Portland State Definition : "Students will expand their understanding of the impact and value of individuals and their choices on society, both intellectually and socially, through group projects and collaboration in learning communities"
To fully absorb and learn essentially what ethics and social responsibility is, an open mind is essential. While opinons are also essential in discussing sistuations regarding ethics. If a student is closed minded they won't be able to grasp other perspectives that oppose their own. With ethics there are a lot of different defintions of what is considered morally "wrong" and what is considered morally "right". Therefore, a mind that is willing to be open to other perspectives is required in order to fully grasp the concept of Ethics and Social Responsibility.
The topic of ethics and social responsibilty not only provides academic insight, but also has students question or further investigate into why they have the morals they do today. Class discussions on articles such as The Singer Solution to World Poverty surrounding ethics and social responsiblity require students to think critically and more deepy about life decisions and how one can truly affect a person immensely, whether it be for the better or for the worst ( ex: The young girl in asia who was run over by the truck and while there were many passerby's none of them and until it was too late to save her decided to say anything about it or acknowledge her existence). Ethics and Social Responsibility ultimately provides students with knowledge of the real world right as they are about to enter it themselves.
One assignment surrounding this target was Victors Poor Choices. This assignment asked us to argue which of Victor's many poor choices ( from the book Frankenstein which we read) was the worst of them all. Essentially, with Victor and the story of Frankenstein poor choices were made one after the other causing a series of unfortunate events. This assignment had us fully analyze how severely each and everyone of Victor's choices affected the Monster and how Victor never truly took the time to assess situations and the ethical decisions that were at stake and how he constantly made decisions based on selficiousness and what he wanted. ( victors poor choices sheet 1, sheet 2)
Another assignment senior inquiry completed was Cradlestein. This assignment, students selected groups of 3-4 people and were asked to write a play that managed to demonstrate their understanding of both the novels Frankenstein and Cat's Cradle and their understanding of ethics. Both of the novels challenged senior inquiry readers by the incorportatin of numerous situations where students ultimately had to determine if a situation was ethical or unethical. This assignment ultimately satisifies the PSU goal because as group members students were requried to consider all perspectives and opinions of the group members.