Technical expertise certainly matters. Workers need to understand design, materials, codes, safety, software, and the physical realities of building. But when we spoke with students and professionals in architecture and construction as part of our Good Work Value Alignment Study, they consistently described good work as something broader.
In our work with teachers implementing The Good Project lesson plans, we’ve seen that real-life dilemmas are among the most powerful springboards for intellectual risk-taking— the ability to engage with uncertainty (e.g. asking questions, sharing ideas, admitting confusion) despite the possibility of being wrong or judged. The Good Project’s dilemma-based secondary school ethics curriculum invites students to grapple with questions that have no easy answers (Should a doctor treat a patient whose actions have caused harm to others? Should a teenager join a protest even if it goes against their family’s views?) and to tolerate ambiguity while weighing competing values and perspectives.
