Ethics of CAS _ Grace Herman

February 1st, 2020 

My assigned theory of ethics is Moral Absolutism. Moral Absolutism is the ethical belief that certain actions are right or wrong regardless of culture or religion. It states that morals are inherent in the laws of the universe, the nature of humanity, the will of God or some other fundamental source. Taking this theory using the “will of God” as the moral guide I will consider the ethics of Dress Up day.
Dress Up Day is a fundraiser student government has used in the past where students get to wear clothing of their choice on Friday’s if they pay 500 colones. This has lead to many problems with dress code violations and is currently being discussed in student government, trying to find a solution. But beyond the dress code dilemma Dress Up can highlight the socioeconomic differences among students.
The question is this okay? Is it fine to be aware of the socioeconomic differences between students and open up a space that could lead to jealousy and self-consciousness? Or should this be squashed?
According to the will of God in Catholicism, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods” (Exodus 20:17). This means that you should not desire the good of others around you. Stating that humans, in this case, students, shouldn’t desire the clothing of other students and therefore shouldn’t be jealous or self-conscious. Since Moral Absolutism states that actions are right or wrong this means it’s wrong to be jealous.
This presents a new question, where does the responsibility of jealousy fall? With the students themselves or with student government since they are creating the space for jealousy.
If you look closely at the being of the bible verse “Thou shalt” you could infer that the responsibility lies within the individual and it shouldn’t be the responsibility of the student government. The student government can continue to give students a day to dress up and through this experience, students could learn to not covet the goods of others.
Pondering this ethical theory really makes you question how your actions are affecting the ones around you. It’s easy to forget about the differences at our school since it’s been like this my whole life. But sitting and taking the time to think about this has reminded me to open my eyes to this again and to pay more attention to this as student government plans new events.

Thanks for reading,

Grace

*Consider the ethical implications of my actions.