Beyond Feelings - Vincent Ruggiero [85]
One of the causes of the antisocial behavior that is so prevalent today, according to some analysts, is the fact that the old-fashioned hero has been largely replaced by the anti-hero. If the media offered more wholesome, virtuous individuals for young people to model their lives after, these analysts reason, crimes of violence would decrease. Do you agree?
On at least two occasions the city council of Evanston, Illinois, considered a proposal to tax the students of Northwestern University to offset the cost of unpaid services provided by the city. The Association of American Universities opposed the proposal, which they believed would serve as a lamentable model for other college communities.4 But some people disagree, asserting that such a tax represents the fairest way of having all people share the costs of the services they use, and suggesting that municipalities across the country adopt the idea. What is your view?
In two separate cases, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the use of trained dogs to detect drugs is legitimately under certain circumstances. In the first case, it ruled that citizens' rights are not violated when dogs are used to sniff airport luggage if police have reason to suspect that drugs are present. In the second case, it approved the use of dogs to sniff students' lockers, cars parked on school property, and students themselves when they are suspected of drug possession. (However, it outlawed the use of dogs for mass searches of students.)5 Do you believe the Court judged wisely?
Should adults be held financially responsible for their elderly parents when the parents are too poor or ill to care for themselves?
In the past couple of decades student evaluations of teachers have become one common measure of teacher effectiveness. Typically, students are given an opportunity, toward the end of the term, to fill out a questionnaire and rate their teachers. The overall ratings are then compiled and become one criterion for salary raises, promotion, and tenure. Not all teachers approve of students' evaluating them, however. Some argue that students are not trained evaluators and can too easily confuse popularity with effective teaching and punish the very teachers who are serving them best. What is your view?
In early 1989 Whittle Communications Corporation tested a new approach to the use of television in the classroom. They offered pilot schools free installation of television equipment and a twelve-minute new program, with the provision that they be allowed to include two minutes of advertising in the program. Some educators hailed the idea as the beginning of a new partnership between big business and education. Others adamantly opposed it. What is your view?
Suppose that a single woman becomes pregnant, has the baby, and then decides to give it up for adoption. Suppose, too, that the biological father learns to her adoption decision. Under what circumstances, if any, should he be able to block the adoption and claim the baby as his own?
Do Wealthy people have any obligation to share their riches with poor people? Does your answer depend on whether their wealth was honestly or dishonestly obtained (by themselves or their ancestors)? If they do have such an obligation, how should it be enforced if they choose not to honor it? Do rich countries have a similar obligation to poor countries?
Most computer software carries a warning against copying, yet many people feel the warning is unreasonable. They believe that if they buy a program, it is theirs to do with as they wish, and that includes diving or selling a copy to someone else. Are they right?
When television dish antennas first came available, owners were able to receive HBO and other pay-channel signals directly from