Ethics Journal Entry

My CAS project consists of volunteering at Abriendo Mentes every week to help teach English to the kids who go there.

The theory of ethics that I was assigned to talk about a couple of weeks ago was moral relativism. Moral relativism is the belief that there is no universal definition of right or wrong because moral judgements depend on everyone’s individual values. This means that a certain action may be morally correct for one person, while at the same time being morally wrong for someone else. This theory plays a big part in my project because every kid who goes to Abriendo Mentes is a unique individual with their own beliefs and point of view. Therefore, there is no universal “right” or “wrong” way of learning that applies to all of them. There are certain kids who find that visual learning is right for them, while there are others who think that auditory learning is right for them. Since they have different learning styles and beliefs of which one is “right” or “wrong”, they are all equally important and I have to make sure to equally prioritize them. I do this by trying to create a variety of visual and auditory activities and engaging with each child based on their interests and needs.

Another way that moral relativism plays into my project is respecting what each parent allows their kids to do. For example, some parents don’t want their kids to be in videos or any Facebook posts, while others don’t mind it. Since there is a difference in values, neither of them are morally right or wrong. Therefore, if any parent has a certain belief or value related to what their kid can do, we have to respect that because for them, it would be the morally right thing to do.