"Real World" Ethics: Frameworks for Educators and Human Service Professionals (review)

While reading this book, we found ourselves in conversations about ethics as an academic discipline of study as well as a critical practice skill to teach to students in student affairs preparation programs who will face ethical questions in the future that we cannot possibly predict. As Winston and Saunders (1998) so eloquently asserted,

prudent practitioners must continue to consider and discuss professional and institutional ethical standards . . . they must engage in the challenging work of analyzing any given situation from a multitude of sometimes conflicting perspectives . . . and they must have the courage to persist in ethical course of action. (p. 92)

Nash's book provides a framework for preparing students to enter this type of world once they leave our preparation programs.

This book takes time to read and digest, but will, without a doubt, broaden the reader's perspective and knowledge of the overall premise of ethics. The case descriptions allow for reflection and application of Nash's overall framework of three "moral languages" that he uses to educate students. He weaves philosophical propositions throughout his writings and pragmatic examples for application. He presents questions for readers to use as a method for dissecting their own moral reasoning process. He encourages "moral imagination" though the evaluation of both past and future ethical dilemmas that require examination "before and after they acted, how they would best like to act—and then imaginatively test in advance some of the difficult choices that lay ahead" (pp. 7-8).

We were reminded as professors who teach courses on issues that incorporate students' personal values, that biases and beliefs may shape how we act as professionals. In addition, the instructor has to pay attention to his or her own perspectives in being an educator, because a course that lends itself to personal thought or feelings rather than factual content can become a political presentation of material by a compassionate and convicted educator. Nash talks about his own journey to discover how best to present ethics in a framework that allowed his students to learn about themselves and examine theory and research to support their own beliefs and knowledge. He mentions that he recognizes that each student brings to the class a subjective lens. The interpretation of any content offered is shaped by the student's own personal subjective beliefs.

Nash offers his syllabus as a framework for the way he sets the tone for his course. The syllabus is a lesson in understanding the goal and purpose of his class and his overall approach in teaching ethics. He offers many questions and answers to these questions for students to read; Nash shares with students his teaching philosophy, practical wisdom, and his overwhelming tone of humility in teaching this type of course. It allows students to have a context of the learning environment. The expectations are high and the commitment to be a learner in the classroom is set out clearly, inviting students to be willing to grow and risk in this class in order to perhaps experience a deepening knowledge about ethics as well as a deepening knowledge of self in response to ethical decision making.

The three languages that were presented by Nash in his book are: (a) the language of background beliefs, (b) the language of moral character, and (c) the language of moral principle. Each language is built on the others through his writings and use of examples. The first language of background beliefs refers to our moral reference points that are derived from our cultural, religious, social and family contexts and our interpretation of these influencers. Nash states,

without this standpoint . . . a coherent moral dialogue between ourselves and the world cannot take place; neither is it likely we will ever achieve the deepest ethical self-understanding that leads to fully informed (and...