Excerpted from Decision Skills for Colleges. Copyright 2008, Institute for Global Ethics
For several months Britney has been dating Tyler, a guy she met in one of her classes. They get along well and have a lot in common. During the time that they’ve been together, they have grown to care about each other.
Britney is very happy in her relationship but is worried about her family. She’s told her parents all about Tyler and how much she cares for him. The one thing she didn’t mention is that he is a member of another racial group. Britney’s mom and dad are very opposed to their children dating outside their race and have made their position clear to Britney. They would be deeply disappointed to find out that their daughter was in an interracial relationship.
What worries Britney the most is that her parents are planning a visit in a couple of weeks, and they’ve already told her they’d like to meet her boyfriend. Britney is not sure what to do. She could lie to her parents and tell them that Tyler is unable to meet them because he’s out of town. Alternatively, she could risk it and introduce them, which might result in her parents treating Tyler badly and being disappointed in her.
Excerpted from Building Decision Skills, 4th edition. Copyright 2008, Institute for Global Ethics
When Ronelle arrived as a freshman at a small east-coast college, she felt excited and enthusiastic about the new experiences in store for her. She looked forward to meeting a lot of new people. While of African American heritage herself, Ronelle had never really found it difficult to mix with people from a variety of backgrounds, and a person’s race was not a deciding factor in her friendships. Indeed, she was soon fast friends with a boy who happened to be white.
That same semester, school officials decided to take new steps toward improving race relations on campus. In an effort to make African-American students feel more comfortable, they were given their own room in the student union, where they could hold meetings, have dances, or just hang out together. Ronelle had friends within the group, and sometimes ate with them in the main dining room. Sometimes she attended the group’s dances with her white friend.
One day Ronelle received an anonymous letter. The letter stated that she should only hang out with African-American students and questioned her friendships with white students. Ronelle feels pressured to drop her friendships with white students, but she is equally inclined to make her own choices about with whom to associate. What should she do?
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