Ethics and Morality

What’s the Difference Between Morality and Ethics?

Generally, the terms ethics and morality are used interchangeably, although a few different communities (academic, legal, or religious, for example) will occasionally make a distinction.

Ethics

Ethics, also called moral philosophy, the discipline concerned with what is morally good and bad and morally right and wrong. The term is also applied to any system or theory of moral values or principles. Click here to read this entry written by Peter Singer. Peter Albert David Singer is an moral philosopher. He is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, and a Laureate Professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics.

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Video Recording of Dilip Barad's Session in AICTE sponsored STTP organised by Gandhinagar Institute of Technology on Communication Skills and Ethics.

Phase I: 30 Dec 2020

Phase II: 20 Jan 2021

Phase III: 3 Feb 2021

Ethics vs Morality

Let us read these statements to understand the difference between morality and ethics in proper context;

1. If a teacher is irregular in his duty (i.e. not completing syllabus), s/he may be considered unethical but we cannot call him 'immoral'.
2. If a teacher is physically exploiting students, s/he may be considered immoral as well as unethical.
3. If a teacher supports students agitating against management, it may be considered morally righteous but unethical.
4. If a teacher is doing administration work at the cost of teaching, s/he may be considered morally right but unethical.
5. If a teacher is forced to do admin work instead of teaching, it is unethical but it may not be considered immoral
6. The Lawyer telling court that his/her client is guilty is morally right but ethically it violets attorney-client privilege.
7. Regular full time teachers - doing private tuitions = Unethical or Immoral?
8. Teacher asking for money to pass students = Unethical or Immoral?
9. If we cannot take exams without invigilator, how can we say that our education system deals with morality and ethics in a proper way?

To know more about 'Ethics' . . .  Click Here

• What is ethics?
• What use is ethics?
• Ethics and people
• Are ethical statements objectively true?
• Four ethical 'isms'
• Where does ethics come from?
• Are there universal moral rules?

Cultural Studies: Media, Power and Truly Educated Person

Short Lessons on Cultural Studies

It is nearly impossible to define Cultural Studies in definite terms. It is difficult because the concept of Culture itself has been made ambiguous. The pendulum of the definition of Culture ranges from Matthew Arnold's idea of "perfecting what was best thought and said" on one extreme to Raymond Williams and the likes of poststructuralist who would love to define it as "everyday life as really lived by one and all, including common-men".

The second problem with Cultural Studies is its scope of study. As it aims to transcend all disciplines and breaks the difference between the high and the low, the elite and the popular culture, it encompasses almost everything under its umbrella. This makes it confusing and the student / teacher with lesser ability to dig deeper in the artefacts to connect it with the 'discourse', sometimes, fails Cultural Studies.

Thirdly, as Cultural Studies reads 'power' with critical insights, it makes the students / scholars 'politically incorrect'. This also makes it difficult for CS to survive in the academia where 'political correct' and 'right-wingers' are in majority.

However, it is but sure that the study of Cultural Studies in incomplete without the study of 'Power'. In addition, as in our times, 'Media' is the tool to control the perceptions and the subject, the Power makes extensive use of Media. All forms of media. Print, radio, TV, electronic, digital, social.

Moreever, the critique of Media studied under Cultural Studies gives an opportunity to provoke our thoughts to understand the how power makes use of media. Here we will see What is Power and how power makes use of media. Watching these videos may help us read power, understand media and thus make us truly educated person.

First of all, let us understand 'POWER':

This video help us understand where power comes from, how it is exercised and how can one read and write power.

Political Power & our sense of judgement:

Do politics make us irrational?

Can someone's political identity actually affect their ability to process information? The answer lies in a cognitive phenomenon known as partisanship. While identifying with social groups is an essential and healthy part of life, it can become a problem when the group's beliefs are at odds with reality. So how can we recognize and combat partisanship? Jay Van Bavel shares helpful strategies. [Directed by Patrick Smith, narrated by Addison Anderson].

Read transcript here: Click here

Secondly,let us see what Noam Chomsky has to say about Mass Media. He gives “Five Filters.” 
1. Media Ownership
2. Advertising
3. Media Elite
4. Flack
5. The Common Enemy

One must read these filters in detail to understand how power makes use of mass media to create the illusion of Democracy. Click here to read about it in details.

Chomsky and Herman’s book offers a surgical analysis of the ways corporate mass media “manufactures consent” for a status quo the majority of people do not actually want. Yet for all of the recent agonizing over mass media failure and complicity, we don’t often hear references to Manufacturing Consent these days. 

This videos explains this - 'Manufacturing Consent'. 

It seems that the media theory and criticism like Chomsky’s, or the work of Marshall McLuhan, Theodor Adorno, or Jean Baudrillard (all thought provoking critics of Culture), has fallen out of favor in a 140-character world. Never-the-less, we can understand our times in a better way with their cultural lenses.

Well, if this interests you and if you are hungry to know more, watch this amazing debate between Michael Foucault and Noam Chomsky on 'Human Nature and Power' (1971):

In ’71, at the height of the Vietnam War, the American linguist and French historian/social theorist appeared on Dutch TV to debate a fundamental question: Is there such a thing as innate human nature? Or are we shaped by experiences and the power of cultural and social institutions around us?

40 years later, you can find the classic debate on YouTube. If you need subtitles, make sure you turn on the captions function at the bottom of the video. Thanks Open Culture for this.

Lastly, Cultural Studies makes one truly educated person as the students cultivate the habit of questioning one discipline with the findings of another discipline; as the student unlearn what specific disciplines taught, and more importantly, it it teaches controversies.

However, it is enriching to listen what Noam Chomsky thinks about truly educated person. Watch this video:

Here is the highlights of what he said in this video:

• The core principle and requirement of a fulfilled human being is the ability to inquire and create constructively, independently, without external controls.
• A true education opens a door to human intellectual freedom and creative autonomy.
• It’s not important what we cover in the class; it’s important what you discover.
• To be truly educated means to be resourceful, to be able to “formulate serious questions” and “question standard doctrine, if that’s appropriate”…. It means to “find your own way.

Thus to conclude, in this series of short lessons on Cultural Studies, it seems this is enough to understand Power, Media and what it is to be Truly Educated person.

Books on Education System

Books on Changing Face of Education

1. Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities

~ Martha C. Nussbaum

In this short and powerful book, celebrated philosopher Martha Nussbaum makes a passionate case for the importance of the liberal arts at all levels of education. Historically, the humanities have been central to education because they have rightly been seen as essential for creating competent democratic citizens. But recently, Nussbaum argues, thinking about the aims of education has gone disturbingly awry both in the United States and abroad. Anxiously focused on national economic growth, we increasingly treat education as though its primary goal were to teach students to be economically productive rather than to think critically and become knowledgeable and empathetic citizens. This shortsighted focus on profitable skills has eroded our ability to criticize authority, reduced our sympathy with the marginalized and different, and damaged our competence to deal with complex global problems. And the loss of these basic capacities jeopardizes the health of democracies and the hope of a decent world. In response to this dire situation, Nussbaum argues that we must resist efforts to reduce education to a tool of the gross national product. Rather, we must work to reconnect education to the humanities in order to give students the capacity to be true democratic citizens of their countries and the world. Drawing on the stories of troubling--and hopeful--educational developments from around the world, Nussbaum offers a manifesto that should be a rallying cry for anyone who cares about the deepest purposes of education. Read Chapter 1 Read review of this book 2.  The Fall of the Faculty:The Rise of the All-Administrative University and Why It Matters ~ Benjamin Ginsberg Powerful and stinging critique of one of the most powerful trends in academia: the shift in power to non-academic administrators Exceptionally well written polemic that will stir controversy at universities across the country The author is well known throughout academia, and has coauthored one of the bestselling textbooks on American government in recent history Dissatisfaction with the academy runs deep in America. Despite-or perhaps because of-the fact that a far greater percentage of Americans have attended college than at any time in the past, distrust of the higher education system seems higher than ever. The most common complaints concern rapidly escalating tuition prices, affirmative action policies, and-not least-the allegedly left-wing professoriate that runs American universities. Indeed, much of the criticism of academia focuses on professors: they are too liberal, they care little about teaching, and they are too hyperspecialized. Benjamin Ginsberg argues that this common critique puts the cart before the horse and ignores a much bigger issue. In fact, faculty are not the primary problem with contemporary academia. Rather, the problem lies in the explosive growth in administration in US universities and the concomitant decline in faculty power in influence. Put simply, <"deanlets>"-administrators without doctorates or serious academic training-rule the roost, and professors do not have nearly as much institutional power as theyused to. Their decline dovetails with another trend: the growing regimentation and corporatization of the university. The fallout, Ginsberg contends, is negative: a de-emphasis on intellectual rigor and the traditional liberal arts. A stinging critique of how universities are run today, this book charts how this happened and explains how we can revamp the system so that actual educators have more say in curriculum policy. 3. The University in Ruins~ Bill Readings

It is no longer clear what role the University plays in society. The structure of the contemporary University is changing rapidly, and we have yet to understand what precisely these changes will mean. Is a new age dawning for the University, the renaissance of higher education under way? Or is the University in the twilight of its social function, the demise of higher education fast approaching?

We can answer such questions only if we look carefully at the different roles the University has played historically and then imagine how it might be possible to live, and to think, amid the ruins of the University. Tracing the roots of the modern American University in German philosophy and in the work of British thinkers such as Newman and Arnold, Bill Readings argues that historically the integrity of the modern University has been linked to the nation-state, which it has served by promoting and protecting the idea of a national culture. But now the nation-state is in decline, and national culture no longer needs to be either promoted or protected. Increasingly, universities are turning into transnational corporations, and the idea of culture is being replaced by the discourse of “excellence.” On the surface, this does not seem particularly pernicious.

The author cautions, however, that we should not embrace this techno-bureaucratic appeal too quickly. The new University of Excellence is a corporation driven by market forces, and, as such, is more interested in profit margins than in thought. Readings urges us to imagine how to think, without concession to corporate excellence or recourse to romantic nostalgia within an institution in ruins. The result is a passionate appeal for a new community of thinkers.

Read Reviews of the book

4. SLOW PROFESSOR: CHALLENGING THE CULTURE OF SPEED IN THE ACADEMY

~

Maggie Berg and Barbara Seeber

University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division © 2016

Read an article about this book

It is no longer clear what role the University plays in society. The structure of the contemporary University is changing rapidly, and we have yet to understand what precisely these changes will mean. Is a new age dawning for the University, the renaissance of higher education under way? Or is the University in the twilight of its social function, the demise of higher education fast approaching?

We can answer such questions only if we look carefully at the different roles the University has played historically and then imagine how it might be possible to live, and to think, amid the ruins of the University. Tracing the roots of the modern American University in German philosophy and in the work of British thinkers such as Newman and Arnold, Bill Readings argues that historically the integrity of the modern University has been linked to the nation-state, which it has served by promoting and protecting the idea of a national culture. But now the nation-state is in decline, and national culture no longer needs to be either promoted or protected. Increasingly, universities are turning into transnational corporations, and the idea of culture is being replaced by the discourse of “excellence.” On the surface, this does not seem particularly pernicious.

The author cautions, however, that we should not embrace this techno-bureaucratic appeal too quickly. The new University of Excellence is a corporation driven by market forces, and, as such, is more interested in profit margins than in thought. Readings urges us to imagine how to think, without concession to corporate excellence or recourse to romantic nostalgia within an institution in ruins. The result is a passionate appeal for a new community of thinkers.

If there is one sector of society that should be cultivating deep thought in itself and others, it is academia. Yet the corporatisation of the contemporary university has sped up the clock, demanding increased speed and efficiency from faculty regardless of the consequences for education and scholarship.

In The Slow Professor, Maggie Berg and Barbara K. Seeber discuss how adopting the principles of the Slow movement in academic life can counter this erosion of humanistic education. Focusing on the individual faculty member and his or her own professional practice, Berg and Seeber present both an analysis of the culture of speed in the academy and ways of alleviating stress while improving teaching, research, and collegiality. The Slow Professor will be a must-read for anyone in academia concerned about the frantic pace of contemporary university life.

Arrogance of the Educated Political Leaders

(This was posted by Dilip Barad on 17 August 2011 on Facebook during the high time of Anna Hazare Movement for Lokpal Bill against UPA-2 Government.)

Faith in education feels tremors! Educated ministers (Manmohan Singh, Kapil Sibal, Chidambaram etc) are bent on snatching basic human and civil rights of the citizens of the largest democracy of the world. I believed 'democracy without education' is ‘dictatorship under the cloak of democracy'. I will have to rethink - does education lead to better democratic state??? Are educated people/ministers better to govern/administer than uneducated? These political leader are not only educated in India so we criticize Indian Education System, but they are educated and got experience from world renowned Universities of the World. 

It is to be noted that Anna Hazare has taken education till 7th standard - primary school only. As the family was not financiable to educate children, he worked and got recruited in Indian Army as Truck Driver. So, the fight to free India from corruption by bringing in strong Jan Lokpal Bill was between highly educated ministers of UPA-2 under PM Manmohan Singh and lowly educated Anna Hazare who became unanimous and undisputed leader of educated young India.

Well, it is fact universally acknowledged that education systems, worldwide, have some fault that it fails to identify talents or lack futuristic vision. Say for instance, the young ones who revolutionized world in last 2-3 decades were all drop outs or their talents went unheeded by American Universities. I am talking about Bill Gates (Microsoft), Steve Jobs (Apple), Mark Zukerberg (Facebook) to make a few popular personalities.

Well, the point here is not about University drop outs making 'big' in the real life. Here it is about democracy, elected representatives and their education qualifications. If we believe that education is necessary for better democracy and elect educated candidates to make state of affairs good for the people, then the way some political leaders behave in India, makes us disappointed. It is disheartening to see that education breeds 'arrogance' rather than 'sense of understanding'. Education seems to take us away from common-sense.

During Anna Hazare Movement for a strong Lokpal Bill in Parliament, the elected representatives sitting inside the Parliament failed to understand the mood of the Nation. Anna Hazare got tremendous support from the people of India. Though the Anna Hazare Movement failed, yet the people remembered it and in 2014 elections voted Congress led UPA-2 government our of Parliament. 

Prime Minister: Dr. Manmohan Singh: Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, since 2004, is one of the most honored Statesman in the globe. He is the highest qualified Prime Minister in the world. He is known for his integrity, honesty, knowledge and intelligence in economic and financial matters. 

• Wright's Prize for distinguished performance at St John's College, Cambridge, 1955 and 1957
• Wrenbury scholar, University of Cambridge, 1957;
• DPhil (Oxford), DLitt (Honoris Causa); PhD thesis on India's export competitiveness.

Read his profile: 
http://jyoti-kothari.hubpages.com/hub/Dr-Manmohan-Singh-Highest-Qualified-Prime-Minister-in-the-world

Kapil Sibal obtained his M.A. in History from St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi, Delhi and LL.M. from Harvard Law School, USA. Hel obtained a Master's in Law from Harvard Law School in 1977. In his time at Harvard Law School, he demonstrated himself to be a good scholar, the ultimate \"reasonable man\" in discussions. (surprise???!!!)

Chidambaram did his schooling from the Madras Christian College Hr.Sec.School, Chennai. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Statistics from The Presidency College, Chennai, he completed his Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from the Madras Law College, Chennai, and his Masters in Business Administration (M.B.A.) from Harvard Business School. He also holds a Masters from Loyola College, Chennai.

Shoe hurled at Chidambaram during press conference

Abhishek Manu Shinghvi: B.A.(Hons.), M.A., Ph.D., PIL Educated at St. Columba's School, Delhi, St. Stephen's College, Delhi University, Trinity College, University of Cambridge, U.K. and Havard University, U.S.A.

Abhishek Manu Singhvi

Mani Shankar Aiyar: Senior Cambridge, B.A. (Hons.) in Economics, (standing first in the University), M.A. (Economics) Educated at Doon School, Dehradun, St. Stephens' College, University of Delhi, Trinity Hall, Cambridge University, U.K. D.Sc. (Honoris Causa) by Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, Honorary Fellow, Trinity Hall, Cambridge University, U.K., 2010

Aiyer's remark epitomized arrogance of educated Congress ministers

Pranab Mukherjee: M.A. (History), M.A. (Political Science), LL.B., D. Litt. (Honoris Causa) Educated at Vidyasagar College, Suri, Calcutta University, West Bengal.

Ahmed Patel: B.Sc. Educated at Shree Jayendra Puri Arts and Science College, Bharuch (South Gujarat University) and M.S. University, Baroda.

Sonia Gandhi: Three years course in foreign languages (English & French) completed in 1964 at Istituto Santa Teresa, Turin, Italy. Certificate in English from Lennox Cook School, Cambridge, U.K. completed in 1965.

These are the comments received under this post on FB:

Jignesh Gohill and the irony is that the person (anna hazare) who fights for these democratic rights has studied only up to 7th.
17 August 2011 at 10:20 · Unlike · 5

Jagdish Anerao not exactly so, dear, they are very kind to their dear vote catchers kasab and afzal guru, while Anna loves India, the terrorists hate India and so they live peacefully
17 August 2011 at 14:54 · Unlike · 2

Hiren Bhatt Duties of a teacher: to finish the syllabi
Goal/objectives of students: to pass exams with good grades.

It's the biggest stupidity to expect this kind of education to bring about desirable changes.
17 August 2011 at 17:49 · Unlike · 2

Jignesh Gohill Example of anna hazare and all above ministers clearify the difference between 'education' and 'cultivation'.
17 August 2011 at 17:56 · Unlike · 2

Vijay Mangukiya Manmohan Singh is alike Macbeth who is forced to rule and sit on the throne by Soniya Gandhi (Lady Macbeth) who is dominating upon him. In Shakespearean play, Lady Macbeth instils or rather forces Macbeth to go forward at any cost, and thus following her all istructions, he commits murder after murder. Similar is th case of M. Singh. He also follows what MADAM instructs him to do. And Banquo ( L.K.Advani) is waiting for his fall. He wants Fleance (Rajnath) to go on the throne. In short, all these political leaders whether they are educated or uneducated are playing drama and we are the spectators.
17 August 2011 at 20:28 · Unlike · 4

Simone Cotic Fake problem, skills don't mean character, another education.
18 August 2011 at 04:11 · Unlike · 1

Hiren Bhatt Character is not just a collection of certificates
18 August 2011 at 09:50 · Unlike · 2

Jay Mehta @Dilip Barad: This is eye-opening.
19 August 2011 at 19:03 · Like

Education for All ...

Education for all….
There is a paradox. Either you go for education for all or quality education. Constitution says about fundamental right to education. Committees are against expansion of education infrastructure. The situation in this paradox remains – ‘rich can buy better education and poor are compelled to receive substandard education’.
Well, the best way (perhaps) to crack this paradoxical puzzle is to pour money into it - Money for infrastructure and for salary. It’s still easy to pour money for infrastructure and develop it. More difficult is to pour money for salary. When the sixth pay commission has submitted it report and a committee is set to revise its guidelines, it’s perhaps best time to restructure pay scales of teachers working in government aided schools. Once government aided teachers are paid handsomely, the private players must increase their salary. Once the salary is better off, talented young will be attracted towards working in schools. I would suggest better salary packages for rural schools as compared to that in city schools. We want better teachers to work in rural and semi urban schools. In cities, there are better opportunities to ‘buy’ education, villages don’t have such options.

Like, India's Education system, Legal system of India is also facing crunch for best brains. As best of the best brain opt for medical or engineering, and the left out of standard 12th are in queue for being teachers in schools and colleges, similarly successfully lawyers never give up their practice to don a judge's robe. In the last meeting of the chief justices of high courts of India pay hike was prominent demand of one and all.

Money is not the root of all the evils. Lact of it is. Money is one of the best motivators. It is pay packages of IIM and IIT graduates that insire more and more young and brilliant brians to adopt the profession of management or IT.

If attractive packages are availed to teachers, most of, if not all the problems pertaining to education can be solved in India.