Below please find a number of articles that deal variously with definitions of success, making a living, an the value of a college degree. Relate the readings to ethics -- that is, how big a role does or should ethics play in your own definition of success, your professional aspirations, and your educational experiences and goals.
Your response is due by midnight, Monday, Feb. 24.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/16/fashion/millennials-internships.html?emc=eta1
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/opinion/making-college-pay.html?emc=eta1
http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2014/01/30/268866584/defining-success-beyond-the-dollar-sign?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=share&utm_campaign=
Teaching Notes
You must become the flame on the candle. - Thich Nhat Hanh
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
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Is Media Ethics Education DOA?
It sounds like a joke Jay Leno would tell during his opening monologue on The Tonight Show. Hear about the graduate students at the prestigious journalism school? They got caught cheating on an ethics exam. Ha ha ha. Except that’s actually what happened at Columbia University
No one admitted cheating despite pressure from the school’s administrators and pleas from classmates, who feared the scandal would damage the market value of their degrees. Meanwhile, the teacher of the course, New York Times columnist Samuel G. Freedman, refused to comment. But if the disgruntled posts on RateMyProfessors.com are any indication, his students hadn’t exactly been soaking up knowledge. “Maybe he could e-mail his ‘speeches’ to the students instead of making everyone suffer through the most wasted class in j-school. . . ,” one read.
There’s an old cowboy saying that goes, “When your horse dies, get off.” Journalism ethics education is a dead horse. Or else those aren’t vultures circling in the sky.
No one admitted cheating despite pressure from the school’s administrators and pleas from classmates, who feared the scandal would damage the market value of their degrees. Meanwhile, the teacher of the course, New York Times columnist Samuel G. Freedman, refused to comment. But if the disgruntled posts on RateMyProfessors.com are any indication, his students hadn’t exactly been soaking up knowledge. “Maybe he could e-mail his ‘speeches’ to the students instead of making everyone suffer through the most wasted class in j-school. . . ,” one read.
There’s an old cowboy saying that goes, “When your horse dies, get off.” Journalism ethics education is a dead horse. Or else those aren’t vultures circling in the sky.
A Question for Socrates
The question of how ethics is learned, or even if it can be, is as old as Western philosophy. In Plato’s dialog Meno the title character asks, “Can you tell me, Socrates, whether virtue is acquired by teaching or by practice; or if neither by teaching nor practice, then whether it comes to man by nature, or in what other way?” Of course, Socrates, being Socrates, resists giving a definite answer. But we can’t. The sad fact is, students had better get an effective ethics education now or they may never.
Last summer I conducted an ethics workshop for some reporters and editors at the Poughkeepsie Journal, a small daily in upstate
But what I remember most is the air of defeat that clung to the staff as we sat on hard plastic chairs in the break room discussing the cases. I could hear in their voices the bitterness and cynicism of employees forced to follow corporate policies they despised. Recently, for example, the paper had started running display ads on the front page and section fronts, a much more grievous ethical lapse, their mumbled asides suggested, than anything the case studies might have to offer.
I don’t want my students to ever wear the gray, defeated expression I saw that day on the faces at the Journal. But given the downward direction in which the media are moving, and fast, how in the world can I prevent it from happening?
Teaching Media Ethics by Telling Stories
A friend of mine who teaches at a big Midwestern university recounts in class the events of her first week as a reporter for the Minneapolis Tribune. She was sent to Duluth to cover Democratic presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey on the campaign trail. When they were introduced, Humphrey vigorously shook her hand. “Oh yes, Susan,” he said, “I read your stuff all the time.” He couldn’t have read her stuff, though; she hadn’t written anything yet. “Just a few words,” she explains to her students, “but words that taught this fledging reporter a great lesson about pols and the little lies they tell.”
I usually find occasion during the semester to quote I. F. Stone’s dictum, “Every government is run by liars and thieves, and nothing they say should be believed,” to make the same point. But Susan’s story makes the point better. That’s because it has existential force. Her story vividly captures in a way a secondhand quote can’t the realities of a reporter’s life.
Some might think telling “war stories” is a waste of precious class time. I’ve a colleague who didn’t want to fall into the “trap” of regaling students with stories ad nauseam (“which, let’s face it, is easier than teaching or grading,” he said). So one semester he kept track. When he toted it all up at the end, he was surprised that he’d used less than an hour - out of 45 – talking about his newspaper experiences. And yet, he admitted, it was his stories that students seemed to remember most.
“Stories teach us how to live,” Daniel Taylor said in his essay, “The Ethical Implications of Storytelling.” What he meant was that stories preserve our experience for contemplation and evaluation. Although not all stories carry a heavy message, there’s an entire category of stories, so-called “exemplary tales,” that are told to convey a moral.
Our war stories are potentially just such tales. They can provide evidence, in ethicist John Barton’s words, of “how real human beings live through various crises and trials and remain human.” My colleague who kept tabs on his storytelling has described his stories as cautionary. Most, he said, deal with “screwups I learned from.”
But sometimes the storyteller and the audience can’t agree on what exactly the moral of a story is.
When Susan was a cub reporter on the Tribune, she interviewed the Beatles, who were on their second tour of the States. She got into their hotel room by dressing up as a waitress in an ugly, mustard-colored uniform and accompanying an actual room service waiter upstairs. Ringo took one look at her little plastic name tag – it read “Donna Brown” – and snorted, “What kind of name is that?” The waiter nudged her in the side. “Tell them what you real name is,” he urged. She did, as well as her reason for being there. Rather than throw her out, the Beatles politely answered her questions. They even let her phone for a photographer. The next day her story ran on the front page, with a photo of John sitting at a table and looking up at her and laughing as she poured coffee in his cup. She still has a glossy print of that photo somewhere.
Many of Susan’s students think she’s nuts for not having the photo hanging up in her office. They also think she’s nuts for saying she’d never participate in the same kind of stunt today. To her celebrity-struck students, disguising herself as a hotel waitress to get an interview with the Beatles seems soooo cool. They lose all sight of the fact that it wasn’t a story of vital public interest that demanded undercover methods.
Susan intends one lesson when she talks about her hard day’s night, but her students, living in a paparazzi-saturated culture, draw another. “It may be a lost cause,” she remarked to me.
Or maybe not. Negotiations over what the point of a story is can be part of the point of the story. In the process of negotiating, we test different interpretations, try out different themes. This is helpful. This is educational. Lawrence Kohlberg, the Harvard psychologist famous for his research on the stages of moral development, contended that “the teaching of virtue is the asking of questions. . . not the giving of answers.” Stories don’t necessarily have to yield clear moral rules to be of value. It’s enough sometimes if they just give us something to think about.
24 comments:
Ethics is engrained into who we are. Our values tie in closely to this and as a result, I think it does take a role within the perspective of success, professional aspirations, educational experiences and goals. The three articles sourced painted a realistic view of this point that the millennial generation has reached. As careers become harder to find, aspiring and opportunistic young people seek more than just well paying jobs as Times writer Alex Williams describes. Her article takes the perspective of a few different recent college graduates and describes their views with the overarching opportunistic theme. The subjects are not having success in reaching a point beyond this internship limbo and yet, will not settle for a job that pays better outside of their interests. This speaks to me as an interesting array of several individual ethical beliefs. Each of these people values their aspirations to the extent that the lack of salary (for their livelihood, no less) does not trump their dreams. As simple as it sounds, people put their interests and goals as a higher priority above money. Something that is intuitive, these people recognize that their career is apart of what defines them and in turn, should be based upon more than a pay stub. For lack of a better saying, money doesn’t buy happiness.
However, during a period with a recovering economy, the fact of the matter s is that jobs are few and far. I think it is safe to say that more students and young people are developing a jaded perspective of college. Many young people see education as transforming from an investment to a money pit. As the editorial writes, there are few jobs that require a bachelor’s degree. This perspective can contribute to this concept that college is useless. While I think that there are plenty of people that college is not for, I don’t think it should overwhelmingly be viewed at as this useless “asset.” College is an opportunity and while costly, people should recognize education as an invaluable resource. I do recognize that a college education doesn’t instantly open doors for everyone. However, I do think it is still very much so a building block in the right direction for many people.
As King writes in her article, humans can and should create their own success through happiness that is specific to their own desire. It is in part a matter of mind and perspective. There are plenty of people like Chua and Rubenfeld that King criticizes through their descriptions of success through monetary gain. She feels as though this is a shallow way to view what success consists of. Success instead should be about finding meaning beyond selfish wants. She mentions education or a route outside of Corporate America. These are occupations that simply make people happy because they enjoy them. I agree that success always should be more than money. In turn, goals should lead to happiness and with ethical decision-making, should also contribute to society in some respect.
The three articles assigned to read were articles that elaborated realistic key points that can deal with accomplishments, the value of being successful and how making a living can be defined. It is becoming a common factor for various people to find it difficult for them to obtain and/or get a job. Young opportunistic people search for more than just well paying jobs as Times writer Alex Williams describes. The article by William speaks about the perspectives of several recent college graduates from different entities and their views about the experiences they have encountered with life after college. The individuals expresses their yearn for a job that compensates them no less than what they are looking for. Adding to that, they are not finding a job that will pay them such. I believe this situation pertains to the ethics of their success for the fact that it is their choice for not finding a decent job after college. These students want to race to the top with out starting from the bottom.
I believe ethics should play an immense role when it comes to the definition of success, your professional aspirations, and your educational experiences and goals, but to a certain extent. I fully agree on having a bright future ahead of you and striving for the best education and job, but also taking into account that success comes with a lot of struggles. In general, it is difficult for a newly college graduate to find a highly paid job without having a sufficient amount of experience. If people do not settle for what they find until they eventually reach where they want to be with hard work and dedication they can risk not getting anything, just like the people in the articles were going through. It is highly important for ethics to play a role when it comes to life endeavors, but also with an extent.
When the teacher asked a young John Lennon what he wanted to be when he grew up, he responded that he wanted to be “happy.” This simple aspiration in today’s world would not satisfy most of society’s definition of success. Now success is being judged by how much money you make, or how much influence you have, or how many awards you have earned instead of the amount of joy that a career brings you. The first two Times articles focus on the underemployment or low-rate of pay that awaits us unfortunate college graduates in the outside world. These low-paying entry-level jobs and internships trap college grads and keep them from fulfilling their idea of success, which reaches far beyond financial or business prowess. For instance, Ms. Breanne Thomas tells the Times that she got into technology to one day be a part of something great. In my opinion, this passion is a necessary driving force towards success, but it cannot be the only thing. This unfulfilled desire for greatness or recognition is what keeps them from reaching the true success of happiness.
I believe that an individual should love what they do, but if that career does not pay you well enough to live comfortably or support a family then it cannot bring you happiness. Ultimately, I think that success should not be measured by just the amount in their paycheck or their level of authority, but by the amount of happiness that the person has achieved. This ideal is reflected through the criticism of Amy Chua’s unethical definition of success. Chua’s ideas of what drives success include: a high paying salary, a leadership position, award-winning work, and a highly regarded degree from an Ivy League school. Barbara King believes that an emphasis on this kind of success will lead the next generation into unethical careers that bring them only monetary and material gain. Like King, I believe that this unethical ideal of success leads to careers void of passion that bring them high salaries instead of happiness.
There are two types of people in the world. There are the people that are looking for a job that pays well and then there are the people who are looking for a job to make them happy. Occasionally there are the in between people who want both. In the end, both sides are stuck with struggling for the job that they desire. From reading the three articles, they all show a great example of the struggles to finding and getting a job. As a result of the recovering economy, there are people who are still unemployment. That means that post-graduates looking for a job are face to wait inline longer behind the millions of Americans without a college degree. William makes a good point that it's a sad reality that many post-graduates are stuck with taking jobs outside of their major or not having a job at all. When life doesn't go as plan, people begin to lose hope, their aspirations for success begins to lessen.
I am looking for a internship myself and it's difficult to find one that will enrich your knowledge. Some internships are geared towards being a helper in need rather than a colleague to turn to. Because of that role, people begin to reconstruct their goals and question whether their path was the right decision. It also changes the way you view things when internships are taken away or restrict you ability to strength you skills and actually find a job in your field.When it comes to a state of fear, change becomes vital. The amount of change a person makes will determine how big of a role ethics plays in their life.
Our aspirations might not happen like we want to. When people think of success they think of money and fame, like King explained. But success is so much more than that. Success is finding the happiness in what you do. Success is being a leader and an inspiration to many to work hard and love what you're doing. It shouldn't matter where you come from, what school you went to, or how much money you make. Anyone has their own pace and their own path to cross to success. It's how you construct yourself as a person, not how much money or how famous you are to everyone else. If you can make a difference in someone's life, then I believe you have achieve your success.
Behind your goals and aspirations lie your fundamental core beliefs and values, those things which make up your ethical standpoint. Your ethics are the driving factor behind your actions in the attempt to become what you would define as successful. Your ethics even play a part in what success actually even means.
Your ethics will allow you to carry out events and actions that can ultimately lead to your end goal. I believe there is no difference between your ethical standpoint and your aspirations or your definition of success, they are the same thing in many parts. If you have strong ethical beliefs regarding doing the right things for society, such as working towards ending poverty and hunger, those beliefs will carry over into your aspirations and goals. If you are actively working towards ending those two societal problems, you will think of yourself as successful, but only because you already hold the ethical beliefs telling you that you are doing the right thing.
This view is demonstrated in the Time’s article written by Alex Williams. These are college students who have fallen into a cycle of dead-end internships, but they are alright with that because of their prior ethical standpoint. They truly feel that they do not want to join a corporate America and instead are hoping to make a difference, whether through creative means or societal activity. With these internships that are allowing them to do that in some manner, and even though these internships eventually lead to nowhere, they are still viewing them as a successful part of their life because their ethics agree that this is what they should be doing.
On the other hand, if you demonstrate ethical beliefs such as believing that the ends justify the means, your definition of success will be different. If you will act in any way possible to obtain a certain end result, you will not think you have succeeded until you have done everything possible to reach a certain goal. Even if there are obstacles in front of you, you will have no second thoughts about unethical behavior being worth it.
Andrew Lang, the perpetual intern from Alex Williams’ New York Times article said that “no one hires interns.” I don’t think Mr. Lang knows the purpose of the internship. Internships have, by default, lead to full-time positions, that is the purpose of an internship; it is a learning experience and a drawn-out interview process for the employer to really see if an intern is hire-material. I actually found this entire article biased, as the experience I have had with internships has been the opposite, as has the experience of those with whom I went to high school and my previous colleges. If one does not receive that invitation to work for a company full-time by mid-August, it is a reflection of the skill and work ethic of the intern. Has this thought crossed the minds of millennials?
“I’m 26 right now,” said Lea, the graduate from Parsons. “I know that everyone has their own pace, but I don’t really feel like a real adult right now.”
Adulthood is an ethical milestone. Adulthood is defined, among many other things, by responsibility, self-awareness, humility and modesty; all ethical virtues. The age of feeling infinite and indestructible is (should be) over by the time one graduates college and knowing what one has to do in order to be independent and autonomous after college does not include only seeking internships in one’s chosen field and hoping they’ll meet the right person to make the right connection to get the right job. Sure, students in creative fields like writing, performing/visual arts and philosophy have historically had a more difficult time finding full-time positions that reflect perfectly what a recent graduate dreams of , but I firmly believe that ‘growing up’ and becoming an adult, ethically, sometimes means just biting the bullet and working in that less-than-desirable field because that is part of being a citizen in a well-functioning society. One is not doing a disservice to their degree or skill by making that dream career second priority for a short time so that they may work in another field in order to pay their student loans, car payments and avoid crashing on friends’ couches to ‘make ends meet.’
I personally feel insanely frustrated by my generation. Forgive my generalizations, but I observe that we are a generation who was coddled growing up in a very healthy and safe decade, some of us the children and/or grandchildren of IBM success stories. What true hardship have we known when compared to the lives of our great grandparents who were raised during the Great Depression to then fight in World War II? Hardship for millennials, evident in the New York Times article, is not landing that dream job and having to ad lib life in a state of professional limbo because that internship didn’t pan out and one must work a little harder to maintain a cushy quality of life.
Because happiness and success hand-in-hand will never be across-the-board attainable for everyone, I maintain that all have an ethical responsibility to pursue these qualities in a pragmatic and responsible manner. My definition of success has been and will always be defined by a Kantian way of living; specifically and ideally evidenced in my work ethic, the way I treat others and my duty to attend to my own mental, spiritual and emotional needs and those of my future family. My professional aspirations do include writing for a publication, writing my own books and teaching young children, but because I can be fulfilled by these activities if they do not become a career and something else does, I can access happiness and success apart from something that gives me a paycheck. Ethics should be the most essential part of personal, professional and educational aspirations and the ethical duty to seek out success in all of these areas warrants, no, demands practicality and level-headedness.
Growing up, going to college never seemed like an option to me but more of something I had to do. Though it did not seem like decision at the time I now know that my decision to go to college was an ethical decision that was instilled into me at a young age. My values that played into my ethical decision to go to college was engrained into my by my family and how i was raised. Another ethical decision I have faced in my years in higher education was the decision to major in something that is more guaranteed a higher paying job or go down a path that I have more of a passion in but might not necessary pay off. This goes hand in hand with the article that attempts to define "success". Older generations, in my experience, tend to define success more over as making a decent living and being able to support a family. However, our generation as a whole I feel, defines success moreover as whatever makes you personally happy and what you have a passion for. Millennials are becoming known for the passion in following their dreams even if their dreams and defining success in their own terms. That being said, the article by Williams praises Millennials for their determinism in always wanting to step up and become the best they can be. However, this article also focused on the fact that many people in our age group are facing a brick wall. I found this article extremely frustrating being a media production major currently looking for an internship I felt as if this article spoke directly to me. Ethically speaking, many people would be happy finding any career path in a field they are passionate about, but what happens when their is no room for change or room to become better. When we measure success in terms of our own happiness, being stuck in internship after internship is enough to lead to anyones unhappiness and in return us looking upon ourselves to be unsuccessful.
Ethics is something that is written in your essence, it is what allows you to make decisions that may come up in your life at any point. It is through our ethics that makes us each unique, ethics allows us to gage what is wrong or right for both of us according to our standards.
The three articles presents an interesting viewpoints of the struggles undergraduate and post-graduate students faced as they find that they are bouncing from internship to internship with no promise of a full time position. The article written by Alex Williams shows post-grad students who want to broaden their horizons but is limited due to the economy and other reasons. From reading the article I can develop the notion that the ethics of these individuals are wearing thin because bouncing from internship to internship without the promise of a temporary position has be tiring. Although, they want to achieve their dream careers life has a different plan for them. At the end of the day it's what makes them happy
I think that ethics should play a role in my definition of success because I believe that my values should reflect my ultimate goal in life, both professionally and educationally. For that to happen you should have a good idea who you are and the type of actions that you do and see on a daily basis. It also has a lot to with self-determination as well, when you find that you cannot get through the opportunity you want, this is the way to create the thing that you visioned for yourself. This way you get exactly what you want and thus have created your own success.
Personally, I believe that ethics plays a huge role in my individual success. Though our society views success as “high income and test scores”, as described in the Defining Success article, I believe personal success is being a good person, expressing individuality, and impacting someone’s life for the better. If I didn’t have a code of ethics or morals, how on earth could I possibly achieve my goals?
Because of my own feelings, I understood the sentiments of the young adults in the Intern article. Though they weren’t making an income, they preferred to keep interning than to settle for a position that wouldn’t bring fulfillment. I like knowing that our generation has passion and drive. My parents, on the other hand, would be appalled if they saw this trend. They both worked multiple jobs throughout high school and college and are firm believers that you should take any job you can get. Though they have instilled in me the knowledge that there are more important things in life than money, being able to live comfortably is also a concern of theirs. My personal aspirations are also shaped due to my education. I have always been a high-achieving student, but to be completely honest, my only strength is my academics. While I may have an impressive transcript after college, I feel as though I lack talent or uniqueness, which are goals I am now striving for.
I am curious to see how the future for college grads will affect our society. Now, people associate a college degree with success and eligibility. However, as time continues and more low-wage jobs are available, a college degree may become superfluous. I wonder if by the time I am an adult, our nation’s perception of success is changed.
As I read these three articles I couldn’t help but feel worried about my future. College students work hard to obtain a bachelor degree to find out in the end that they will most probably be stuck working as interns for multiple companies within their field of choice and will never be guaranteed to move from intern to employee. This made me question if internships themselves are ethical. Many internships as exemplified in Williams article, “For Interns, All Work and No Payoff,” are portrayed as being totally unethical, some basically using the intern to their advantage (abusing the intern) by making them do extra work, work long hours and on top of that receive either no pay or little pay. I will be interning this summer and hopefully during a full semester my senior year and this really bothers me and worries me. Yes, I will be gaining a lot of experience but not knowing if I will ever be considered an employee is not something I like to think about. The one positive attribute to all of this is that despite not being offered jobs, people are still striving to work towards their dream jobs even if they have to overcome the obstacles of many internships to get there. I think that is what Success is; being able to overcome obstacles that at times try and stop you from obtaining what you want. Ethics could play a role in success because in order to obtain your success you have to work towards it. If someone was not ethical they would do whatever it took, ethical or unethical to reach their success. I don’t think anyone would want to associate themselves with an individual who basically cheats themselves to the top because it is all about hard work and earing your success. As I get older and move through college, yes the idea that making money is what most people consider to be success but many people have said, “Do what makes you happy because only then can you truly be successful.” I agree that money is very important because in today’s society you really can’t survive on your own without making a substantial amount but it’s also about being happy and being able to wake up every morning with a positive outlook on life and not miserable because you have to wake up to go to a job you truly hate but is making you the money. I didn’t truly appreciate my education until I reached college. College opened my mind and allowed me to believe in myself that I could achieve success through my grades by working hard and believing in myself that I could obtain those grades. Back in high school I will admit I wasn’t very ethical when it came to school because I hated it for numerous but now I have made a complete 360 and when I see a person cheating (not being ethical when it comes to school work) I get angry because now I know what it is like and how it feels to work hard and achieve a great grade without taking the back road. I think I have discovered true success in my education but I’m still searching for my professional success and aspirations.
The three articles posted for us to read make a very poignant and often tough-to-swallow point: personal success and financial success are not only unrelated, but are often very to achieve individually, let alone in combination.
Except they aren't.
Success is a subjective term. Thus one person's interpretation of success will vary from another's, and thus my personal goals may be much harder or easier to achieve than the next person.
That being said, almost everyone dreams of being the premier of their field, whatever that field may be, and consequently having more money than one could hope to spend in a lifetime. In America especially, where we are taught not only to dream of such things, but that such things are very possible, this general aspiration, the "American Dream" has existed for over a century.
But in the "brave new market," as Andrew Lang can attest, a rather unregulated job market has thrived on the unofficial slave labor known as an internship. My classmate Gianna pointed out that traditionally the internship was a position designed to introduce a prospective employee to a company or industry before an offer of full-time employment. I concur, but I beg to point out that the application, if not the definition, of the internship has drastically evolved (or devolved, if truth be told) in the past decade. College students and recent graduates once in line for a full-time position continue to apply for work only to find that while their work would be appreciated, the company in question cannot afford to hire them. In other words, feel free to come work for me for free and perhaps I'll write you a letter of recommendation when you want to go work for a company that IS hiring.
But no companies are hiring. So it often seems, anyway, as the massive influx of recent college graduates of the millennial generation far exceeds the existing and new openings for full-time positions. Many graduates and other young adults feel like they are trapped in an endless cycle of "better luck next time," and that their chances of success, of reaching the peak of their intended profession, look bleaker and bleaker.
The ultimate measure of success, however, is not fame or money or position: its how well you do your job, whatever it is. As I began this argument, the idea success is subjective. Therefore, it is subject not only to changes in the individual, but to the reality that individual experiences.
In a modern economy, success and affluence - or even financial well-being - are often diametrically opposed. Nothing highlights this than the abnormally high suicide rates among doctors and financial executives/accountants. All are very affluent professions but can also exert a high psychological toll. Is one really a success if one makes $500k/year and hates every day of it?
I think not. While Aristotle prevents me from suggesting the other extreme, that a man who loves his work but lives in poverty is successful (of course, this is not the case either), one must judge success based on one's ability to provide for oneself and enjoy one's job.
That's where ethics comes in. One can find enjoyment in jobs that promote ethical ideals: education, leadership, not-for-profit work, etc. These are all jobs which benefit the public at large but which don't have great promise of financial affluence. But these are the jobs most worth doing.
I believe that ethics should play a huge a role in everybody’s definition of success. Sure it’s probably great to be making a lot of money, but ultimately money does not equal happiness (happiness equals success in my opinion). The article about the interns was most interesting to me because it showed that people were willing to go unpaid to be in fields that most interest them. They know the financial aspect of that career choice will be difficult to handle but they are doing work that makes them feel happy and accomplished. That is a big reason why I am in the Journalism field rather than something like business. I feel like I can do more through writing than I would be able to do sitting at a computer screen typing in numbers from 9-5.
Receiving a college degree is not important for me because of the prospect of getting paid more. Personally, graduating college for me is important because my parents didn’t have the same opportunities to learn and get educated like I have had, so they came to this country to make sure I get those opportunities. I have a goal of theirs to fulfill which became a goal of my own.
You can argue that financial success is, at the very least, separate from morality. If the most basic form of ethics is to "do no harm," then the most moral person in the world would just sit on a mountain somewhere all day.
However, though you are not harming anyone, you're not helping them either. Morality should have an additive quality to it.
And how do you help people? By giving them things. Of course, you need money to do this.
Under this argument, someone who is rich and charitable is more moral than someone who is poor and charitable, because the rich person is able to give more, even if the percentage of charity for both is the same. One could argue that someone who is destitute is actually immoral, because, not only to they not contribute to others, they detract from others.
So, poor people are naturally immoral.
Just kidding! Because I'm reminded of the Nas line, "The bigger we get, the more we're taking from other people."
The pro-rich person argument assumes that wealth can be developed. This is simply untrue: wealth simply exists, and people mine it. The rich have just found more efficient ways to mine this wealth. This is where the whole concept of "giving back" comes from: you're not giving something you materialized to the world, but simply giving something back to the world that you took from it.
So, I wouldn't really measure success with money. Or maybe I would.
Women, I've found, value success more then traits men ASSUME they value, like looks and humor and morality. This is completely different than saying women like men with money: it's not that money is a turn on, it's that having a driven, aggressive, achievement-oriented man is attractive.
However, in a capitalist system where everything has a monetary value, it is impossible to separate success from money, because success in every form (that I can think of) leads to money.
So, even though women aren't attracted to money, the correlation between money and success is so tight that the distinction is academic.
I was just using the woman thing as a means to an end, the end being that money DOES mean you're successful.
When Barbara J. King said that success is, “Doing a job that we find satisfying and meaningful,” I realized that is my ideal definition of the meaning of success. However, my realistic definition of success is, “Find passion in everything you do.” My father worked as a union electrician to avoid the Vietnam draft. My mother dropped out of college at 20 and became a credit manager for a hardware company. She wanted to be a therapist. I grew up on Long Island where my parents, fortunately, made more money than a majority of the United States by a pretty large margin. I don’t think they were always happy with their jobs but they were happy with the life they were able to afford. I was one of those kids who wanted to be EVERYTHING. A pilot, a hairdresser, a dentist, an entertainer, a teacher…you name it. I wasn’t sure of what direction to commit to until last year. But whatever I was going to do, I was going to do it passionately. I love PR because I get to live vicariously through clients and sort of “become” the multitude of things that I’ve always wanted to be. Unfortunately, I may be one of those 20-somethings that find themselves in a loop of internships post-graduation. I lost count of how many times “publication” or “public relations” was mentioned in the article, “For Interns, All Work and No Payoff.” As for now, I’d like to try to achieve my media dreams for as long as my trust fund allows but truly, I want to find passion in any paying job that I may have. I saw my father become foreman of major New York City jobs as he perfected his craft. I saw my mother make life-long friends that became my aunts, uncles and even God-parents from a job she sort of “settled” for. Ethically, it’s important to reach far and wide for your dreams. It really is. Having a goal to live for is extremely vital for a healthy life. On the other hand, if things don’t work out, it’s important to find passion in hidden places.
To define how ethics and success correlate you must first have a clear idea of what the two concepts mean and in what contexts they come in or out of play. Similar to the "Definition" step of the Potter Box. Time and time again we encounter situations where journalists break their code of ethics in pursuit of hard-hitting stories and high circulation rates, what they seem to define as success. In reality what is happening is that the roles have become reversed and Ethics has become a flimsy set of guidelines while success is often the primary goal. Award-winning writers like Amy Chua, who have become models for aspiring writers openly describe their definition of success as being measured in dollars and sales figures, and not the ethical merit of their work.
The simple truth about the issue is that journalists nowadays are in a constant headlock from their mountains of bills to their impatient and hungry bosses. When you find yourself neck deep in debt, while also having to appease a carnivorous job field, it becomes clearer why this is more than ever the case. And the window of opportunity closes slightly with each passing year. Countless graduates have become a part of the sea of interns who cannot manage to land full-time jobs, exposing themselves to cut-throat workplace politics before ever even having a real job. In "For Interns, All Work and No Payoff" a 24 year old fashion intern named Dawn Joyce describes the ferocity of the industry she receives almost no pay to be in. "Lets see who lasts the longest" she even says, alluding to the fact that interns must fight hard to make it in the world.
As far as how ethics and success relate the answer is straightforward; ethics should always be in consideration inside or outside of work. Success on the other hand should never take precedence over ethics. Economic downturn has forced young journalists to look past the moral (ex. Richard Jewell) and professional implications (Loss of credibility, possible unemployment, etc) of breaking their ethical guidelines by making their existence a sheer nightmare.
Throughout these readings I couldn’t help but think of the Potter Box, and how it in a way demonstrates the ethical dilemmas people in these situations are faced with. I believe everyone has their own Potter Box when it comes to their relationship with their aspirations and the definition, values, principles, and loyalties of their ethics that lay behind said aspirations. I think whether or not we realize it our ethics, whatever they may be, play a role in what our definition of success is and how we obtain it.
In regard to the Time’s articles, I think our own hopes and concerns as soon-to-be young professionals resonate within the reality these perpetual interns are facing. An ethical issue here, as I see it, is that these people are saying “but look at all this work I’ve done and this is the way things are supposed to be and it’s not fair.” And you know what, it’s not fair. And they believe they are being ethical because they are following the steps they were taught, and adhering to values and principles of a “successful” person. But the although there has always been varying definitions of success, the overarching way of getting what we want these days is no longer a general formula. “I’m 26 right now… I know that everyone has their own pace, but I don’t really feel like a real adult right now.” Your age should not be a template for success, nor should anyone else’s success at any age. I think people assume if they are ethical and work hard, like our grandparents and parents did, good things will happen. But unfortunately, the economy has a bigger impact than we like to realize. Not saying we should totally give up on ethics because this cut throat world is a hectic array of crap. Now, more than ever I feel like, we need ethics if we want to be successful in this day in age. Everyone likes to say we are a lazy generation, and thus have questionable ethics, but it’s a revolving door that no one wants to talk about – many have a low work ethic because they see the other half busting their asses and getting nowhere. So while ethics are essential to success in whatever way you see success, it is not rocket science as to why their involvement in success may not be clearly connected. The ethical decay our nation is facing, argumentatively with our generation in particular, is what makes it a two way street. What’s more, ethical questioning should not be brought on just the interns in question in this article, but the employer – getting all this cheap (or free work) and discarding great workers because there is a new batch ready to slave away at minimal wages. Ethical success is hard to be reached when both parties in the equation are lacking moral fiber.
And then there is the other side of fulfillment, where monetary success is not the key, as reinforced in the NPR article. I think since the split between ethical output is 50/50 among our generation in terms of how they view it as essential to wealth and success in those terms, many young people are declining to buy into monetary gain as a form of success because they are scared of failing and then are calling it ethical because “they don’t need money to be happy.” While this is true, and a lack of concern for money illustrates ethical values places on other principles and loyalties in your life, I think basing a relationship between ethics and success in “non-corporate America non-corporate America: making a difference by working on issues of poverty, hunger, mental health, human rights, animal welfare and others related to social justice” and things of the sort equates to a separate kind of success. In a way, at least for me personally, my professional success is how I myself perform in the professional world, and while although I need ethics to get me there, my ethical success in helping those around me contributes to a bigger picture I am part of.
With all of the ethically questionable situations I have encountered in my life, whether romantic, business or success-related, there is always a grey area that is relative to each person. I have found that this relativity occurs in people’s definition of what success is and what they need to do to get there. For instance, where one person’s ethical definition of success may be getting a good job and having financial stability, another person’s idea of success may be their humanitarian efforts and impact on the society.
This idea is shown in the three articles, especially in the NPR article. Ethics really should be the driving factor in a person’s own definition of success, professional aspirations and educational experiences and goals. This is the difference between someone who yearns for power for the sake of power and someone who takes on leadership positions to make a difference. Ethics directly relate to decisions, so if one does not have ethics in, say professional aspirations, the person’s actions will not be made with any ethical or moral consequences in mind (i.e. pollution, job cuts).
As stated in the New York Times article on internships, I believe the definition of success should be doing something you’re passionate about. There needs to be a balance of this passion and ethics in success. Personally, as a full-time student with four jobs, I know ethics play a huge role in my professional life, as there is a necessary balance for me in order to get my jobs done and done right. The value of a college degree seems to be going down more each year, making getting into the job market more difficult, allowing for less wiggle room in people’s agendas for ethics. However, if ethics decline along with the available jobs then when people do obtain these positions, ethics will not be the huge part of the definition of success that is necessary.
Ethics plays a huge role in my success, as it should. Something that stuck out to me was in the Defining Success Article where they said how success was measured by one having a high income and high test scores. I think that there should be no set definition of success, rather each person chooses what they believe success is for their lives.
I agree with King because of how she wrote that people create their own success through what makes them happy. I think it’s important for people to make goals that they want to accomplish that would make them happy, not what society views as the standard goals that are the key to happiness.
Overall, I hate how society today has formed these norms that people go insane over trying to accomplish. It is unethical in my opinion for people to set a standard of success because everyone lives a different life and wants to accomplish different things.
Out of all three articles, “Defining Success Beyond The Dollar Sign” was definitely the one that stood out to me. Everyone has his or her own standard for success, but saying that winning a Tony Award or a being a noble laureate is what makes you successful is narrow minded and shallow. I agree with Barbara King, we need to look at success in a more expansive way. Do the best with what you have and where you are! There are plenty of people in the world that would define success as simply as volunteering at a children’s hospital. In my eyes, success is doing the best you can with what you have. I would deem myself successful. I’m a huge part of an amazing group of girls that sing with each other everyday, I work hard at my job, and work hard in the classroom. I’m researching things that I am passionate about, and I am surrounding myself with beautiful, kindhearted people. Unfortunately, for some (or most?) this isn’t enough, and maybe as I get older, I will crave more from this life of mine.
The other two articles were obviously very relatable, and bring up questions I think about everyday. Is all this time and money and hours spent studying, worth it? I’m a Public Relations major, and the more I learn about my field, the more I realize I don’t even need a degree for it. But without a degree, it doesn’t seem I can get very far in this economy…or is the job market really changing to the point where no matter how hard I work- I will be stuck in an internship or a entry-level job for the rest of my life? The most I can hope for is that I will get involved with something, whether it be a job, an internship, volunteer work, that I am truly passionate about and will help me grow as a person. I just don’t want to settle for anything less than what I think I deserve, and that just might be a problem in this economy.
We are no longer living in a world where if you work hard your hard work will pay off. The American Dream is fading away, and we are now creating our own individual dreams for ourselves that are vastly different. Ethics should be included in these dreams and should help us get there. Now more than ever, we need to be deeply rooted in our personal ethics; they are constantly being tested over and over again, to the point where some people break down and give in to the corrupt ways of society instead of sticking to their beliefs.
What do you value? Where are your loyalties? What principles do you follow? Defining success means asking yourself these questions. Defining success also means illustrating our identity for who are we really if not an embodiment of our desires and aspirations? Is that not the true self? Asking someone to define success reveals much about a person and personal ethics informs that almost entirely in relation to the self.
In the Times' article, the subjects spoke about the sum of their achievements as interns being met without the reward of a career within their chosen field. This speaks volumes to their personal values as Millennials: an emphasis on fulfillment over money, the belief that time and effort produce results in every facet of life, and the idea that by following societal standards they are entitled to a slice of the proverbial pie. Unfortunately we live in an exploitative and unfair culture where we are consistently lied to while being booted in the face by someone using us as a ladder rung. As a result the generation has been jaded by the harsh realities of the world.
It's interesting how in college we are built up to believe that we are being prepped for the "outside" and that by the time we graduate society at large will see us as equally valued citizens yet this notion is far removed from the truth. College, it seems, was just another advertisement on TV. One could think that, and many probably have. However, these individuals are placing value in the college degree and not their education. Perspectives change when you create your own value and reject what you are told to value - and ethical thought is how you facilitate it.
The article that stood out to me the most was the internship article. This article made me very concerned because I still have to intern in the future and now! Reading that the interns in this article are perusing the same career as I am, and they have 4 to 5 internships, not paid. It makes me realize that there is a long way to go for me. I would not want to fall in the category where I would intern forever. My definition of success is not having money, is making a difference and being able to pass along the knowledge that I have. I believe in professionalism and Ethics to the fullest and I will always make sure to use ethical decisions and learn from my experiences. Interns should be paid more or at least taught better than just doing coffee runs and being overworked for no pay. Learning is a big part of the experience because possibly one day these interns will be running the companies and will have to teach along and pass along the information they have learned to the next generation.
When it comes to college education and the way the salary amount is for women and men is very controversial. Why are women being paid less? It is portrayed through salary that women can’t do as much as men or are not trained as well as men. A few months ago, during an interview with the professors under the communication department in the City college of New York, one of them stated that public relations majors should not even have to go to school. It’s all about self-learning and training you to be different than the rest. It is also about whom you know and the connections you build with other professionals. I found this to be very interesting because I was looking for guidance when I declared the Public Relations major, and a professor who is skilled and trained to teach Public Relations students is saying such thing. It made me question all the money I pay for a college education and the reward after it. I believe it is unethical for post graduate students and interns to suffer from this matter when we pay thousands of dollars for a higher education.
Therefore I believe ethics plays a big role on success and professionalism. One should always aspire to do better and not only be for themselves. If more jobs open and more students are able to express their fresh ideas out of college and their morals, I see a bigger picture in the future of the Journalism era. There will be a change that comes with success if our post graduate generation Is given the chance to prove that.
How I would relate ethics to success is how everyone prioritizes things differently to their ideal picture of success and how in the end the result will not be the same. After reading these articles, I couldn't help but relate to the students stuck in a cycle of internships (in my case freelance jobs) where I am working for a significantly less amount of money just because I'm not staffed in the company. I'm not sure that obtaining a college degree in some professions, including journalism/ media related careers is necessary anymore because you constantly need to go back for training of some sort to make sure you are up to date on the latest processes. If anything, getting a college degree is just slowing down the process of people being able to get out there and get the hands on or field experience that is needed to get a job. Internships and job applications have gotten more selective over the years where they are now looking for candidates with prior experience. It's kind of pointless to be requiring someone to have experience in that profession when applying for and internship when the whole reason they are applying is to obtain the experience. I think in the end we need to focus our attention not so much on superficial ways of defining success, but pursuing a career that will make you happy for the rest of your life. If you have a passion for anything that you do in life that is when you are truly successful.
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