Ethics Education in the Study of Public Administration: Anchoring to Civility, Civics, Social Justice, and Understanding Government in Democracy

In this symposium, attention is primarily focused on ethics education in public administration programs in colleges and universities. We argue that teaching ethics should be not only limited to specific ethics courses in higher education nor just embedded as an element in various core courses in public administration programs, but also anchored in a thoughtful K-12 curriculum that relates ethics to issues of civility, civics, social justice, and understanding the position and role of government in democratic political systems. Most recently, the Educating for American Democracy (2021) has developed such a K-12 program. While this article will focus on the American context, the ideas presented about a continuous ethics education from elementary school up to college are relevant and important to all democracies.

Jos C.N. Raadschelders, Miriam Chitiga (2021). Ethics Education in the Study of Public Administration: Anchoring to Civility, Civics, Social Justice, and Understanding Government in Democracy. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 27(4), 398-415.