[i习作temp] Issue43【0706G－MYTH-II小组】第9次作业 by pengyanj [复制链接]

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电梯直达

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发表于 2007-3-27 00:34:03 |只看该作者 |倒序浏览

I cannot wholly side with the speaker's claim that a public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards to be an effective leader. On the one hand, an effective leader should maintain certain level of ethical and moral standards. On the other hand, when comes to the highest standards, I am afraid the speaker demand too much of public officials.

To begin with, I am strongly supportive the viewpoint that a public leader must maintain certain ethical and moral standards, because leaders represent the images of nations or states. Through observing the leader, foreigners would be able to know about what people like in his or her nation to some extent. If an office leader has a base and ignoble personalities, his nation might be undervalued. Moreover, undoubtedly, a leader with high ethical and moral standards will gain more support from his public. He himself serves as a moral example for most people, so that average people would show more respect for him, which is conducive to his leadership.

However, to be an effective leader, is it necessary for him to maintain the highest ethical and moral standards? To answer this question, we have to get down to two problems involved in this claim. One is what makes an effective leader? The second is how to define highest ethical and moral standards? Consider first problem. What dose effective leaders do? They seek to expand the nation's wealth, secure public stability, run the government normally, and maintain their authority and ruling. As I see, if a public official could have these jobs well done, he is supposed to be effective. To do these jobs, they sometimes have to lie, have to withhold some truths from the public, and have to adopt some expedientexpedite but not so humane policy. These behaviors might sound humble and base, however, it is indispensable and tolerable. Consider the second question. How to define highest ethical and moral standards? It is such a tough question that nobody could exactly draw a definition. If we set a standard, and assume that Aristotle, Plato, Confucius and etc. have the highest ethical and moral standard, it is too demanding to most leaders. We have to concede that leaders are after all human beings, just like people around us. The only difference between leaders and average people is that they know how to lead a group or a nation. Beside this aspect, they are the same as the average. Thus, what they do, if it is wrong but has no relationship to his original work, is tolerable and understandable. For example, Bill Clinton, the universally acknowledged effective president of the US, is forgiven and accepted by the public for his sex scandal, since he has done an excellent job as a president.

To sum up, to be an effective leader, a public official just have to maintain a certain level ethical and moral standards. Additionally, we should not demand much of them.