Class Seven: Movie Night

Please post your half page ethical review of a film of your choice on this prompt sometime before July 8.  There is no class next week for Canada Day.  And just a reminder for presenters on July 8, please e-mail me your paper the evening before you present in class.
Enjoy the break.

After Class Six

Today we looked at ethical theories of contractarianism, of Hobbes and Rawls, and also feminist ethics of care and postmodernism.  We watched two film clips, Stand and Deliver (1986) which shows the idealism, virtues, duty, social/academic contract and caring ethics of a teacher.  The second film, Avatar (2009) we used as part of a lesson plan to teach ethics in context.  Groups sketched out some ideas and you can bring those to the next class.
(If you requested lecture notes and did not receive them, please e-mail me and I'll send them to you.)
Please comment on this prompt for June 17th's class.
Next week I will post another prompt for our "movie night" (no class on campus).  Write a half page ethical review of a movie of your choice.
Keep working on your papers, and just a reminder for those presenting on July 8, please e-mail me your papers by 6 p.m. on July 7th.
See you in two weeks.  Enjoy the sunshine!

After Class Five

Give yourselves a pat on the back -- you have ploughed through the most complex philosophy of the semester.  Next week we will look at social contracts, feminist ethics and some postmodern views, which will be more familiar.
This week we discussed Kant's key contributions to ethics: to follow the categorical imperative that requires us to ask if we would want an action to be a universal moral law; to consider all people equal and worthy of respect, treating them as ends in themselves rather than a means to an end; and to judge actions based on a person's intentions or principles.  This is in contrast to Mill's utilitarianism, which aims for the greatest happiness for the largest number of people; here we look at outcomes or consequences and work backwards.
Connecting Kant's approach to religion and politics, we see that the individual is free from following any higher authority's decree, free to follow the moral law, but at the same time, responsible for his or her actions.  This has had a major impact on our concept of moral order, the demand that people learn to think for themselves, and the necessity of recognizing human rights.  It follows that teachers are deeply involved in facilitating this growing understanding in their students.
The questions on the handout we considered also helped us to understand that particular ethical systems are often simultaneously at play in a teacher's decision-making process in the classroom.  Where one falls short, another steps in to fill out the whole picture.  Consciously or unconsciously, we draw on many systems in the work we do.  Our goal is to be more aware of our practices and understand them better.
If you haven't sent me a description of your paper topic, please do.  Also, be thinking about the film you will analyze through the lens of ethics.
Have a great weekend.

After Class Four

This week we compared Plato and Aristotle (image is part of Raphael's famous painting, "The School of Athens" where Plato is pointing upwards to the world of ideals, and Aristotle is pointing forward to this world).  Then we examined some of Aristotle's accomplishments, especially in his ethical concepts of the virtues and the Golden Mean.
Later we compiled a comparison list of moral values of the religions we researched and are still deciding if it's safe to say most religions share universal values.  If yes, perhaps teachers can be more confident about upholding these values in multicultural classrooms.
Continue to fill in the last questions on the back of that sheet and bring it to class next week.
Also, it's not too soon to start thinking about a topic for your paper.  Whenever you've decided, write up a short paragraph describing what you want to explore and I'll give you feedback.
See you next week.

After Class Three

In today's class we discussed the ideas of Plato (image)  that continue to have an impact on our current educational system.  We also tried to connect his theories to practice by identifying,     "what Plato looks like in the classroom".  The big idea to take away from Plato is that through reason we can direct our actions towards "ideals".
Homework for today is to do some general research on a religion you are not deeply familiar with.  Please find 5-7 moral values or commandments that are central to this religion's beliefs.  Bring this list to class next week, June 3rd, for further discussion.         

If you would like to have a look at the earliest existing pieces of homework(!), go to:
http://www.schoyencollection.com/scribes.html#4481
Scroll down to the second tablet (MS 4481)with writing exercises that say:
WHERE DID YOU GO IN OLDEN DAYS? I WENT TO SCHOOL, WHAT DID YOU DO IN SCHOOL? I READ MY TABLET, AND COPIED MY TABLET. THEY PREPARED FOR ME MY PREPARED LINES - LET ME TELL YOU WHAT MY TEACHER TOLD ME - EVEN A FOOL COULD EASILY FOLLOW HIS INSTRUCTIONS, TABLETS OF SUMERIAN AND AKKADIAN, TABLETS OF THE SCRIBAL ART - I AM SCRIBE AND KNOW HOW TO INSCRIBE A STELA.

Have a good weekend   ; )

my thoughts

It's my pleasure to share my opinions with anyone through the class and the discussion on this blog. Although my spoken and written English are not that good, I am trying to express my ideas in proper ways.

I called my mom after the class and said with excitedly: well, I had a great time with my classmates in the class today and we talked about Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa. Her reaction was dissatisfied: Dalai Lama is trying to dismember out state (China)and I don't have much to talk about him."Well, there is at least something worth to talk as we do have different perspectives and ideas towards anything and anyone.""Son, let's stop it right here, Dalai Lama is Dalai Lama, he's a danger to out country and security. I am quite busy right now, call me back later."The conversion may seems ridiculous or boring to any of you here. It means a lot to me:

1. Dialectic. Dalai Lama is likely to be role modal who symbolizes high standard of moral in many countries in the world, except in China. Many Chinese (more accurate, certain) dislike him as his attitude towards Tibet. His aim to highly self-govern Tibet is considered to be an threat to dismember our nation and we should do everything against him.There are solid foundations and reasons for people who admire or abominate Dalai. People in the supporting side may say in terms of his religion beliefs regarding freedom, human rights and such so on. On the other side, the reason why so many Chinese go against him is that his suspected conspiracy to split our nation, with some other schismatics outside of China. Regarding to dialectic, what I learned is that everyone is encouraged to share or agrue anything without enforcing the others to accept certain ideas. Mutual respect is the premise of any sorts of arugment. I don't admire Dalai Lama, I would not force somebody who favors him. We just have different opinions towards something. Besides, we shouldn't stereotype not only people and opinions going along with them. Time is flying and things could be changed, especially we're in the age of booming information. The more you see or hear, the much easier you may change your attitue towards something.

2. Language. Language is one of the most imporant tool to commmunicate with the others in terms of what they're thinking and trying to explain. In the lecture last week, I remember one of my classmate saying that the Chinese millitary invaded Tibet. If we interpret the term "invade" in Chinese, it could mean brutal intrusion with attacking and indecency. However, in China, we thought it was an act of liberation to reform Tibet from feudal serf society towards properity while retaining certain the core values of the religion. When you read a newspaper in a foreign language and compare the piece of news in your own language, you would find the difference between the two and the little difference could affect your considerations and judgements. I remember when I wached CNN two years when it was repoting the turbulence in Tibet, its wording sounds like that the Chinese government should really take account for the incident. Shouldn't the mass media be neutral or it should represent some ideas by only certain people?


3. Mao Ze Dong and Deng Xiao Ping. These two were the paramount leaders in Chinese history. While people are still criticizing Mao as his dictatorship, butality which caused millions of deaths in the events such as the Great Forward Leap and Cultural Revolution, he still has the great impact on Chinese history as he unified the lower class of China （workers and peasants) to fight aganist the invasion of Japan, fight for the independence of China,and initiated a a "New" China. Regarding the question "Who you are and what you do" in the class, Mao certainly did something great to develope his identity and attract millions of supporters. However, after he was in the position of leader, his influence was exaggerated and people did everything he appealed including the great forward leap. He revealed his superiority over the mass. Nowadays, the Great Foward Leap and the Cultural Revolution are still nightmares of many Chinese familiies.

Here are some quotes of Mao:

"The mass line represents the creative and productive energies of the masses of the Chinese population, which are potentially inexhaustible. Party members should take their cue from the masses, and reinterpret policy with respect to the benefit of the masses."

"It is necessary for intellectuals, students, soldiers and the average peasant to pay attention and involve themselves with political work. This is particularly true in wartime."

"It is necessary for China to become self-reliant in the course of the revolution, along the usual lines of class struggle. At the same time, it is a mistake for individuals to only see the good or the bad in a system, to the exclusion of all else.”

Deng Xiao Ping, the successor of Mao, focus on the economic and political reform from a central planning econocic entity yielding to a maket-orientated entity. He aslo stressed the imporantance of science and education in China where many people are becoming more competitive than before. During his designation, he issued many governemnt policies which learing China towards soaring developing and prosperity. However, after 3 decades of sky-rockeing, China is now facing more sosial issues such as imparity, inequality, hugh markup between the rich and poor, drawbacks in the political and economic systems. People start blaming the disfuntion of the goverment.

Here are the quotes of Deng:

"It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice. "

"Let some people get rich first."

"Poverty is not socialism. To be rich is glorious".

"The United States brags about its political system, but the President says one thing during the election, something else when he takes office, something else at midterm and something else when he leaves."

In conclusion, I grew up in a place where Socialism, Marxism, Leningism， Revisionism,
Capitalism, Partyism (the Chinese Communist Party, the only major political party in China) are still crashing, right wing, left wing, pragmaticism, central autority, democracy,are still overlapping, the new generation of information and globalization is rising, ethics and moritily become more complex while people are 6 million university graduates are competing for employment in every July (regular Chinese graduation period).
While the term “socilism with Chinese carateristiscs" sounds odd, human rights, child labour, enviromental issues are still being blasted in China, we're putting efforts to change, it's just matter of time.

After Class Two

Today we took the first step towards understanding ethics -- through examining our own values and common moral sources.  There were some great discussions around the Nobel Peace Prize winners' biographies (image) and we asked how important it is for public figures to be moral icons.  In terms of being role models, should teachers be required to uphold high moral standards in their private lives? 
This is the first official blog posting.  Please choose two ideas to write about, approximately one paragraph each.  You can comment on something from the reading, lecture, discussions or bring in your personal experience, argue points, refer to other readings you've done -- just avoid summarizing things we've all read or experienced in class.  Our goal is to continue the conversations and extend our learning.
Have a great long weekend!