects (Silva, 2017). In her article, “Do American students even know how to be moral?”, Alyssa Silva advocates that individual ethics should be taught in learning institutions and a person should develop beliefs of what is good or bad after understanding the ideals. I agree with Sommers on the idea that without teaching students in learning institutions on individual ethics, an individual cannot tell the difference between what is morally right and wrong. People learn a craft by generating the same thing that ought to be generated after learning (Curzer, 2012). Therefore, people become virtuous by doing virtuous things (Jones, 2017). Telling students what is morally right or wrong is not indoctrinating them. If they are not taught on individual ethics, teaching them social policy will not be of any benefit to the society in the long term. It is therefore important that students receive knowledge from people who have it for them to develop virtues and individual morality.
However, despite the fact that I agree with Dr. Christina Sommers’ proposal, there are questions regarding her recommendations. One of the questions is how a teacher can be consistent in teaching individual ethics. Learning institutions have large numbers of students and promoting proper thinking between what is right and wrong in large numbers of students is questionable. Dealing with large numbers of students can be a challenge in teaching and development of virtue and therefore determining effective ways to deal with the challenge is crucial. Another important question that arises from Christina Sommer’s proposal is if it is possible to instill correct and consistent virtues among students from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Culture influence the way people behave and different people have different cultural practices. As a result, handling students from different cultural backgrounds in instilling virtuous ethics is a major issue here.
In conclusion, Christina Sommers’ proposal is important especially in the present world in which the issue of morality and ethics is of concern. Teaching students individual ethics and promoting virtue ethics that enable them to distinguish between right and wrong can help in dealing with moral illiteracy. However, crucial aspects such as cultural background and consistency in teaching individual ethics are crucial for teaching to be effective.
Reference
Curzer, H. J. (2012). Introduction. Aristotle and the Virtues , 1–16. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199693726.003.0001
Jones, M. S. (2017). Moral Reasoning: an intentional approach to distinguishing right from wrong . Place of publication not identified: KENDALL HUNT.
Silva, A. (2019, October 15). Do American Students Even Know How To Be 'Moral'? Retrieved from https://www.theodysseyonline.com/students-and-morals-are-our-morals-deteriorating.
Teaching the Virtues. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.forerunner.com/forerunner/X0116_Teaching_the_Virtues.html.
