Martinez Gets an Ethical Check

On May 17, 2011, Martinez Unified School District staff, Martinez Chamber of
Commerce staff, Community Business owners, and high school students came together at
The Martinez Adult School for Ethics Day, to discuss the importance of an ethical
society. Ethics Day was put together by efforts from local school staff, administrators,
and donations from businesses, and had up to 30 facilitators and community
representatives attend along with the students. The purpose of this event is to introduce
students to ethics as a “science” that explains the role of values, assumptions and fact-
finding on decision-making as it relates to determining conduct as “good” or “bad.”
Through in-depth, facilitated discussion groups, participants attempted to answer
questions such as, “is it fair?” or “will anyone be hurt by this decision?” The program
offered participants opportunities such as discussing ethical issues people face today,
develop understanding of individual actions and their consequences, and learn from
listening to the view point of others.

The event kicked off with everyone sitting down in small groups and eating
breakfast together. Once seated, adults and teens got to know each other, and share their
beliefs of what ethics means, and how they apply them to real world scenarios. After an
introduction from MUSD Superintendent Rami Muth, District Attorney of Contra Costa
County Mark Peterson gave an inspiring speech asking “what is Ethics?” and explaining
a problem that Americans face today he calls “Ethical Lapse.” Peterson described this by
using an example; when we find ourselves in a situation such as receiving extra change,
we rationalize our actions on why we should keep the money, yet doing so is unethical.
Instead he explains we need to start focusing on the consequences we cause through
our unethical actions and how that affects not just ourselves, but the people around us.
Afterwards, H2 Solutions member Harriette Heibel gave an overview of ethics day and
dismissed the small group members to their rooms to begin discussing their scenarios.
Once in their groups, participants introduce themselves through simple activities, which
also clarified values that matter to them.

Among the topics discussed in the break-out sessions, participants found that
to some, the answer seemed obvious and clear, while others dealt with tougher and
complicated situations where solutions were uncertain. Small-scale scenarios discussed
were cyber bullying, illegal immigration, euthanasia, under-age drinking, and so
forth, while others included large scale issues like the Mexico Gulf oil spill, whether
government should censor what is released to the public, and what actions should be
taken to a school that turns a blind eye to an abusive coach. Though participants found
themselves unsure of what the ethical solutions were to these issues, they all discussed
facts and assumptions openly and were understanding to both sides of a scenario before
making a conclusion. Groups worked well to reach an agreement on what they thought
was the best, ethical, action to take in order to solve the problems brought up in the
scenarios. After reaching the solutions to two of the scenarios, the small groups choose
two members to report-out to the rest of the participants. Once all attendants were back
in the Adult School multi-use room, small-group representatives started to clarify the
solutions they had for the issues. After taking a break for lunch, the rest of the groups
reported what they decided as the most ethical and fair action. Speakers told of the
challenges their groups faced when trying to solve the problems of each scenario, but
through their values such as integrity, understanding, and teamwork, managed to agree on
a final solution.

Vicente High Internship and Outreach Coordinator Lorena Castillo described the
event as, “It was an opportunity to listen to other student’s opinions and views on certain
controversial issues.” Lorena took with her a quote from Mark Twain, “Always do the
right thing, You will amaze some and astonish the rest.”

Ethics Day gave a lot of opportunities to the community to establish a common
ground with each other and get to share their views of that it means to have ethics.
Whether participants found the scenarios difficult or not, everyone got experience not
just in learning about their own morals, but the morals of others and how similar they
were. This was the 2nd annual Ethics Day and hopefully this event can continue to be held
yearly in Martinez, to continue to benefit students, teachers, business owners, Martinez,
and hopefully reach out to communities across the country.