Prepping for the Tests of Life
Touro's Lander College for Men Coaches Students to Tackle Ethical Challenges in the Workplace
Many universities pride themselves on their high rankings, their students’ top scores on professional exams, and the rate of admissions to graduate schools and placement at nationally recognized employers. At Touro, our students ace the CPA exam and have more than 95 percent acceptance rates to professional schools. Beyond that, they are learning to excel in the tests of life, as they are being trained to address legal and moral questions that arise in virtually every profession, the kind that most schools don’t teach their students how to handle.
For example, how should a doctor proceed when a family decides to disconnect life support from a relative in a vegetative state if his religious beliefs do not allow him to take an active role in hastening death? What if a financial analyst is pressured by their supervisor to produce an overly rosy forecast to attract investors or satisfy management? How should a healthcare professional respond if their superior pushes them to order unnecessary tests for patients for the sake of bringing additional revenue to the practice? And what should a therapist do if a client will only admit to being abused if the therapist promises to not report it?
At Touro University’s Lander College for Men (LCM), faculty anticipate ethical challenges students are likely to encounter in various professions and equip them with skills they’ll need to ensure they won’t compromise their values while trying to achieve professional success.
A decade ago, in an effort to address the gap between theoretical knowledge and ethical sensibilities on the one hand, and practical moral dilemmas on the other, LCM instituted a requirement that every student complete a semester-long course that delves into ethical conundrums related to their intended profession. It is believed to be the only post-high school program in the country where such a course is necessary in order to graduate.
“Every college strives to provide their students with a robust education that will enable their graduates to thrive in their intended careers,” said Dr. Henry Abramson, dean of LCM. “But we also consider it our responsibility to instill our students with values, so they don’t lose sight of their moral compass when they leave us. Our goal is to produce graduates who aren’t just skilled professionals: They’re also ethical people.”
The members of the faculty who teach the classes are experts in their respective fields, as well as professional practitioners. They bring to bear not only their scholarly background, but their real-world experiences, so that students are exposed to the lived moral dimensions of their intended professions.
The program includes lessons on ethical questions that have emerged in recent years with the rapid advancement in the field of biomedical technology, such as the science and ethics of gene editing or of human reproduction.
“One shouldn’t underestimate the idea that new technology has ethical challenges,” according to Dr. John Loike, a professor of biology who teaches the medical ethics course. “It is possible to take a hair off of your head and isolate a stem cell and create a gamete and use that to fertilize an egg. You’ll never know. Is that good or bad? It depends—is there some medical benefit, or is it just being used for academic purposes?”
Lander College alumni who took the class on ethics have said that the course helped prepare them for those aspects of the workplace.
“By teaching ethics and morals in business, it prepared us to excel as principled leaders in the workforce,” said Yonatan Katz, a computer science major at LCM who is headed for an AI role at Deloitte. “Moreover, the training empowers graduates to build trust, foster collaboration and lead with purpose in the ever-evolving global economy, ensuring they are not only successful professionals but also representatives of positive change in the world.”
