The Ethics That Guide Us: From Conquering Our Inner Monsters To Mastering Our Finances

This is the sixth of seven First-Year Friday articles that will run every Friday through the end of June.

Ethics play an important and guiding role in society. From managing personal and business finances to becoming more mindful of the contexts and compulsions of media technology, how do ethics help us face our challenges and address our fears? Although widely divergent topics, ethical questions are at the root of three First-Year Seminar classes.

In Mindful Money, Gennaro Rendino, assistant professor of business administration, wants students to first dedicate time to understanding the tenets of civil discourse before launching into challenging questions around ethics and finances. How can ethics guide us in the business world? How can they guide us in our personal lives?

"It's not only possible to act ethically in business, it is actually a competitive advantage in the long run, and we have a responsibility to understand how that can work," explains Rendino. "So I'm excited that in this class we get to apply critical thinking skills to these tough issues, as well as learn how to participate in difficult conversations with people who might hold differing opinions."

In Deconstructing Monsters, taught by Mitchell Lewis, associate professor of English and chair of the creative arts and humanities division, students will ethically evaluate cultural representations of monsters as distorted reflections of what society fears, excludes, marginalizes or represses.

"We see monsters everywhere," Lewis explains, "and they are a product of the human propensity to think in terms of us and them. We easily dehumanize those we view as different from ourselves, and this can have the most tragic consequences, as in the case of the Holocaust. In our world of increasing political conflict, it's imperative that we overcome this propensity in order to create the conditions for mutual understanding and a just society."

"I'm excited to teach this course and believe that it will foster the skills students need to be leaders for a better tomorrow," he said.

Similar to how Lewis' course is looking at societal fears, honors students can join Matt Seybold, associate professor of American literature & Mark Twain studies, in a discussion about technological change and cultural fears that follow. The Networks of Disunion course addresses the role social media played in recent social discord. While some fears are valid, what perspective can we gain from previous technological advances? What dynamics of power shift as mass media infrastructures change?

"Twain's early career coincides with one of the most influential revolutions in media technology: the penny press," said Seybold. "In this course, I try to bring this revolution to life for students." How did sudden, unprecedented access to print media across the North American continent change the social, political, and commercial lives of its residents?

"We combine these historical explorations with critical discussions of our own media environment," he said. "Can the long-term consequences of the penny press help us understand technological disruptions which are currently in progress?"

If you missed previous articles about the First-Year Seminar classes and Living Learning Communities you can find links to them below. We will continue to explore the way the First-Year Seminar classes are focused on leadership from the start through June 25. The First-Year Friday articles provide students a guide while they consider which courses to take and the Living Learning Community that best aligns with their own goals and aspirations.

PREVIOUS FIRST-YEAR FRIDAY ARTICLES:
Elmira College Programs Focus on Leadership From The Start
Planting the Seeds of Equity in Sustainable Living and Environmental Justice Course
What Hikes and Darwin Can Teach You About People and Science
Exploring Our Humanity and the Equity of Care in Health and Medicine
Is it the Art of Justice or the Justice of Art?