Leadership Thursday, Period 1, Class 5, (10/2/08)

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

"Today we're going to talk about beliefs and values," Nathan said as he passed around a handout. "For the purposes of today's class we're defining values as what you feel is important and beliefs as what shapes your values. For example, you would not value care for the elderly if you did not believe that the elderly were important.

"Beliefs can come from many areas. Religion, experience, culture, family, and so on," Nathan said. "As a leader it's important for you to recognize what your beliefs are. This may sound obvious, but many of us don't realize how many of our beliefs we take for granted. That creates problems when we don't realize why we do what we do. It also makes it difficult for us to relate to those who don't share our beliefs. Beliefs can occasionally work as assumptions. And we all know what happens when we make assumptions." Nathan grinned at all of them.

"Knowing our beliefs and values also helps serve as a self-check," Nathan said. "I value justice. I believe justice is important. Therefore I should make sure that as a leader I do things that help to encourage a just society. Knowing my values also helps me to make decisions. Do I value justice more than I do a healthy economy? Do I value the ends more than the means? As an American, do I value some parts of the Bill of Rights more than others? Do I believe that my preferences make a difference?

"For today's class you'll be split into groups. Take a moment to think about what you believe and value, then discuss how you would solve the problem I'm going to give you. There's no right or wrong answer, and your group doesn't have to agree. The goal here is to get a feel for what you believe and value, then see what it's like from the perspective of someone else who may not share those beliefs. As always, I'm here if you have questions."

Problem: Does a publically funded high school have the right to censor a student-written article for the school newspaper? The article is about teenage pregnancy within the school. It doesn't name names, but educated guesses could be made based upon the details given. The journalism students feel that it is important to speak frankly about the issue of teen pregnancy. The school administration feels that it is a violation of privacy for the pregnant students. What do you think?

Group 1
Alex Drake
Meg Powers
Summer Roberts
Teddy Altman
Andros

Group 2
Bender
Tabitha-Ruth Wexler
Joan Girardi
Evey Hammond
Teyla Emmagan

Group 3
Agnes Nitt
Lucas Scott
Hinata Hyuuga
Dor
Tony Foster

Group 4
Jaina Solo
Momoko Akatsutsumi
Andrew Wiggin
Ben Skywalker



[ooc: ocd is up! Example based on Hazelwood School Dist. v. Kuhlmeier]

Comments

Re: Group 1

[meg-powers.livejournal.com]

"Well it does depend on how big the student population is, and how many pregnant students there," Meg pointed out.

Re: Group 1

[futureclone]

"Which, that information's not given, so we can't really be sure," Alex said. "Of course, you could say the same of any news story with names withheld, really. There might be enough information given that someone could identify the subject, but does that mean we shouldn't talk about it? And if the concern is for the students' privacy, I would think the bigger question would be whether they consented to be talked about in the article or not."