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I believe that MBA students have a right to expect that graduate business study will enhance their self-awareness as both responsible human beings and capable businesspeople. vidual to take responsibility for the results of his behavior." He also noted, "Before a man can think for himself, he must have learned to think at all. There is only one sound method of moral education. It is in teaching people to think." Six decades later, in The Clos- ing of the American Mind, scholar Allan Bloom questioned whether these principles were being hon- ored in academia generally. He cited the MBA in particular as a negative example, since he con- sidered it a "great disaster" that the world viewed the MBA as the moral equivalent of a medical or law degree. He added, "Premed, prelaw and prebusiness students are distinctly tourists in the liberal arts. Getting into those elite professional schools is an obsessive concern that tethers their minds." We may reject Bloom's critique, attributing it to the possibility that some MBA students have deficient undergraduate experiences. But there is no avoiding the fact that business schools share a common obligation to maintain the MBA's educational value. Understanding self is a prerequisite for making con- tributions in work and in life. The intangibles of business and man- agement—including accountability, integrity, stewardship, and humani- ty—scream for attention. We should bear in mind what American theo- logian Reinhold Niebuhr wrote in 1949: "Life has no meaning except in terms of responsibility." I believe that MBA students have a right to expect, as part of their learning compact with schools, that graduate business study will enhance their self-awareness as both respon- sible human beings and capable businesspeople. In addition to teach- ing students how to address business challenges, coursework should offer them opportunities to develop their personal principles and characters. Perhaps we don't need to make our MBA students familiar with the philosophies of Plato, Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau, but we can certainly find room in the curriculum for more recent—and relevant—busi- ness authors. Our syllabi can accom- modate easily and with relevance works such as Thorstein Veblen's The Theory of Business Enterprise and The Theory of the Leisure Class, Wil- liam Whyte's The Organization Man, Peter Drucker's The Practice of Man- agement, and Douglas McGregor's The Human Side of Enterprise. The most visible business schools should be in the vanguard of those preparing MBAs for influential roles in business and society. But all busi- ness schools have ample opportuni- ties to experiment with broadening the educational experience as we prepare students. Educating students to be good executives and good people is fundamental to our raison d'être. It is the legacy we impart to our graduates. ■ z Francis Bonsignore is dean of the College of Management at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University in Brookville, New York. ecch the case for learning enhance your case teaching and writing skills Hosted by IMD, ecch's annual flagship workshops will be led byMichiel Leenders and LouiseMauffette-Leenders, Richard Ivey School of Business. Teaching with Cases 28-30 June 2010 Writing Cases 1-3 July 2010 For further details visit www.ecch.com/flagshipworkshops BizEd MARCH/APRIL 2010 55