Using media as the basis for a social issues approach to promoting moral literacy in university teaching
| Date | 10 July 2007 |
| Published date | 10 July 2007 |
| Pages | 427-450 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09578230710762445 |
| Author | Anthony H. Normore,Stephanie Paul Doscher |
| Subject Matter | Education |
Using media as the basis for a
social issues approach to
promoting moral literacy in
university teaching
Anthony H. Normore
California State University, Dominguez-Hills, California, USA, and
Stephanie Paul Doscher
Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this research is to explore the use of media as the basis for a social issues
approach to promoting moral literacy and effective teaching in educational leadership programs.
Design/methodology/approach – Through a review of relevant literature, mass media sources,
and observations, the authors use Starratt’s framework of moral responsibility to identify ethical
practice in response to dilemmas brought on by local, regional, national and international crises and
conflicts. Regional, national and international crises and conflicts are regularly reported on the
Internet, as well as in the local, regional, national and international media (e.g., Time,Macleans,
Michigan Citizen,The Washington Post,Education Week,The Boston Globe,National Geographic).
Findings – The use of mass media venues, when compounded with moral grounding better equips
educational leaders to act with ethical orientations. Professional organizations should encourage and
support leaders who engage in public citizenship activities – answering critical questions, brokering
views, encouraging discussion, and serving as resources.
Originality/value – Issues concerning the ethical usage of mass media are complex, often unique,
and ought to be an integral component of teaching in formal educational leadership experience.
Consequently, the authors advocate the use of the media in university teaching as the basis for a social
issues approach to promote morally literate graduates in university educational leadership programs.
Actual examples of reactions about the use of media from a class of graduate students enrolled in an
ethics class and educational leadership are included.
Keywords Information media,Universities, Teaching, Ethics,Leadership
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
On August 23, 2006, ABC News Special Repor t “20/20” televised a rather
sensationalized broadcast for what turned out to be a scientifically valid two-hour
program titled “Last Days on Earth”. Heart-stopping computer graphics filled the gaps
as scientists explained how human beings will perish in mountains of ash or mile-high
tsunamis, or perhaps “be fried, radiated or smashed by asteroids” (Ostrow, 2006, {7).
Scientists painted seven real-life doomsday scenarios that could wipe out humanity: a
gamma ray burst or black hole; runaway artificial intelligence; a super volcano that’s
overdue (including one in Yellowstone National Park); the impact of an asteroid; an
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-8234.htm
Portions of this paper were presented at the 11th Annual Values and Educational Leadership
Conference, Victoria, British Columbia, October 5-7, 2006
Promoting moral
literacy
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Vol. 45 No. 4, 2007
pp. 427-450
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0957-8234
DOI 10.1108/09578230710762445
explosion caused by nuclear weapons; bioterrorism or modern day plagu e (i.e. Avian
Flu); and global warming. Such cosmic calamities, terrestrial terrors and microscopic
organisms, most over which we have no control, cause human beings to ponder about
life as we know it while encouraging us to reflect on the meaning and purpose of what
we do, as well as our moral responsibilities as citizens on the global stage.
One year earlier, August 26, 2005, Hurricane Katrina rolled over South Florida in the
USA, blasting north across the Gulf of Mexico, while whipping up a wall of water that
surged toward the city of New Orleans. The catastrophe everyone expected but nobody
prepared for struck at daybreak, sacking the Gulf Coast and creating a national
tragedy. Human tragedy recognizes no borders. A tsunami in Indonesia, an earthquake
in India, a monster hurricane in Louisiana – nothing connects pe ople so easily as the
experience of loss. According to Johns et al. (2005, p. 1), “Katrina was more than just a
wild card of nature. It was a natural tragedy compounded by an unnatural one: the
grim consequence of man’s attempt to control geography”.
Crises such as these are crises of mind, which makes them important leverage
points for those institutions that purport to improve minds. Failure to capitalize on
these opportunities is a crisis of education, not merely one in education (Orr, 2004).
Ultimately, such crises concern how we think, and the institutions that purport to
shape and refine the capacity to think. Lee-Boggs (2007, {8) reported in the Michigan
Citizen that much that has gone wrong with the world is the result of the process and
substance of education at all levels, which “alienates us from life in the name of human
domination, fragments instead of unifies, overemphasizes success and careers,
separates feeling from intellect and the practical from the theoretical, and unleashes on
the world minds ignorant of their own ignorance”. As professional educators, it is our
duty to engage students in meaningful and critical discourse that focuses on moral
literacy in times of catastrophes, crises and conflicts – whether such a discours e
focuses on ecological, political, economic, cultural or social issues. In doing this we
harness the energies and imaginations of our students in the reconstruction of life in
our neighborhoods and communities.
Students currently worry about how to make a living before they know who they
are, take classes to acquire the skills and knowledge that will enable the USA to
compete on the world market, and “end up as morally sterile technicians and mor e
know-how than know-why” (Lee-Boggs, 2007 {9).
Many educational leaders are motivated by a sense of duty to leave the world a
better place than it was before they arrived. An internal moral compass directs them to
take on tasks, assume styles, and behaviors commensurate with their beliefs regarding
right and wrong, virtue and vice, and social responsibility. Much as a ship must have a
compass and rudder to reach its destination on a stormy sea, an educator must likewise
be guided by personal, thoughtful, considered action to attain personal and
organizational goals (Begley et al., 2006; Brooks and Normore, 2005) Leadership in any
endeavor is a moral task, but even more so for educational leaders. While educational
leaders are responsible for the success of their particular institution, their work also
impacts other institutions both now and in the future, for those who are taught are the
future leaders of tomorrow. According to Berreth and Berman (1997), adults need to
demonstrate by role-modeling to youth that it is possible to live one’s values and
advocate for a more just and responsible society. Educational leaders must constantly
monitor and reflect upon their actions as they speak volumes about the values these
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