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A matter of ethics

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Dear Editor,

SOME weeks ago, in an ethics class, the students were taught "Situation Ethics". Some time after that, they were given a pop quiz by the same teacher. As the teacher was marking the test papers, she was noticing that most of the students were getting perfect scores. She felt good about herself. The students had grasped the concept well.

At her next class, she congratulated the students on their good results. The students responded, not expecting any disagreement: "Miss, we had to look in our book, because this was a pop quiz and we were not prepared for it." The teacher, with an outburst of shock, said: "Are you telling me that you cheated in the test?" The students responded: "We did not cheat. We did not expect that pop quiz, so the situation called for us to look at our notes."

The teacher, in great anger, got up from around her desk, and shouted: "This is utter garbage! I have to scrap this test! It was not fairly done. You cannot cheat on a test and expect me to accept it! It will not reflect a true result of what you know."

Now the students started to reason with the teacher: "You have taught us that right and wrong depends on the situation. You have also said that the emphasis is on the circumstances to determine what is right and what is wrong. You also said that moral values are expressions of one's feelings, so each person has to decide on their own values. You also said that moral values are not a prescription for life. Now we are confused."

The teacher, trapped by what she had taught, said: "Students, there are certain things in life that are always wrong, and cheating on a test is one of them."

The students said: "Then, Miss, that means you need to stop teaching us garbage."

What a confusion that was. It is quite clear that, as human beings, there has to be a right and wrong that governs our lives. The all-wise God knows that this is why He did not leave us on our own, but He lovingly gave us the rule of measure, The Bible, as our guide. It is our prescription for life.

Sonia Fay Buckland

Meadowbrook

faithfulb7@yahoo.com

A matter of ethics

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