TEACHING ENRONOMICS

New York Post ^ | 7/02/02 | STEPHEN H. BALCH

[kattracks]

July 2, 2002 -- IF tomorrow's leaders are learning their ethics at American colleges and universities today, then we have many more Enrons and WorldComs in our future.

But the details undermine any grounds for optimism.

Specifically, 73 percent respond that the view of ethics most often transmitted was the politically correct "what is right and wrong depends on differences in individual values and cultural diversity," compared to a mere 25 percent who indicate "the copybook choice" that "there are clear and uniform standards of right and wrong by which everyone should be judged."

[Mr. Bird]

Asked which of four business practices they'd been taught to regard as "most important," only 23 percent of the students rank "providing clear and accurate business statements to stockholders and creditors" first. The rest prefer those serving goals like "recruiting a diverse work force" (38 percent), "minimizing environmental pollution" (18 percent) and not exporting jobs or moving plants (18 percent).

I don't see the problem. The 74 percent who responded with PC answers don't have a prayer of ever advancing to a level where they will impact anything more than their own paycheck.

[Constitutional Patriot]

I believe that in most cases, ethics are taught in the home at an early age. If you don't have them by the time you are 18 and shipping off to college, you certainly will not learn them from the college faculty.

If you do have an ethical upbringing, your own personal "code" of ethics will be reflected in whatever you do.

As for polling college students, I don't put a lot of weight in the opinions of people who have not spent much time in the real world yet.