Is the teacher's use of an ethical trap ethical? Explain

CASE 9.1 Would You Blow the Whistle on Yourself? Pat L. Burr In the course of teaching business classes through the semesters, I have been the butt of a great many accusations about the unethical behavior of Ameri- can entrepreneurs, the deceptive advertising of Mad- ison Avenue silver tongues, and even the rolling back of odometers by the local used-car dealers. I have not been personally involved in any of the activity, I hasten to add, I have simply been held accountable for itall of itby business students. Enough, I said one day. I have done nothing wrong. I am not a crook. I vowed to bring the issue to the surface. I set about my plan by inviting comments from my business students ... about the structure of the system. The real question, as I saw it, was whether our business activity is inherently unethical or whether business persons are simply a product of it social system and therefore a reflection of our color tive social values. Hogwash, they said. In pressing for more substance in their are- ments, each semester 1 posed the same question ) them at least once on written exams. I asked for detailed discussion. And on those very exams, deliberately made grading mistakes on the numerou other questions, giving my students the advantage ty two to five points. In short, I gave them grades which clearly were too high. I turned back their papers, smugly awaiting the rush of feet to my desk to point out my error and to bring their unquestionably ethical behavior 102 Business and Society Review, 19, 197778