Objective:

For students to understand why ethics are important, and why it is important to treat everyone fairly. Sometimes fairly doesn't necessarily mean equally.

Calvin and Hobbes cartoon (This cartoon can be found in Charles Larson's Persuasion book. Due to copyright issues, I don't believe I have the right to post the cartoon here. The cartoon is where the kid believes that the ends justify the means so he can squish bugs without remorse. Hobbes pushes the kid in the mud and says, "you were in my way, now your not. The ends justify the means.")
Story of poor man.
Blindfolds, cups, water or other liquid, different color chips or something else that students will have to pick up in the activity.

Preset Activity: Groups will come up with value that they believe should be followed (example, you should not kill people). The group will then think of an example when that rule might not have to be followed (example, in war it is alright to shoot the enemy).
 

Lesson:

We can all think of different ethics that we believe in, and ways around these ethics. Sometimes we have to use our judgement when using ethics. (Give story about the man who stole medicine for his wife because they couldn't afford it.) Should the guy be sued?

There are many reasons why people say that we shouldn't teach ethics in school. Our discussion of this story is an example of one of the reasons people give to not include ethics in our lessons.

Ways in which people try to get around ethical arguments.

1. Everyone knows this appeal of tactic obviously is unethical, so there is nothing to talk about.
2. Only Success matters, so ethics are irrelevant to persuasion.
3. After all, ethical judgments are only matters of our individual personal opinions, so there are no final answers.

Philosophical perspective on how to make laws: In order to decide what is fair for everyone, we must go about making rules as if we didn't know what rule we would be assigned after the rules were made. For instance, we would pretend that we are floating around without a body and decide how people with and without physical disabilities should be treated. After we have figured out the rules, we would all get bodies, some with disabilities and some without. Since we made the rules before we knew which body we would get, everyone should perceive the rules as fair.
 

Activity: Pass out blindfolds to about half of the students. Explain that everyone will have to get the objects that are laid around the room (these are the chips, cups, water, and other objects that you want to set out). Before the activity begins, the class needs to set some rules on how everyone will get these things. The people with the blindfolds will have to wear them throughout the activity. Tell them that the first half of the class that completes the activity wont have to do any homework, unless everyone gets done at the same time. If that happens then they will just have to write about their role in this activity. Now, the class must decide on the rules of the activity. They will have to decide if they are going to help the people with the blindfolds, so that everyone gets done at the same time. After they have decided whether they are going to help or not, have the people with the blindfolds give them to another student.
 

Reflection: Discuss with the class how the experiment went. Do they think everyone made the rules fairly. Why did or didn't this happen?

Despite how the activity went, have the students write answering this question: Can someone break the law and still be ethical? Explain your answer.