Sunday, July 23, 2017

Professor: Students Are Becoming Moral Nihilists | Intellectual Takeout

Professor: Students Are Becoming Moral Nihilists | Intellectual Takeout
Image result for moral nihilism quotes"The Problem
One thing I’ve learned in my years of teaching in the U.S. is that many young Americans are moral relativists. 
As students in elementary and secondary schools, they were taught that there is no moral fact of the matter. 
Thus, when people disagree about moral issues, their different perspectives are equally valid. 
It would be wrong to criticize anyone from another culture who sees things differently.
For example, my son’s high school English teacher wanted her students to say that child slavery in Ghana is morally permissible, the unstated premise being that there are no absolute moral principles that apply to all cultures at all times and places. 
In my college teaching, I often encounter the results of such thinking.
...I often describe female genital mutilation, practiced in places like rural Sudan and argue that it is immoral because it is painful, involuntary, can lead to infection and death and removes the possibility of feeling sexual pleasure. 
Thus, this practice is immoral. 
But my students frequently respond, “That’s just your perspective. 
Image result for 'Oh He Just Died': Teens Laugh At Drowning Disabled Man In Disturbing VideoThe Sudanese would be unlikely to agree with you.”
Students enter my classroom believing nothing is truly good or evil and that moral beliefs are the result of what society says.
...Teachers are apparently so worried that moral disagreements will lead to conflicts that they teach that “everyone is entitled to their opinion.”
Resulting in this: Oh He Just Died': Teens Laugh At Drowning Disabled Man In Disturbing Video
Read on!

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