Case Western ethics question on interview

[ramseszerg]

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eg. Name 2 ethical decisions you've had to make.

Do you think these have to be ethical dilemmas where both side could be "right" or could it be a situation where ethically, one thing is obviously right but one might pick the other side because of other reasons (money, career advancement, not wanting to make an enemy by being a boy scout etc)?

 

[7 Iron]

eg. Name 2 ethical decisions you've had to make.

Do you think these have to be ethical dilemmas where both side could be "right" or could it be a situation where ethically, one thing is obviously right but one might pick the other side because of other reasons (money, career advancement, not wanting to make an enemy by being a boy scout etc)?

You could probably go either route. When I answered ethics related questions though, I thought more about the latter: usually one side is the "ethical" side but you noticed somebody act unethically, etc.

 

[ramseszerg]

It's so hard to think of ethical dilemmas so I'm almost being forced to go the latter route. The only thing I can think of is if your family is starving and you're thinking about stealing bread lol.

 

[shdwpally]

What would be the correct way to answer this?

Your good college friend of 4 years is not doing well in a class you are both taking. While taking the final (sitting next to each other), you find out he has a cheat sheet beneath his seat and is constantly looking at it. There are cameras all around so if you do report him, 100% he will get caught. If you don't, he will get away with it (let's assume proctors don't look at vid). Would you report him to the professor?

The obvious answer would be yes but I highly doubt anyone would report their good friend for doing that.

 

[321931]

What would be the correct way to answer this?

Your good college friend of 4 years is not doing well in a class you are both taking. While taking the final (sitting next to each other), you find out he has a cheat sheet beneath his seat and is constantly looking at it. There are cameras all around so if you do report him, 100% he will get caught. If you don't, he will get away with it (let's assume proctors don't look at vid). Would you report him to the professor?

The obvious answer would be yes but I highly doubt anyone would report their good friend for doing that.

Hmm, I disagree. Your friends define who you are. For example, we have all heard the term of people of the same lot flock together. One can mostly "judge" how a person is like based on their outside friendships/people they hang out with.

With many friendship circles, we come to know our values and ethics, and therefore, your friend shouldn't of done this out of respect for y'alls friendship/trust. And quite frankly, if a friend of mine did this, I wouldn't be his friend anymore. Period. I'm 110% against cheating of any kind.

 

[shdwpally]

Hmm, I disagree. Your friends define who you are. For example, we have all heard the term of people of the same lot flock together. One can mostly "judge" how a person is like based on their outside friendships/people they hang out with.

With many friendship circles, we come to know our values and ethics, and therefore, your friend shouldn't of done this out of respect for y'alls friendship/trust. And quite frankly, if a friend of mine did this, I wouldn't be his friend anymore. Period. I'm 110% against cheating of any kind.

Maybe I worded it wrongly. Your friend has an excellent track record. He has never cheated before in his life and desperately needs to pass this 1 class before he graduates.

Or we could use a similar scenario of your parent. Your dad has lightly bumped a parked car and decides to drive off without leaving any note. You have the choice of walking out of the car and leaving a note on the parked car or decide to not do anything.

It's easy to say something on a forum but honestly are you going to do it?

I'm asking this bc I read about a scenario where you take a pen out of a bank by mistake and they ask if you're going to return it. Correct answer was no I'm not going to bc bank has tons of pens and not many people would go back to the bank just to return a pen

 

[321931]

It really depends on the context of the situation.

I'm not saying its good to rat on friends, but academic dishonesty especially knowingly cheating is one of the worst crimes in the academic setting. You can't compare something that's heinous in the academic setting to something small in the car example given. You would have to be more realistic and draw a equivalent situation like a road rage induced hit and run.

Either way, the situation sucks, but I would report it in both cases. And hey, in the law if you KNEW it happened and they were caught later on...guess what? You are also in trouble. Bummer.

 

[UltimateHombre]

I remembered posting in a similar thread this last summer. Hopefully this might help a little bit.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=746529