High-school students looking forward to their adult lives have many questions to consider when choosing a career: pay, training, hours, working conditions, advancement opportunities, demand for the profession, and more.

Friday, March 23, 2001

High-school students looking forward to their adult lives have many questions to consider when choosing a career: pay, training, hours, working conditions, advancement opportunities, demand for the profession, and more. It’s not surprising that exploration of professional ethics can be easy to overlook. But the question is important: What kind of ethical decisions must one make in a particular job?

Students at Albert Lea High School had a valuable chance to explore that question today at an ethics seminar sponsored by the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce, Riverland Community College and Church Offset Printing. The program, developed in Missouri, brings professionals from the community into the schools to present ethical dilemmas and lead discussions on what choices could be made.

A doctor might present a scenario where five patients wait for a transplant, but only one organ is available. Who gets it, and how do you decide? These kinds of difficult decisions are everywhere, in every profession. Should the lawyer defend a client she knows to be guilty? Should the photographer print a shocking but powerful photo in the newspaper? Should the advertising executive sell his services to a tobacco company?

These are the kind of questions professionals must be prepared to answer when they enter their careers. Awareness of ethical concerns among the workforce of the future can only help create a more fair and just society.

For students to discuss ethics at the high school level is important; just having these discussions can throw switches in their minds and get them thinking about possible careers in a new way. This will serve them well in their future.

Thanks are due to the school, the organizations who sponsored the event and the professionals who took the time to lead discussions. It was an important investment of time for all of them.