Ethics

Quite a common word it is on lips of many but the practice of it is very rare. As if to put emphasis to this statement, a prominent businessman in Uganda, Dr. William Kalema, while presenting a paper in honor of Dr. Martin Okech Aliker, lamented the lack of ethics in today's Ugandan graduates especially of a university I wouldn't name here. He challenged the trainers to do something to improve this bad name.

While I agree with him that university teachers probably have something to do with it, I do not take it wholesome. There is lots that shapes somebody's morality that may also have some impact on their ethical conduct. This post lists some examples of possibilities:

• Peer influence.
• Family upbringing.
• Influence from the media.
• Idiosyncratic tendencies unique to some individuals.
• Primary and secondary school discipline and practices.
• Community influence - perceived role models in the community.

If the above be some possible contributing factors to the development of habits that are characterised as unethical conduct, then I pity the university teacher who will be expected to, besides guiding the 'raw' young person to acquire specialised knowledge and skills and critical thinking (primary role of the teacher at that level), fully transform their students' ethical behaviour. Never mind that the behaviour was 'formed' over a period of time (outside/before the university) and that factors that contributed to the young person developing unethical behaviour could still exist and are possibly unknown to the teacher (leave alone being able to change them)! May God help us.