Values Forum

Ethical Dilemmas

Honor Codes

"Honor codes are another way to teach ethics in schools without having a set program. Honor codes provide a way of enforcing academic accountability. They also provide the students with respect for classmates, teachers, and themselves. Along with teaching respect they can also teach integrity.

Here is an example of how the honor code works and why America schools needs it. Greg, a high school senior, reported four of his classmates cheating on a test. Several of his classmates backed him up, and others agreed that he did the right thing. An equally large number said he was 'ratting' on his classmates and he did the wrong thing. Greg turned in his classmates because he believed in the honor code. With the honor code more and more people might learn from Greg's example and start being truthful to the teachers. If the honor code is enforced, I think students would be less likely to cheat on a test. The honor code gives off a moral guidance to the students who use it. This moral guidance gives the young people an understanding that will help them as they are becoming adults. They learn that the good of others as individuals or as a group is also good for them as well as to the other people."
Mary Hagood, Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine Lodge, Kansas

To Sue Or Not To Sue

"A family friend of ours was eating at a fast food restaurant with his family. As he made his way to the bathroom, he slipped on a puddle of melted ice cream that lay on the floor and he severely injured his back. He was out of work for months and never sought any legal action against the restaurant, because he felt that it was his own fault for slipping. He never received anything but compensation for the work that he missed even though he still has back problems due to the accident. He would not take action because he was the one that fell on that floor. I'm not sure I would have done the same in his position."
Leif Raley, David Crockett High School, Austin, Texas

"Christopher Reeves did not sue after an accident leaving him a paraplegic from the shoulders down. He understood that freak acts of nature occur and it does no good to blame anyone. He felt that God had a reason for his accident and maybe if more people look back on their tragedies in this same manner, it would better their acceptance of it. In the interview Reeves said, 'There are some things you can't change or help, you just have to accept.' I believe once society chooses to do this, only then will we see improvement."
Janelle L. Watkins, Delavan High School, Delavan, Illinois

An Agression Gene

"It seems logical that in order to have victims, there must also be criminals. Guess again. Today, even the criminals are victims. A writer for Time magazine claims that we 'create monsters' for society and because of society, they (criminal "monsters") in turn remind us of ourselves. In our present society, that isn't possible. If this were the case, someone would accept blame. Scientists that our society turns to for answers are even looking to take the burden off the criminal. Researchers are now searching for an 'aggression gene'. Is this just another easy answer, another way out of responsibility? At some point we have to stop looking for excuses. Maybe Wilbert Rideau, a convict, was correct stating Americans 'don't want solutions'."
Joanna Durr, Carbondale Community High School, Carbondale, Illinois

A Lock-In & A Walk-In

"In Pekin during the high school's prom, the Pekin mall holds a lock-in. The lock-in is held after the prom till morning the next day. There are activities to do such as sleeping, eating, dancing or just hanging out with friends and talking about the events of the prom,. The city hopes that with these lock-ins the percentage of accidents and injuries that occur after prom will decrease. By having a lock-in parents and city officials have less to worry about because they have the certainty that the kids are having safe fun and are somewhere not associated with alcohol."
Shawna M. Stake, Delavan High School, Delavan, Illinois

"People in the village of Ridgewood, New Jersey were shaken last winter by the death of two teenagers in an automobile accident. Village officials wondered how to prevent another tragedy of that kind. They finally decided to ask parents to permit the police to enter homes where teenagers were holding parties during the absence of the parents.

Early last summer, the Ridgewood Village manager and police chief mailed letters to the parents of teenagers. Permission slips along with the letters gave police the right to enter a house if the police suspected a teen party was taking place with no parents present, parent signing the slips would waive their privacy rights under state law. Out of the few hundred slips that were sent only ten were signed."
Shawna M. Stake, Delavan High School, Delavan, Illinois

Shame

"Colin Powell said that he was going to 'try to restore a sense of shame in our society'. Shame is how you see yourself, it is how you feel about everything you have done wrong. Courts are starting to use shame as a punishment and even an alternative to jail. This is not only a punishment, but psychologists also hope it will help raise responsibility in these offenders."
Alex Hastie, Deer River High School, Deer River, Minnesota

Prison

"In Arizona, seventy percent of all lawsuits against the state are brought on by prisoners. Another example is in New York. The New York State Attorney General claimed that although 97% of prisoners' suits never reach trial, it takes about percent of his department's resources to defend against these suits.

I do not think our justice system should allow this. These criminals who sue the state using taxpayers' money for court-appointed attorneys are not repaying their debt at all. Rather, these people are forcing society, once again, to pay."
Katie Balfoort, Hopkins High School, Hopkins, Michigan

"My parents lived in Turkey during the late 1970's. Prison there was a living hell. No one wanted to be sent there, and if a person did happen to be sent there, he would have done anything to insure he would never go back. The opposite occurs in our country. For instance, Sullivan prison in New York has outdoor televisions installed, so inmates will never miss their favorite television programs while they exercise. At the Massachusetts Correctional Institute there is an annual 'Life's Banquet.' This treats convicted murderers and their guests to catered prime rib dinners. We in this country are once again proving prison is not a place of punishment, rather a place where some inmates are getting better treatment than ever before. How does this show responsibility on the part of the American people? How can we sit back and allow prisoners to have televisions and prime rib dinners when there are school districts in this country that can barely afford proper art supplies and text books? These inmates have committed crimes against society and society should hold them accountable."
Heather Anne Oates, Delavan High School, Delavan, Illinois

Whose Rules?

"Once while driving, my grandfather was hit by another car. The damage was minimal, so he played the role of good-natured citizen and let the man go without making him pay for repairs. A few weeks later that same man brought a law suit against my grandfather for injury and pain and suffering. The judge realized the lack of merit in the man's case and it was thrown out. Judges are regaining their down-to-earth sensibility."
Jesse Belcastro, Center Christian Academy, Bridgeville, Pennsylvania

Affrimative Action

"The government is not solely responsible for the prejudice in this country. However, it does play some part. The government has made mistakes, with affirmative action by creating so many affirmative action programs, they have reversed the discrimination. Now, because of this program, many times people are chosen based solely on race, instead of achievement and individual merit. It is impossible to end completely, because when you give favor to a minority, you are automatically discriminating against the majority."
Theresa Yvonne Ovalle, David Crockett High School, Austin, Texas

The Driving Force

"More and more the size of our Federal bureaucracy grows and along with it the social-type programs that little by little begin to take away liberty and freedom by making the American people dependent on the federal government, and also encouraging irresponsibility and the defeatist victim hood ideas that are corrupting this country. People have forgotten the first major reform is downsizing the federal government, [then] we must instill the ideals and driving values of success through struggle. Without the paternalism, of the state, there needs to be a driving force in society, [enabling us to] move responsibly away from that former dependency."
David Williams, Carbondale Community High School, Carbondale, Illinois

Possibilities

"Families need to encourage success, and instill in their children the possibility of what they can become, likewise, in our school system, we must not shoot for only the lowest common denominator, but rather success should be the most valued commodity we have. Dropping out should , in contrast, be seen as [a] gesture of failure, and not as a way of entering the 'real world' earlier than others. Above all, parents and communities must have more control over these valuable institutions."
David Williams, Carbondale Community High School, Carbondale, Illinois

Justice?

"The Social Security program needs to be changed. Michael Charles Hayes collects $500 monthly even though he's a convicted felon. How can he do this when there's a law that prohibits it? He pleaded insanity which entitles him to disability. Hayes spends the money on TV's, VCR's, and leather jackets and a motorcycle. 'He's living it up', says R.B. Nicholson, whose son was killed by Hayes."
Vonda Higgins, Rock Hill High School, Ironton, Ohio

Welfare-to-Work

"My solutions have been talked about, but I have added ideas that have never been discussed. My plan has to do with the welfare-to-work programs. They are programs that put welfare recipients to work. People are given a chance to better themselves and be removed from the welfare plan. This plan is excellent because they are not just handed money.

As for the low-income apartments, people that live there should have to do their part instead of always freeloading. They should take turns mowing lawns, raking leaves and shoveling driveways for their apartment buildings instead of hiring caretakers. Not only would it provide the low-income people experience it would also cut down bills for the apartments. My solution, I believe, will help the welfare recipients feel they deserve the money given to them."
Emily Schroeder, Wallace High School, Wallace, Idaho