Grayscale

I grew up in a household where life was very black and white. I attended a private university that was saturated with a homogeneous way of thinking. My life was black and white; very straightforward. However, through various experiences and opportunities/friendships, my life was turned upside down. Everything that I had always known for certain to be “right” became murky.  This progression taught me to question everything and to critically analyze and try to see all the perspectives before coming to any conclusions. 

That being said, I want to play devil’s advocate on the whole cheating scandal that happened recently with my class.  We all know cheating is wrong, it’s been ingrained in our minds since we were children attending elementary school. One major reason why it’s wrong is because it’s unfair; it creates an unfair advantage to the people that have the information beforehand.  The problem is that the system was already unfair to begin with. 

Some students are really good test takers, while others perform much better in real life application when put in the field.  Some students enjoy taking exams and performing well, while others suffer extreme exam anxiety and it’s a huge struggle to even make it through a test. The school system caters to the first student.  So perhaps, with this whole cheating problem, one of the students that received the exam actually put in days upon end of studying, but when it comes down to it, cannot perform well on the multiple choice test placed in front of them.  Due to anxiety, stress, and other factors, the student would have received a poor grade, but if the exam had been oral or perhaps essay form, then maybe this student would have had a shot at getting a good grade.  Perhaps, it was one of these kinds of students that received the exam from a P3.  Does that make it okay? No. Does knowing this background information about the student make this situation fair? No. But it was already kind of unfair to begin with.

As much as we want it to be an even playing field, it never will be.  As much as we might want morals and ethics to be black and white, I don’t think that they are.  Each one of us has our own reality and perspective of life.  What I consider right might be completely wrong to the person sitting next to me.  The world I live in could be turned upside down again at any moment; something I truly believed was right could turn out to be so wrong.  As a professional and as a human being, I need to be prepared to act when placed in a situation that questions my understanding of right and wrong.  Developing critical thinking, to be able to listen and at least try to understand another’s perspective AND THEN have the ability to make my own decision without personal biases or beliefs, will be crucial in my journey on this road I’ve chosen.  

Cheating is an area where it is probably a little easier to understand the ethical decision, I just wanted to point out that even something as seemingly straightforward as cheating has its implications.  As a professional, I hope to continue thinking and developing my ethical repertoire so that I have the ability to take a stand, but to also be compassionate and not lose trust. Only through understanding both sides of a situation can we begin to implement lasting, powerful change.