How University of Maine Could Improve its Ethics Courses Essay

It is vital to understand the importance of learning ethics in the modern society. Innumerable cases of unethical conduct points to the fact that the country is suffering from a strong moral perspective. Therefore it is my belief that the University of Maine as an educator of the next generation should have a more active policy to instill its student body with ethics. As of 1996, the University of Maine (UMaine) has required its undergraduate students to enroll in a series of courses that full fills a general education (Gen-Ed) criterion. This Gen-Ed criterion includes several subject areas including the study of ethics. According to UMaine’s Gen-Ed guidelines updated in May of 19961, a course would be qualified as an ethics Gen-Ed if the course satisfies the following requirements. 1. Courses that satisfy the ethics requirement have one or more of the following attributes: a. They teach methods of ethical analysis; b. They deal intensively with ethical issues associated with a particular discipline or profession; c. They engage the student in the study of ethical questions arising through the interpretation of literature or history, or social scientific analysis designed to include ethical evaluation. 2. Programs that undertake to integrate the treatment of ethics throughout the required curriculum may submit to the General Education Committee (GEIC) evidence that the program overall meets the Ethics requirement. The GEIC may thus approve a program (for a fixed period of time, subject to regular review) as an alternative to requiring that each student's curriculum contain specifically approved courses The university has stated that the goal of its ethics Gen-Ed requirement includes, â€Å"Students gain exposure to ethics a... ...f Undergraduate University Students in General Education Courses." Journal of General Education 56.2 (2007): 149-68. Web. Boyer, Ernest L. Quest for Common Learning: the Aims of General Edu. Unknown: Carnegie Fdn Adv Teaching, 1990. Print. Currier, D. M., and J. H. Carlson. "Creating Attitudinal Change Through Teaching: How a Course on "Women and Violence" Changes Students' Attitudes About Violence Against Women." Journal of Interpersonal Violence 24.10 (2009): 1735-754. Print. Holloway, M. C. ". A Comparison Of the Impact of Two Liberal Arts General Education Eore Curricula on Student Humanitarian Values." Journal of General Education (2005). Print. Pope, Kenneth S., Barbara G. Tabachnick, and Patricia Keith-Spiegel. "Ethics of Practice: The Beliefs and Behaviors of Psychologists as Therapists." American Psychologist 42.11 (1987): 993-1006. Print.