fandomhigh | Ethics [Thursday, April 14, 2011]

"Since next week's examination will be asking you a series of questions based on ethical dilemmas," Anakin began, leaning against his desk and holding a piece of paper in his hand, "I thought I'd get you thinking in that direction today." He began to read, having absolutely no mercy for student who had been standing in upside-down rain mere hours before:

"Phoebe is a senior and president of the student body. Lately she is becoming more and more overwhelmed by her course load, college applications and repeated invasions of the island over the past few weekends."

Anakin might have edited the example slightly.

"She has been sick for the past month and has fallen behind in many of her classes. Her application to Brown University and her advanced-level art history paper are both due on Monday. It’s Sunday now. Phoebe makes a tough decision and plagiarizes the entire section on Impressionism on her paper, finishes her application and goes to bed. On Monday, Phoebe turns in her paper.

"By lunchtime, Phoebe’s art history teacher had asked to see her. He quickly realized the fact that a large portion of her paper was plagiarized and confronts her about it. Phoebe bursts into tears and explains to him about all the pressures of being sick, taking five challenging classes, playing three varsity sports, her work on the reserves, being president of the student body, and being an animal for a week and a half. Brown is her number one choice for college and she felt she had to make a choice.

"Phoebe’s teacher turns her in to the school honor council. She is very remorseful and volunteers to give a speech to the student body apologizing for what she has done. She also begs the honor council not to write to the colleges that she has applied to, as she has worked so hard throughout her high school career and is applying to the most competitive colleges and universities.

"Assuming we had such a thing here, what should the honor council do?"

[OOC: Modified from this amazing website.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Like you just spent an hour in the rain ~~and will never have that recipe again, oh noooo~~.

Momoko Akatsutsumi

Dolf Wega

Quinn Fabray

Lion-o

Peter Bishop

Anduin Wrynn

Lindsay Weir

Don't fall asleep.

Sorry, Professor. Momoko was nodding off and catching herself fairly frequently. But when she was awake, she was totally listening!

Really!

Lion-o was trying very hard to keep his eyes open, but it was a struggle. In fact, it took so much effort to stay awake that he didn't put much effort into listening.

"If you were on the honor council, what would your decision be in this case? Does her position as the Student Council president make a difference in your decision?"

Momoko frowned. "What do the rules say? I mean, it totally sounds like she's getting enough punishment already."

Anakin frowned back. "So far, all that's happened to her is being caught. The council's normal option is to write to the colleges she's applied to and tell them that she's been caught passing off someone else's work as her own. She's pleading for a lesser charge of public humiliation."

"I thought they were making her give the speech?" Maybe she hadn't been listening as much as she'd thought?

She thought about it a moment. "And she knew what would happen if she cheated?"

"I'd make her sweat, but I'd let her get off with the speech apologizing and an F in art history," Quinn decided. "You can't always let someone off the hook just because they're a leader, but it wouldn't be fair for her to not be able to go to college over one dumb mistake."

"Would your opinion change if there were two students applying to Brown and there were only going to take one of them?" Anakin asked. "The other person doesn't have any academic indiscretions."

"What's the other student like?" Quinn asked. "Phoebe does a lot for the school. She should get some kind of consideration for that if all the other person has going for them is grades."

Edited 2011-04-14 17:57 (UTC)

"Fewer extracurriculars," Anakin said, "but they have a part-time job to help out with the bills at home."

Quinn bit her pen thoughtfully.

"I think we'd have to let Brown know," she decided. "Maybe have Phoebe write a letter of apology to send with ours so they have her explanation. But it's not fair to the other person if the college doesn't know Phoebe screwed up."

"Good," Anakin said, nodding and looking pleased. "I think that seems fair."

Hello, TA!

Who totally won't tell you his opinion.

And now I have MacArthur Park stuck in my head just before bed. Crap.

Ethics [Thursday, April 14, 2011]

Sign in [4/14]

Re: Sign in [4/14]

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Listen to the lecture [4/14]

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Answer the discussion question! [4/14]

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Talk to the TA [4/14]

Talk to Anakin [4/14]

OOC