The Conscience of the Campus: Case Studies in Moral Reasoning Among Today's College Students

By Linda DuBois Davey and Joseph Dillon Davey

Book Overview

The conscience of today's college students is guided by the personal moral values that underlie its concept of justice. College professors frequently avoid discussions of moral values, fearful of either the deconstructionist's criticism or the alleged wall of separation between church and state. Regardless of their reasons, they tend to argue that today's students have no interest in discussing abstract concepts of morality. The Daveys argue that given the right case studies of moral dilemmas, today's college students will enthusiastically share and discuss their own moral values, learn to critically examine pressing social issues, and grow to new levels of understanding.

More than two dozen scenarios involving moral questions concerning race, poverty, crime, drugs, sex, religion, educational funding, and constitutional rights are presented. These issues are faced by a generation raised during the information revolution. College students live in a world of such rapid change that nothing is certain about their future. It may well be that there has never been a time when college students were more eager to discuss fundamental questions about right and wrong, to examine their own moral values. This timely work is of value in any course touching upon moral values, including courses in sociology, education, political science and law, child development, criminal justice, and philosophy.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0275972089
• ISBN13: 9780275972080
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: Praeger
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.2" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

would you trust these kids to sell you a used car?

The Davey's have produced a very thought provoking book that will stimulate a good deal of discussion, and not just in college classrooms. The moral debates among college students which they chronicle in this book offer an insight into a generation that has rejected the radical moral relativism of the sixties generation while nonetheless rejecting the moral package deal of the Christian right. This is an exciting and readable book that deserves widespread attention.College professors in the social sciences and the humanities should take a serious look at this unique work. Lower division courses could certainly benefit from the fascinating moral dilemmas presented by the "scenarios" which have been designed to motivate the most recalcitrant student into discussions of their values. Certainly the moral quandaries examined here will produce heated disagreements among today's college students.

Ethics 101 Revisited

With its very engaging format, this book at first appears to be merely a diverting sampling of college-student answers to some of the moral and ethical riddles that beset our legal system. It soon becomes clear it is very much more. As the authors dissect the sometimes surprisingly insightful responses these young people offer to complex legal/moral isues, they skillfully guide them through the labyrinthe of contradictions and occasional absurdities that plague our system of justice. The result is both thought-provoking and entertaining and moreover, reveals a decided thirst for moral/ethical discusions in our classroom. As the debate on bio-ethics and technological advances heats up, this is no doubt the first of many such books.

Lack of morals

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book about morals on college campus's. I was shocked to learn that so many students were able to validate their lack of morals and considered cheating to be the the norm in college classrooms.I cannot figure out how this acceptance of lying and cheating came to be...I just hope it passes. I think this is a book all high school seniors should read and discuss. Hopefully, they will choose to not become part of the "new moral conscience."