Behavior Horrifies

By Demetrios Spyridakis

One of the stories dominating the news recently has been that of a University of California. Berkeley student's conduct during the commission of a horrible crime in a Las Vegas casino last year. The student witnessed the killing of an innocent child by his friend, but did nothing to interfere and save the girl's life because he felt that "loyalty" to his friend excused him from acting in a decent, humane manner.

The student was not prosecuted because Nevada does not have a good Samaritan law, but the public's judgment of the student's disgraceful behavior has been harsh. Fellow students at Berkeley asked the administration to expel him from that great university and decent people throughout the country expressed their anger and sadness for the state of our world and its youth.

The student involved is a nuclear engineering major, a highly intelligent young man, who saw no fault in his behavior. In fact, his comments following this sad episode have been crude and insensitive. To him selfishness and loyalty to his friend precede any moral obligations or the sanctity of life. This is alarming! Is this conduct appropriate for students at our finest universities? Although this young man' s education prepared him to meet the strict academic standards at UC Berkeley, it certainly did not prepare him to be a human being.

As I reflect on this, I search for answers in the teachings of great men and I am guided to Aristotle who said "education and morals go to make a good man, and the same qualities make a good citizen or good king." However, education without morals makes "clever devils" who are a great danger to society. That's why we should be grateful for the opportunity to attend Jesuit High School, where there is a commitment to educating "Men for others" and both academic excellence and spiritual development are emphasized .