The Ethics Corner

by Keith Goree

Where are the Moral Heroes?

If you were asked to identify one of your moral heroes, whose name would you give? Before I share mine, let me tell you about an interesting experience we had at St. Petersburg College. One of our Applied Ethics instructors told his students to write a short paper about a personal moral hero. Sixty students participated in the assignment. The most commonly identified moral hero was “none.” Next most commonly chosen were entertainment celebrities, various religious figures and a few relatives. Not a single student wrote about his or her dad.

At first we thought this class was unusual, but research about the Millennial generation (born 1982-2002) indicates that this is probably pretty close to the norm. There are exceptions of course, but as a general rule, Millennials don’t tend to have moral heroes. These kids and young adults have grown up in a very cynical society. Instead of truth, they’ve grown up with “spin” – what comedian Stephen Colbert calls truthiness – truth made-over by perspective, point of view and personal interest. In addition, the Millennials have watched too many news reporters make names for themselves by unearthing “dark secrets” (often little more than gossip and innuendo) to discredit and tear down people with hero potential. And this generation has been fed a steady diet of entertainment-news that presents media celebrities as something akin to the gods of Olympus. For these and other reasons, many of the students we teach today can’t seem to differentiate between a moral hero and a celebrity. They are as likely to name Madonna or Brad Pitt as Martin Luther King, Jr. Many will also tell you that they don’t really have faith in anyone but themselves.

That’s a shame, but I’m finally getting old enough to have the perspective that it’s not a forever thing. The post-Millennial generation, led proudly by today’s pre-school/early elementary children, is predicted to be more like the Baby Boomers and will likely be better at moral heroes and worse at something else. But this problem that Millennials have with moral heroes is interesting and useful to remember when you’re tempted to bang your head on the wall because the class can’t seem to appreciate a great person or a heroic life.

What is somewhat concerning is that the oldest Millennials are now in their early to mid twenties and are starting to enter our classrooms as teachers. How will teachers who don’t have or necessarily believe in moral heroes teach young children about the powerful example of a heroic life? I’m not wise enough to answer that one, but I wonder.

So back to my original question. Who would you name as a personal moral hero? I think of my dad who, living in near-poverty with two small children at home, resigned his position as a minister because he would not be party to small-town Mississippi racism in the early 60’s. I think of my mom, who quit the best-paying job of her secretarial career over a dishonest and unethical boss. I think of my uncle Truman, one of a very few young marines present at the raising of both flags on Iwo Jima’s Mt. Suribachi. And on a global scale, I think of people like Martin Luther King, Jr., Susan B. Anthony, and Mahatma Gandhi – individuals who dedicated their lives to non-violence, justice, and improving the lives of others.

Speaking of Gandhi, I recently had the incredible opportunity to hear his grandson, Arun Gandhi, talk about lessons that he learned as a 12 year-old living with his grandfather in India. I’ll share some of his story in the next edition.

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Keith Goree is the Director of the Applied Ethics Institute at St. Petersburg College. A 20-year veteran of teaching Applied Ethics, he has led over 100 conferences and workshops for teachers, school administrators, law enforcement officers, and other professional groups. Professor Goree helped to write the U. S. Department of Justice’s national law enforcement ethics curriculum, and to train those who would teach it across the country. In 1999 he was awarded the Carol Burnett Award for Ethics in Journalism. Mr. Goree was also named the 2005 National Community College Faculty Member of the Year by the Association of Community College Trustees.