The Engineering Mindset Is an Ethical Mindset (We Just Don't Teach It That Way... Yet)

Can achieve an ethical engineering mindset without detracting from the core technical topics of CS subjects? Some doubt that this is possible. Lately we have been involved in too many discussions where participants were worried about how to teach ethics to SE/CS students. The problem, we heard, was too hard and too complex. In this short note, we beg to differ. Ethics is a well-studied issue. Philosophers have studied and taught ethics and civics for generations. Similarly, computer scientists and software engineers have assembled an extensive set of skills and resources which are relevant to an ethical education. Using those resources, this paper offers a proof-by-example of a CS class syllabus that (a) enables an ethical engineering mindset while (b) not detracting from core technical topics.