Newspaper Article

ETHICS COURSES ARE MAKING SLOW INROADS

Jenne K. Britell, executive director for program planning at the Educational Testing Service, frequently writes about the social, sciences., JENNE K. BRITELL

1981

Overview

''The professions are defined by unique ethical rights, moral obligations, duties, and privileges,'' added Dr. [Arthur L. Caplan], who is also associate for social medicine at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons. ''For this reason ethics courses cannot be remedial humanities education for someone who majored in chemistry.'' The ethical rounds put teaching of ethics on a par with the teaching of other medical subjects. ''If we teach ethics differently from other subjects in professional schools,'' Dr. Caplan noted, ''students won't take it seriously.'' The goals of such courses, most experts agree, is not to provide students with the ''right answer,'' but to enable them to understand moral dimensions of the problems. ''Ethics courses do not change feelings,'' Professor [Norman E. Bowie] said. ''If they are successful, they enable people to distinguish good from bad arguments.''

• Publisher: New York Times Company
• Subject: Business Administration Education / Calculus / Caplan, Arthur / Case Studies / Clinical Experience / COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES / Course Content / EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS / Ethics / Humanities Instruction / Medical Education / Medical Students / Organic Chemistry / Physicians / Required Courses / Undergraduate Students