University Sunrise Rotary Supports TINFA: Global Grant-$53,000

In early October, three schools and their communities in the Retalhuleu district of Guatemala celebrated the delivery of new computer equipment and the beginning of two years of training to bring the wealth of information and educational resources available on the internet to their classrooms. Teachers in each of these schools, Escuela Recuerdo de Perez, Escuela San Jose and Escuela Sector Aguilar, will learn to use the equipment and to access the internet to harness the resources there (“Think of being able to access the information in all the libraries of the world”) to dramatically enrich classroom instruction in each of their schools.

This enhancement, beyond the limits of teacher lectures, whiteboard exercises and well-worn textbooks, will enable teachers and their school communities to improve students’ motivation to learn and will support greater student achievement. Internet sourced materials on a wide range of subjects, math, social studies, language, music, to name a few, have been implemented in the curriculum at prior schools participating in the TINFA program and we expect much success for the three new schools as well.

The training program, equipment and internet access are being delivered by TINFA and are made possible by a grant from participating Rotary clubs, University Sunrise Rotary, Mill Creek Rotary, University District Rotary and UW Rotaract (Seattle). The clubs’ contributions were multiplied by matching funds from Rotary District 5030 and the Rotary International Foundation, bringing the total to $53,000, . The effort was assisted by Club Rotario Guatemala del Este.

Jeffrey Smith, Seattle University Chair of Professional Ethics

In the Seattle University Business school, a requirement for completing a degree is a course in Business Ethics. Jeffrey Smith, Chair of Professional Ethics, stated the high objectives of this program. These include fairness, dignity of humanity, values-driven business leaders, social justice, social responsibility, and ethical awareness.

The Northwest Ethics Network arose from these standards. Here, individuals concerned with the subject, meet to discuss pertinent questions and ideas.

  • The question is posed as to what individual and organizational factors cause otherwise good people to do bad things.
  • One is a tendency not to recognize adversely impact ethical standards.
  • Another is management systems and their tendency to lose sight of values and principles.

Some barriers to ethical conduct in business:

  • Excessive hierarchy, in which decisions from the top do not allow for input from the lower strata.
  • Time Pressure. Deadlines can lead some to cut corners.
  • Isolation and Separation with poor communication regarding ethical conduct.
  • Short term success in place of long term considerations.
  • Excessive reliance on routine.
  • How are we paying our employees? At time, when compensation depends on performance, principles may be compromised.

W.C. Fields on ethics: “Anything worth having is worth cheating for.”