Are business ethics classes effective in teaching ethics? You would think they are. But are they really? I’m going to find out and answer this question for my research paper (which I am very nervous for!).
You’re probably wondering why I even care about this topic. Well, I specifically want to look into business ethics classes because of my own personal experience in a business ethics class at Santa Clara. My experience has not been the most pleasant. To be honest, I feel uncomfortable in that the class because it is structured in a way that makes me feel distant from the material and unsafe to voice my opinion. Theories are taught in class and lectures are given through the textbook, constructing the idea that ethics is a concept students have to memorize. I also feel unsafe in the class because it seems that the professor was enforcing his opinions upon other students, who had a contradicting opinions. This event has changed my perception of business ethics classes and has sparked an interest in me about the effectiveness of these types of classes. Can ethics be taught in a classroom environment?
There are so many questions I have that are related to this topic. Some sub questions are: 1) What teaching methods are beneficial to a student’s growth and what teaching styles are ineffective and counterproductive? 2) What type of environment should be created in order to have safe discussions? 3) Is it ethical for a professor to enforce his/her own ideas of ethics upon a student? 4)Are there right or wrong answers in ethics classes? 5) How have ethics classes evolved over time? How do professors define ethics? 6) Do these classes take an intersectionality approach? 7) If they are proven ineffective, why do universities still enforce them? 8) Where do the values of these ethics come from? 9) What values and beliefs are not included int he discussion? 10) Who gets to define what is ethical?
With so many questions, I hope I will be able to have a focused research paper!
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