Terrifying Mamas

An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy.
**Rudyard Kipling

This week was the first week of classes for my Business and Professional Ethics class, where I teach senior Chinese students. They were given the question “Your brother is unqualified for the job, but as the CEO you give it to him. Ethical or Unethical.” Naturally, one student after another answer Unethical, giving the standard reasons. Suddenly one young man jumped up in the back of the room and said he wanted to say something. Showing obvious passion, he announced the situation was “Very Ethical” and proceeded to offer his main reason: “most importantly, your mom probably wants him to have that job and if you don’t give it to him. . . . Well your mom is going to be so angry and I just think that’s all I need to say about that! I just think it has to be ethical, your mom will be angry at you or maybe cry.”

There we have it folks, the gauge by which we judge our ethical standards – Mom‘s response!