Graduation is right around the corner (literally, at this point it’s less than 15 days away) and I feel like I should be more nervous. I mean, I’ve had f our years of school and training, and it all adds up to what? Bragging rights and piece of paper? What a letdown. I thought maybe I’d have this sense of achievement or I’d have this big epiphany about life, but it still hasn’t hit me.
If anything, I’m terrified I’m somehow going to completely screw things up (which isn’t going to happen just FYI) and not graduate. But then again I kind of do over-think things sometimes.
Take for example this ethic’s class I’ve been in. I had a complete meltdown at the beginning of the semester when I learned that I was going to be in an ethics class which has primarily been a capstone course for PR majors (that’s public relations to the uninitiated). I thought, “That’s it. I’m done. Goodbye graduation.”
After the first day’s “All things PR” test, I freaked out. I thought that this class would be based on years of knowledge that my PR classmates had been blessed enough to previously know, and that I would be completely screwed and playing catch-up all semester. Yes, I’ll admit I overreacted (but shhh don’t tell anyone I said that!) but the course ended up being quite the opposite of what I had expected. I was slightly lost in the beginning, with references to the PRSA Codes of Ethics (had never read them before, or really any code of ethics) and references to previous non-AD classes. I thought I was just going to sit in the back, smile, nod, and pray to just pass.
My “ah ha!” moment came during a lesson about this decision-making model called a Potter’s Box, which is basically a way for a person to decide how they should act, according to their personal set of ethics and beliefs. I never really thought of ethics as something that you could diagram out. I mean, it makes perfect sense, but it just clicked like “oh, I do that everyday, I just do it in summarized states of mind”.
It seems that in most of my classes, we’re taught to learn rules, phrases, facts, random names, and lots of other completely pointless information, and expected to somehow figure out how to mold that into something that we’ll apply to real life. This ethics class though was less about the names and the numbers, but more about “how you operate every day, just broken down in ways you’ve never thought of”.
Now I’m like, “Oh, yes this applies to me and wow I actually understand everything now”. Hmm, life is funny like that right? I might have been slow to start, but it looks like everything is finally falling into place. This class has surprised me in so many ways, like the fact that it’s relevant to life, yes- the real world (gasp! What a concept!).
Now all I have to do is pass my classes… and not trip as I walk across the stage.
I'm still chuckling at your reaction to the first day of class--as well as mine when I realized I had aliens, er, advertising majors in the class. But after our mutual panic attacks, I (we?) realized that the ethical theories and decision-making processes fit both disciplines equally well. I'm glad you got out of the class exactly what I'd hoped for--a framework for making ethical decisions, no matter what the subject matter. Now be sure to wear really neat shoes and don't trip walking across the stage!
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