When federal prosecutors charged more than two dozen wealthy parents with bribery, and fraud for using substitute test-takers and false athletic records to gain their kids’ admissions to top colleges, many in the media were not surprised. “This large-scale grift,” Willa Paskin writes in Slate (Mar. 12), “is a window into the ethical and moral rot of our supposedly meritocratic...

“No nation, no society has ever changed this much, this fast. Now, before you start calling anyone bigoted, consider – and be honest – how would you feel if that happened in your neighborhood? Doesn’t matter how nice the immigrants are, they probably are nice… That’s not the point. The point is, this is more change than human beings are...

It’s safe to say that, at one time or other, most teens rebel against their parents. For Ethan Lindenberger that rebellion took an unexpected turn. When Lindenberger became a legal adult at 18, he chose to get the necessary vaccinations that his parents had avoided. “I had grown up with my mom being very staunch and open about her position...

This is a story of two kids: one who does the right thing and another who, well… you decide. When a sixth-grade student at Houghton Academy near Buffalo, New York noticed that the bus driver had accidentally hit a parked car, then left the scene, this student jumped into action, leaving a note on the car of Canisius College student...

Colman McCarthy is always a supportive friend but he’s much more. The former Washington Post columnist retired to start The Center for Teaching Peace, a radical little group that has the audacity to believe that “unless we teach our children peace, someone else will teach them violence.” Among his advisory board: former Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Hatfield, Arun Gandhi...

This is the second of two commentaries about Maj. John Baldwin (Ret.) chest surgeon extraordinaire. Wednesday’s commentary talked about Baldwin’s quick thinking and skillful hands as a young resident. This piece story goes back in time to 1951. In 1951, nuclear testing continued with a 1-kiloton bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat near Las Vegas, Nevada. President Harry Truman relieved General...

Baseball season begins in just 10 days, and what better way to begin than with a great baseball story. Football may be America’s most popular game, but baseball is forever. Actually, that’s the title of a new book by former Washington Post columnist and peace studies teacher Colman McCarthy. Baseball Forever is a collection of stories McCarthy has written over...

Last Wednesday, I shared excerpts from two papers written by New Hampshire students on the topic of Ethics and Social Media. Christofer (pictured above in his final presentation) utilizes insight from another class to help inform his ethical reasoning. “…during my Communicating Mindfully class with Professor Del-Bonis Platt,” Christofer writes, “we explored the effects such devices had on social interactions....

The use of social media has grown exponentially in the last several years. It’s become an ideal, and in some cases, vital source for reporting everything from emergencies to political uprisings; from coordinating protest marches to connecting with friends and family. That’s social media’s positive side. There is, however, a much darker side where bullies, predators and terrorists live. It’s...

Ethics is not about what we say or what we intend, it’s about what we do. This is the heart of integrity – demonstrating a consistency between ethical principle and practice. While I wrote this commentary more than eight years ago, it’s a story worth repeating and a moral reminder to me. Who we are is never more clearly revealed than...