Teachable Moments and the Tyranny of the Syllabus: September 11 Case

The author of this article adiminstered a survey to students enrolled in three professional ethics course in 2001 to 2002 to see to what extent the instructors used the events of September 11, 2001, as a teachable moment. For comparison, the questionnaire was administered 1 year after the attacks to students enrolled in courses of an academic enrichment program at Duke University and environmental science students at North Carolina Central University. The percentage of courses addressing the events was highest in the Fall 2001 semester, when the attacks occurred, falling in the Spring 2002 semester, but increasing in Fall 2002. Most respondents supported the use of the events as teachable moments even if the syllabus and course outline had to be adjusted. The author sees this as example of how important it is that instructors in technical and science disciplinesbe willing to change a course's syllabus to include discussions on current events that can help introduce students to social science or humanities concepts like ethics.