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Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Is Morality Taught Well Enough?

At Loyola University New Orleans, one of the most prominent Jesuit ideals we are taught is morality. I am currently enrolled in Making Moral Decisions--a philosophy course that focuses on issues of morality and social justice from the viewpoints of different philosophers and scholars. I would say that being taught what is moral and how to act morally is important in today's society, but it seems like there is a lack of morality in the general public. Polling Report.com has data from several different polling sources that have conducted morality-based surveys. Here's a link to PollingReport.com

The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press conducted a survey to evaluate morality now versus morality a few decades ago. From March 17-21, 2005, 1505 adults nationwide were asked "Do you think people in general today lead as good lives -- honest and moral -- as they used to?" 21% responded "Yes," 74% responded "No," and 5% were "Unsure" with a Margin of Error of +-3. They were also asked "Do you think that young people today have as strong a sense of right and wrong as they did, say, fifty years ago?" 18% responded "Yes," 79% responded "No," and 3% were "Unsure" with a Margin of Error of +-3. This data does not seem very surprising. It seems that people are not being educated from a young enough age what proper moral behavior is. Another problem may be that they are not taught to critically think about their actions before they make them.

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