Annie Rana

HONO 4701
February 26, 2015
Dr. Spain
Becoming a More Ethical Me
Ever since I joined the Honors program sophomore year, I have found that my
outlook on countless subjects has expanded. I have always been a strong test-taker but
consistently felt that my writing abilities could improve. My honors ethics class not only
expanded my knowledge on the dilemmas involved in ethics, but also helped refine my
writing skills. This class significantly raised my awareness on ethical questions involving
local issues as well as global one, which in turn helped me to both think more critically
about these issues, as well as be a more active participant in my community. This class
had a service learning component and it allowed me to work with diverse groups of
people. Overall my experience in the Honors program has proven to be extremely
beneficial to not only my education, but also to my development as a person.
Honors ethics helped me to refine my debate and writing skills. Firstly, the
curriculum itself was more challenging and engaging than other similarly structured
classes would have been. The students were more interested in and involved in the
debates, which led to some of the most interesting and thought provoking discussions that
Ive been apart of in my college career. I critically thought through my arguments and
refined them as needed. Not only did my stance on many subjects change mid-discussion
or post discussion, but I also noticed my whole thought process on ethics shifting as well.
As a nursing major, Im often trained to look for the right answer, but this class

emphasized that many issues dont necessarily fit this mold. There is so much more
gray in the world.
My global awareness has been heightened through ethical dilemmas we discussed
hitting not only the United States but the rest of the world as well. I also started to see
how issues specific to one country have global ramifications. For example, with respect
to the Ebola outbreak, the World Health Organization stated West Africas Ebola
epidemic is an extraordinary event and now constitutes an international health crisis.
Learning about the rest of the world fuels my understanding of what I would like to see
change in the world. Karl Marx thought that the purpose of all his work was not just to
interpret the world, but to change it. Being able to be guided through the process of
discovery about the rest of the world yielded a deeper understanding of my own place as
a global citizen.
Service Learning expanded my interaction and work with diverse ethnic groups of
people. It also helped me to develop my skills as a leader and contributing member of the
community. Many college and university mission statements make reference to, or imply
that, they seek to educate their students to become leaders. Of course, we wish to
graduate as student leaders. But more profoundly, we wish to become educated leaders
who feel committed to serving the community. After graduation and beyond, we want to
be leaders that are conscious of and concerned with the well being of others, especially
at-risk populations. If we are to meet this challenge, then it is worth thinking carefully
about which college courses might adequately prepare us to achieve this goal. Many
different kinds of courses would be possible outlets for promoting this kind of caring
leadership, but ethics courses are ideal. Dominican University offers ethics courses with

the ultimate goal being that its students will gain an understanding of various moral
theories and develop skills in honorable reasoning. However, many students are focused
exclusively on the academic goals of passing the class and tests, that they overlook other
appropriate lessons related to leadership development and caring for others in ethics.
Certainly, we would be disappointed to find that our students emerge from ethics courses
totally indifferent to real major global ethical issues we face as a society. Hence, if
colleges hope to maximize the number of compassionate, ethically sensitive leaders in
society, then service learning in ethics education is imperative.
Service learning cannot be a course or a discipline on its own, but it can facilitate a
method of teaching an existing course or discipline. When used as a tool, it provides real
purpose and connection to our learning. Service learning is a way of teaching that
engages us in direct service correlating with our learning at the time. For this model to be
effective, we must analyze the connections between the theories and our service. As we
perform the service, we must reflect on our experience.
My service learning engaged my skills as a tutor in the Canal Alliance. The
alliance believes that, Every new American deserves the opportunity to thrive. This
statement represents their mission, their theory, and how they justify the difference they
are making in their community. The Canal Alliance was faced with the ethical dilemma:
why is there unequal access to education, and what can we do to fix it? They developed
their mission statement, and worked to arrive at a sustainable solution to narrow this
disparity in access to education. Combining ethics and service learning taught me how to
engage with and better understand my students of different backgrounds, but more

importantly to recognize ethical dilemmas in my own community, and work towards the
best solution.