Ethically informed intellectuals or responsible professionals? A comparative study of engineering ethics education in China and the United States

Abstract

This paper compares the historical trajectories, objectives, and practices of engineering ethics education in China and the United States. A comparative study like this contributes in several ways to the education of ethical and culturally-sensitive engineers in both countries. First, as engineers increasingly work in international teams and deploy projects outside their home countries, knowledge about ethical values emphasized in other cultures will help educators prepare students to practice engineering in ways that respect local values and ethical standards. Second, as engineering programs-especially those in the US-attract a great number of students from abroad, understanding international students' ethics training in their home countries will help engineering educators anticipate and accommodate their learning needs. Third, a comparison of the theories, practices, and challenges of ethics teaching in two of the world's leading countries in engineering education will serve as a starting point for a cross-national conversation about the opportunities, strategies, and best practices for educating ethically committed global engineers. We start our analysis by reviewing the history of engineering ethics education in the US and China. Following that, we examine major theoretical debates that illustrate the core questions, concepts, and approaches that attract American and Chinese engineering ethicists' attention. Next we compare some exemplar curricular and instructional strategies adopted by educators in each country to facilitate engineering students' ethics learning. Findings of this comparative study suggest that engineering ethics education in China and the US reflect distinct characters that result from different political, intellectual, and professional influences on engineering education. In particular, engineering ethics education in China has demonstrated a stronger emphasis on theoretical knowledge, whereas ethics teaching in the US focuses more on ethical decision-making in engineering practice. We suggest that the differing emphases result partly from Chinese scholars' attempt to establish engineering ethics as an academic discipline, and, compared with its counterpart in the US, a weaker professional identity for engineers in China. We conclude this paper by summarizing lessons engineering ethics educators in both countries might learn from each other. We also suggest a few questions for future research that will help elucidate the respective intellectual and professional impacts on engineers' ethics learning in China and the US.