The problem that confronting this problem with the students parents is that many thoughtful parents want to shield their children from feelings of guilt or shame in much the same way that they want to spare them from fear. Guilt and shame as methods of discipline are to be eschewed along with raised hands and leather straps. Fear, guilt and shame as methods of moral direction are seen as failures in decent parenting. Parents want their children to be happy and how can you feel happy when you are feeling guilty, fearful or ashamed? If we were really convinced that using fear, guilt or shame as methods of discipline worked, though, we might be more ready to use them as techniques. But we aren't convinced that this is the case.

We won't have more socially responsible people if fear, guilt and shame are part of their disciplinary diet as children.

Immanuel Kant believed that we all have the power to control our actions and to refrain from doing what we know to be wrong, no matter how strong the temptation may be. This power is "free will," and Kant illustrates it with a thought experiment: Suppose you feel what seems to be an irresistible temptation to do something you believe to be wrong. The opportunity is there before you. But imagine that in front of the house where you have this opportunity a gallows stands on which you would be hanged immediately after satisfying your desire. No doubt you would be able to control yourself after all. Now suppose that a dictator threatens you with this same death unless you consent to testify falsely against an innocent stranger whom the tyrant wishes to destroy. You may not be sure what you would do, but you certainly know both that you should not obey, and that you could refuse the request. Thus you know that you are free: you either choose to do the right thing, or you choose to go along with your desire to preserve your own life. Either way, it will be your own, free decision. Your moral obligation makes your freedom evident to you. (Allison, 1990) Free will can seem to be directly experienced when we make choices. Reflecting on Kant, our freedom is most obvious to us when we confront a temptation to do what we know is wrong and are aware that we can choose to do the right thing; we are not slaves to our feelings. But we also seem to feel the effectiveness of our will when we simply decide to do something about which there is no obvious conflict. (Allison, 1990).

Government, of course, is not in the business of producing ethics. It is in the business of producing public goods and services such as justice, transportation, air and water quality, consumer and occupational safety, national security, and protection from the misfortunes of age, poverty, or race, to name a few. Thus public managers and elected officeholders are charged with providing and producing those collective goods and services deemed necessary and desirable that are often not provided by private sector firms or organizations in a cost efficient or effective manner. But why then do so many people, managers included, believe that et

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1582
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)