Despite the
importance of moral development to the individual student and the society, one
cannot say that higher education has demonstrated a deep concern for the
problem. Some efforts are being made on every campus, and a number of religious
institutions and small independent colleges actually devote much time and
energy to the task. More often, however, and especially in large universities,
the subject is not treated as a serious responsibility worthy of sustained
discussion and determined action by the faculty and administration. Let me
quickly add that Harvard too has not done all that it should, notwithstanding
the programs of community service, the core offerings in moral reasoning, and
the courses in ethics in several of the professional schools.
If this situation is to change, there is no doubt where the initiative must lie. Universities will never do much to encourage a genuine concern for ethical issues or to help their students to acquire a strong and carefully considered set of moral values unless presidents and deans take the lead. Without their endorsement and example, the diffidence and inertia that dog the subject of moral responsibility will continue to keep these issues at the margin of everyday campus life.
An equal responsibility rests with the faculty. The faculty are the core of the university. More than any other group, they set the tone of the institution, and establish what is important, what is legitimate, what truly merits the time and attention of the students. Unless professors recognize the importance of moral education, unless they personally participate by treating ethical issues in their classes, counseling students, helping to define and administer rules of behavior on campus, any effort along these lines will lack credibility and force. Indeed, without such involvement, scholarly traditions of value-free inquiry may foster a sense among students and administrators that ethical questions are private matters to be kept out of serious conversation.
It is far from clear how much educational leaders or their faculties will do to change the status quo despite the growing interest in ethics throughout the society. It takes much time and effort to explain the university's policies on controversial ethical questions, to inform the administration of campus rules, to do a better job of preparing counselors, coaches. and other administrators to cope more effectively with ethical issues in their dealings with students. And time has become extremely scarce for deans and presidents, burdened as they are with financial pressures, management problems, faculty demands, and fund-raising responsibilities. Professors, especially in modern research universities, have equally compelling limitations. Not only are they busy with their normal duties; they are trained to transmit knowledge and skills within their chosen discipline, not to help students become more mature, morally perceptive human beings.
Although these difficulties are real, they cannot save the faculty and administration from an acute dilemma. With their classes, their residential halls, their extracurricular activities and extensive counseling services, colleges and universities have created a world that dominates the lives and thoughts of countless young people during years in which their character and values are being formed. Under these conditions, students must get help from their universities in developing moral standards or they are unlikely to get much assistance at all. Thus, even if presidents are overburdened and professors happen to prepare themselves in specialized disciplines, universities have an obligation to try to help their students understand how to lead ethical, reflective, fulfilling lives. One can appreciate the difficulty of the task and understand if progress is slow and halting. What is harder to forgive is a refusal to recognize the problem or to acknowledge a responsibility to work at it conscientiously. Advanced knowledge and specialized skills are important in many ways. Yet they are not the only ends of education. As Montaigne observed: "To compose our character is our duty, not to compose books, and to win, not battles and provinces, but order and tranquility in our own conduct. Our great and glorious masterpiece is to live appropriately."