Ethics

            The general issue in the case is that a high school student was given a free copy of the answers to a college entrance exam. He did use the answers while taking the exam, and is now left feeling with a guilty conscience. The man the student turned to for advice, is slightly older than him, and will offer his honest opinion, but the question before us, is what should he say? Is there a way to teach the student a lesson over his wrongful activity, or should he be told that it is really not a big deal? .
             The problem that confronting this problem with the students parents is that many thoughtful parents want to shield their children from feelings of guilt or shame in much the same way that they want to spare them from fear. Guilt and shame as methods of discipline are to be eschewed along with raised hands and leather straps. Fear, guilt and shame as methods of moral direction are seen as failures in decent parenting. Parents want their children to be happy and how can you feel happy when you are feeling guilty, fearful or ashamed? If we were really convinced that using fear, guilt or shame as methods of discipline worked, though, we might be more ready to use them as techniques. But we aren't convinced that this is the case. We won't have more socially responsible people if fear, guilt and shame are part of their disciplinary diet as children. .
             As people in the United States, we are fully responsible for our actions and deserve to be punished for our crimes. It is the individual who must stand trial, not the circumstances of his or her childhood or the pressures and temptations of modern life. This is not the only way people have thought about these matters, but it is the dominant one today, especially in the United States. This is demonstrated by harsher criminal penalties and the reduction of programs that might protect people from what are thought to be the consequences of their own poor choices.