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Note: This is an artical I wrote that was submitted in our school newspaper. Yes, there actually was repercusssions to writing this artical. But cant we speak our free mind?
Ethics By Isaac Frerichs
Ethical decisions plague us everyday and the decisions you make will determine if they are ethical or unethical ones. The individual can only measure ethicality. So what is this leading to? This past October, I had the opportunity to participate in the Jacob Javets Student Competition for the second year in a row. I took the invitation without hesitation of course. As I was soon to see, this was going to be a very disturbing time for me. As I understand it, the student team the CIA was seeking was for students only, with chef's as mentors. What does this exactly mean? To me, it means that the students do the bulk of the work and the chef is there to advise the students as they progress towards their final goals. If anyone doesn't know what the student team is, I will gladly shed some light on it. The team consists of students. Most of the time, 5-7 students are together, working on a project with a chef mentor and then we all come together at the competition as a team. With that said, I was on Chef Danhi's team. There were about eight of us and we gathered every Saturday morning to practice for about 4 to 5 hours. As we progressed through one of our practices one morning, Chef Danhi made a comment, saying that he was only going to help us and he was not going to do any of the work for us. This was a small comment that had a lot of meaning behind it. As I now ponder on what he said, it meant that we were on our own with the chef's guidance. He kept his word… he let us have the last say. If we needed him to show us something, he was there, but he never did any of the work for us. As the weeks passed and everyone huddled in the kitchens in the wee hours while every "normal" person was sleeping, I would walk around and visit some of the other teams. I remember one Saturday morning in particular when I walked into a kitchen to say hi and I saw the chef doing all the work themselves. I asked where the students were and was told that they were still sleeping. I was shocked. First thing that came to mind was how unethical it was of the chef to do the students work and then I criticized the students for being late. This didn't happen in just one kitchen. As I walked out of that kitchen, I was disappointed in the CIA… the greatest culinary school in the world, teaching the soon to be leaders of the industry. As I think of that day and the whole event, I come to one of many conclusions. One is insecurity. Why are the chefs insecure about the students doing the work? Would they be disappointed in the final outcome of the students work if they did it all by themselves? Is the chef pressured to get the final out come done by the deadline? A few thoughts on it all. If this is the best culinary school in the world, then the chefs shouldn't feel insure about the students final product. Second, if the outcome doesn't meet the needed criteria, then it shouldn't go to the show. Same thing with the deadline issue: if the students don't feel the sense of urgency and don't make the time line, then so be it. Let the consequences speak for themselves. As we finished up the night before the competition, I was proud of our portion of the team. One of the main reasons is because WE did the work, not the chef. WE made the commitment to be there every Saturday morning when the "normal" person would still be sleeping; WE had the dedication necessary. As we all traveled down to the show and had a group picture, a feeling of pride came over us. Again: WE did it, not the chef. I walked around to look at the rest of the CIA's platters and plates and the word ethics came to my mind again. I also walked around to the other schools tables and I noticed a vocational school who's stuff didn't really look great but I knew deep down inside that it was probably done by students only and with that said, it was better then our table, no matter how great ours looked. A few days passed and I received an email saying that the CIA took first place. Part of me was happy because our group really earned it. The other part of me felt disappointed in the CIA and the chefs that did the work that the students were supposed to do. Something to remember chefs: when a student competition comes around next year, let the STUDENTS do the work. Lay back and relax. I believe that the commitment it takes to do this competition really separates the "normal" students from those who really love this business. If the students don't prevail, then so be it. Its their loss, not yours. Oh, by the way, fellows are NOT considered students! If the CIA is really the best, then shouldn't they be TEACHING ethics too?
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