The poverty of morality

I came across this when proofreading Ms F's personal statement the other day. She worried about the poverty of morality in our age, about our children who would grow up to be gifted scientists, brilliant bankers and powerful businessmen without a moral compass.

It is an issue I had I alluded to »previously and which occupies my mind every so often. In the notebook that I carry around, I had the following scribbled:

"These days, it has become fashionable to be blasé. To reduce everything to: 'Oh, it's all relative.' It is the one evergreen balm for our conscience if it is ever pricked by something we do. It has  become politically incorrect, even bigoted to suggest that someone is wrong.  For how can anyone be wrong?"

I was recently propositioned to write essays for an essay mill (i.e. to do someone's homework) for £100 per essay. I was tempted, but eventually I said no.

Perhaps this is why I will remain poor. Or in fact, maybe I am not poor enough, because as someone remarked earlier this afternoon, "We are all prostitutes. It is all a matter of price."

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I now return to my half-watched Episode One of the Harvard Justice series: http://www.justiceharvard.org/. Do yourself a favour and watch it too (at least the trailer bit on the homepage). Michael Sandel is very provocative and it's interesting to hear how the students' comments on the moral dilemma.

Ms F: One small step that Harvard is taking to assuage your worry.