JUST TAKE THE COURSE


Much eye-rolling probably took place from the earliest announcement that the University of California would require that an online ethics course be completed by all employees on all campuses. As elementary as it may be, basic reminders of right and wrong can refresh one's ethical synapses. [From rolled eyes to stale synapses is a little awkward, but okay.... Isn't it more likely, though, that very elementary forms of moral didacticism, whose black-and-whiteness insults one's intelligence, will shut down your synapses?]

Although most UC system employees had little problem taking this course -- which doesn't appear to be the case with the state-mandated sexual harassment training that many employees have been blowing off for a year and a half [If I were writing about sex training, I'd avoid most forms of the word "blow"] -- Berkeley employees, professors in particular, have rebelled against these ethics lessons.

This is how they've acquired the reputation as being pompous. [And... we're off! Time to replace arguments about the exam with populist poopoo.... Oh, and he means to write a reputation for pomposity. ]

The old "no time to take it" excuse is bogus because apparently the course can take as little as 15 minutes and seldom longer than 30. [No one's made this excuse. And yes, the exam is so pitifully primitive that fifteen minutes does it, voila, moral clarity... ] It is true that the program has not been completely geared to university settings, therefore every situation is not one every person is likely to face. [Time to introduce this writer to the semi-colon.] Surely people as smart as these can cull applicable information regardless of the perfection of the example. [I haven't a clue what this sentence means, though the writer's class resentment comes through clearly.]

Certain standards and morals are expected of everyone, regardless of position. The multiple-choice quiz is designed for every employee to relate to on some level; [proper use of semi-colon here] its lessons attempt to be widely relevant. And as UC President Robert Dynes says in the introduction, a common course gives a common frame of reference on ethics and expectations.

For most people the ethical answers are obvious in each situation. For some, however, the examples may provide reminders that keep them from falling on the wrong side of the thin line between right and wrong. [This writer actually believes that taking a fifteen-minute multiple choice test can make people more ethical.]

Many UC faculty members act as if this is all so trivial, so beneath them. [Fucking Marie Antoinettes.] Yet the reminders are obviously necessary. Last year UC officials violated university policies in awarding hidden compensation and special perks, involving millions of dollars, to some top executives, sometimes without telling the regents and certainly not considering the increased tuition students were paying. Maybe all Berkeley faculty were above this fray. [Yeah, they were. So the administrators, and not the faculty, should take the test.]

Regardless, it most assuredly isn't going to hurt these deep-thinkers [Hit me again baby.] to take 15 to 30 minutes. They've wasted more time complaining and pouting than it would have taken to complete the thing. [They're not complaining. You are. They're ignoring, laughing, shredding.] They should pick their fights carefully. This is not a good one to pick.