A Good Discussion Question?

I was on the web doing my morning read of business ethics topics when I came across this –

Should a Greek Island Reconstruct One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2016/01/04/colossus_of_rhodes_project_wants_to_reconstruct_one_of_the_seven_wonders.html

If I had a class this morning (the semester doesn’t start for a couple of weeks) I’d be prepping this for use sending out an e-mail with links and practicing a few opening lines. This is a perfect ice breaker for any business ethics class. –

What are the business ethics of building one of the great wonders of the ancient world? 

The follow up questions virtually write themselves:

Should a virtually bankrupt nation devote enormous resources to a tourist attraction?

Is the Colussus a part of the Greek national heritage and if so, does that justify the projected expenditure of 283 million dollars?

Is this commercially viable?

Is the channel navigable for the big cruise ships?

What kind of power would the thing need and how much would it cost to maintain it?

The last one was destroyed by an earthquake. Does the present of a fault line call into question the whole idea?

If your students are like mine, there is always going to be a division between those who want to discuss the morality of the idea as opposed to those who want to discuss profitability followed by a smaller group who want to talk about history, beauty and whether or not the people proposing this are just crazy. My heart is with the last group. They are the most fun.

One of my teaching methods is to keep the class lively by providing new, interesting and often amusing topics sometimes illustrated with pictures and video. Often, I’ll just cruise the web for a few minutes in the morning before going to school looking for something to get them motivated and in the mood to learn.

Well, I thought I’d just float the idea past some of you who teach like me.

James Pilant