PolyToday: Contemporary Ethical Issues

This is Greg Feldmeth's 20th year teaching his Contemporary Ethical Issues class. Before starting the ethics class at Poly, Greg took a sabbatical in England to learn more about their strong and seemingly ubiquitous ethics program. Bringing his knowledge from travels to Andover and Buckingham, Browne and Nichols in Massachusetts, as well as numerous independent schools in England, he created a Contemporary Ethical class for Poly. 
 
The course, a perennial favorite among juniors and seniors, teaches students to sort dilemmas into categories and then apply rule-based, care-based, and ends-based approaches to solving them. The focus of the class is how to think about ethics, rather than what to think.
 
As today is the last day of the first semester, both sections of his class have now wrapped up their discussions for the year. Each year, Greg gives students a compass at the end of the class to remind them that they hold the responsibility for their own choices. Many alums take their compass to college (and beyond). At alumni gatherings, alums can often be heard proudly telling Greg where their compass now sits. Greg commented, "The compass is meant to be a reminder to the students that while I'm happy when they get into their favorite schools or find a rewarding career or a loving spouse, what makes me happiest is when they lead good lives."