After reading Chace’s blog of “Ethics in Marketing”, it leads me to think about ethics-based marketing from the point of view of business education. As the slogan—work hard, earn more & consume more, then be happy— is plaguing around the world, ethical values seem to lose color. Marketing salespeople are trying to use every possible measure to boost sales. Look at the following video about Bunker’s footwear.

Every day we are bombarded by numerous advertisements persuading us to buy more. The most commonly mentioned terms in most business school education courses are all the ways directing towards cost and profits. In our early business career our schooling makes us far more familiar with the philosophy of  “Time is money” . Profit maximization has not only become the goal of an organization, but also been deeply imbedded in our character-building through the reinforcement of business education. Materialism, self-interest, fierce competition and unrestricted freedom are the interpretation of core values of our life.

Thomas Lickona, a developmental psychologist and professor of education at the State University of New York at Cortland, once pointed out that there are two parts of character-building  “performance character” such as self-discipline, hard work, and perseverance, which are the necessary qualities needed for achievement and “moral character” such as honesty, respect, and caring, which are the necessary qualities needed for ethical behavior in relationships). A successful education in Thomas Lickona’s understanding must intentionally try to develop both sides of character if “we want young people to grow up to be balanced adults who have other values in addition to work and achievement, who make time for friends, family, recreation, community service, and spiritual growth.”

Ethics-based marketing and business school moral education are two big topics which can be written for many pages. My point here is to shed light on what a school education should do to clean the air in a decadent and money-driven society. As President, Ronald Reagan, said about education’s basic purpose: “We’re beginning to realize, once again, that education at its core is more than just teaching our young the skills that are needed for a job, however important that is. It’s also about passing on to each new generation the values that serve as the foundation and cornerstone of our free democratic society–patriotism, loyalty, faithfulness, courage, the ability to make the crucial moral distinctions between right and wrong, the maturity to understand that all that we have and achieve in this world comes first from a beneficent and loving God.”