This section includes true case studies written by Charis Denison for the Daily Dilemma column on GoodCharacter.com. They involve ethical dilemmas geared toward elementary, junior high, and high school students for educators who work with young people. Prajna Consulting provides a number of workshops and programs related to ethics and integrity aimed at supporting your work in this area.
The Situation Georgia’s hands were sweating. She was fifteen minutes into her math final when she began to panic. This exam was worth most of her grade [...]
The Situation When Brian’s dad helped him land a job hosting at a popular restaurant near his neighborhood he figured his summer was set. The restaurant owner [...]
The Situation David had recently been invited to join a group of kids from his school on Facebook. Since he was somewhat shy around other people and [...]
The Situation “There are certain times,” thought Lisa, “when you know things have gone from really bad to out of control.” The party had started out fine, [...]
The Situation Noah faced his earliest ethical dilemma in the first grade. Most of the time he felt quite happy at school; he liked his teacher and [...]
The Situation Erin knew something was weird when her parents greeted her after school by saying, “Nice report card, Honey! We knew you could do it!” She [...]
The Situation Ben said good-bye to his friends and started heading for home. He was in a great mood. He had two weeks off from school for [...]
The Situation “Omigod. That is so retarded!” Katy cringed. She hated that word. She knew it was meant as a joke but it wasn’t a joke to [...]
The Situation Devon had just been elected school president of his boarding high school. He had chosen a student senate to serve under him, whose job would [...]
The Situation Andrew spent most of his time feeling like he could never please his father. In elementary school, he made the baseball team but his Dad [...]
The Situation Peter and Bridget had been best friends since fourth grade. Everyone knew that if you were looking for him or her, just look for the [...]
The Situation Stacy knew about secrets. She had a best friend and they had a lot of secrets between them. That’s what made them best friends. So [...]
The Situation Archer was facing a dilemma. It was spring term, senior year, and he was getting a new car. It doesn’t sound like a dilemma, but [...]
The Situation Tina considered herself a pretty assertive young woman. She was sixteen but felt her confidence in both her values and her place in the world [...]
The Situation Kevin is a talented basketball player whose high school team made it into the playoffs and all the way to the city championship game. As [...]
The Situation Jay and his mom were on the way home from attending an evening at school for parents and teenagers. The event was designed for parents [...]
The Situation David is a student in a school district where his mother is on the school board. Recently, three of his classmates posted a web site [...]
The Situation Maya knew she was busted as soon as she saw the school’s Assistant Principal walking toward her. She was at her friend’s school dance and [...]
The Situation This month we offer a hypothetical instead of a case history: It’s midway through the spring semester, and you are taking a math test. You’ve [...]
The Situation Maria was worried about her good friend Pam. Pam was always talking about how fat she was and what she was trying to do about [...]
The Situation Sam knew something was weird the second he got to class on Tuesday morning. He saw kids whispering and pointing at him. Some were looking [...]
The Situation Mary is an eighth grader and, until recently, pretty popular at school. Lately, she started finding notes in her locker and in her backpack that [...]
The Situation Chris was just about to finish his sophomore year and felt like his whole world was crashing in around him. His mom was a recovering [...]
The Situation Phoebe is a senior and president of the student body. Lately, she is becoming more and more overwhelmed by her rigorous AP course load and [...]
The Situation Stephanie is in ninth grade and, until recently, felt pretty lucky. She had a good group of friends, was fairly popular, and was doing okay [...]
The Situation Lea is a sophomore in high school and a member of a local theater group in a nearby city. She likes school, but her passion [...]
The Situation Corey was drunk. There might be times you can convince yourself that you’re okay—this wasn’t one of those times. He was drunk and he knew [...]
The Situation Julia was in 6th grade and had been at her school since kindergarten. Her two best friends were Wendy and Erin. Erin was the most [...]
The Situation Brendan was in third grade when he was caught cheating on his math quiz. He had been doing poorly in math and his parents had [...]
The Situation Jennifer is a transfer student in her sophomore year in high school. By November, she had made some good friends through her soccer team and [...]
The Situation Jeff and his best friend, Steven go to different high schools. They’ve been friends since third grade, but since Jeff transferred to another school for [...]