Students displayed a wide range of topics during final presentations in this year’s Contemporary Ethical Issues class at the New Hampshire Technical Institute. Among the issues selected: capital punishment, patient confidentiality, stealing, bullying, and assisted suicide. Sports ethics offered two students as media commentators interviewing three individuals caught in cheating scandals. Three students created a debate on gun control between a representative...

Earl J. Hickey is a shiftless, ne’er-do-well, who, after a near-fatal accident, sees the burning bush of Karma and wants to lead a better life, or as one NHTI student so eloquently summarizes: “If you give crap, you will get crap in return.” In the part comedy-part philosophy series, My Name is Earl, Hickey sets out to reform his ways by...

After reviewing the PBS Frontline documentary, A Class Divided, Professor Stephen Ambra led a class discussion on bigotry and intolerance. However, it was a conversation I had at the break with one of the students that led to a special written assignment. Sitting in the back of the room, clearly uncomfortable with the discussion, this student confided that the subject of...

One of the aspects that comes from walking into a class of total strangers for the first time is expectations. I expect that because most of them are young, that they have relatively normal lives absent any grave or impactful issues. I could not be more wrong. The level of candor reflected in most papers was not only unexpected but demonstrated a...

The New Hampshire Technical Institute is a small community college tucked into the historic town of Concord. NHTI is also the home of the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center – a remarkable resource for both students and visitors. This is the third year I have had the opportunity to co-teachContemporary Ethical Issues with Professor Stephen Ambra. The intensive class runs seven hours a day for five...

Second, in a series of two profiles, is about former U.S. Representative, Senator and 1972 presidential candidate George McGovern. This first appeared in the National Catholic Reporter December 31, 2012. On the Wednesday afternoon in early November 1972 after his defeat the day before by Richard Nixon for the presidency, George McGovern and his wife Eleanor arrived at Washington’s National...

While I’m away in New Hampshire, good friend and colleague, Colman McCarthy has been generous to share a couple of profiles. This first, discussing folk singer Woody Guthrie appeared on the 100 anniversary of the singer’s birth on October 13, 2012 in the National Catholic Reporter. For a few moments in mid-October, the nation [had] a chance to enjoy a...

Ten miles outside of Concord, New Hampshire is a little slice of heaven called Gould Hill Farm. Located in the town of Hopkinton, Gould Hill is 60 glorious acres of apples, peaches, blueberries and pumpkins that have been farmed since the mid 1700s. With a 75-mile view of God’s country, the apples are simply the best I’ve ever had. Returning to Concord...

Of all the ethics-related issues I’ve discussed, the controversy surrounding gun ownership has been the most difficult for two reasons. First, the issue embraces at least four ethical values: respect, responsibility, citizenship and fairness. Add to that the multiple stakeholders, generally divided into two camps. Whatever position appears fair to one group is viewed as patently unfair by another. Here...