Academic Questions in Civic Education
The act of always telling the truth to others and oneself is best referred to as _____.
Which of the following is NOT a consequence of dishonesty?
The cooperation seen among the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) is best classified as _____.
Which of the following statement is incorrect concerning cooperation?
Which of the following is not a pressure group?
A person may not tell a lie and yet he is not being honest. Another person may speak a truth and yet she is being dishonest. The fact is; honesty goes beyond not telling a lie. It goes beyond speaking a truth. Before I do justice to this topic, I think it’s a great idea to narrate a quick story that will open up the real meaning of honesty.
There is this young man named Trut. By profession, Trut sells phone. He imports all his phones from Malta. All his phones are of the hgh quality and as a result, he got himself a lot of customers. His customers were completely satisfied with his products such that the saying (“if the phone is from Malta, then it’s of high quality”) became a popular anthem in Nigeria where he sells his phone. One of his sales boys by name Twik decided to increase the price of the phones by 1% whenever Trut was not in the shop. Twik used this 1% price increase to help the poor and needy around the shop because Trut had no sympathy for them. Twik saved the life of 10 poor children with this very act.
Another trader by name Orto saw how Trut made a lot of money from selling phones manufactured in Malta; so he decided to go into a similar business. He registered with a phone manufacturing company in Malta. He specifically told this company to produce phones of average quality for the masses in Nigeria. When Orto’s phones arrived from overseas, he sold them at a lower price. This made him get a lot of customers. One day a buyer by name Jay came to Orto’s shop to buy a phone. He asked Orto; “are your phones of high quality or low quality?” Orto was confused because his phones were neither of high nor low quality; he sold phones of average quality. To answer this question, He did not give a yes nor a no as an answer but instead he said “My phones are manufactured in Malta”. On hearing this, Jay said (“if the phone is from Malta, then it’s of high quality”). He bought the phone and went away.
From this story, we could not find where the sales boy Twik told Trut a lie. We also saw how Twik saved the life of 10 poor children; but the fact remains that Twik is not an honest person. He broke an attribute of honesty when he increased the prices of phones by 1%, whenever Trut was not in shop. On the other hand, Orto neither lied nor spoke the truth to Jay, but the fact still remains that he was not also an honest person because he broke another attribute of honesty. We shall see these attributes of honesty which they both broke in the next paragraph.
Note: Trut will no longer trust Twik if he discovered that twik increased the price of phones by 1% whenever he wasn't in shop. Similarly, Jay will no longer trust Orto when he discovers that his phones were of average quality.
You may have heard the saying that “Truth is bitter”. Honesty is the act of being truthful; first to yourself and then to others, regardless the end result. In honesty, you speak the truth, live the truth and love the truth. It may not get you a lot of friends but it will definitely get you the right ones. There is nothing like partial or half honesty. In honesty, you don’t necessary have to tell a truth like Orto did. You must tell the truth. Telling a truth may imply that there are some other truths you are yet to say, while telling the truth means there is no lie on the subject of discussion. An act of honesty may lead to pain, sorrow and even death, but no matter how it ends, the ultimate goal of honesty is always good one. When a person is honest, they become upright in their actions and principle.
Truthfulness: The truth must be said at all times. There is nothing as half-truth.
Loyalty: You need to abide to the rules and regulations of any organization. From our story, Twik was not loyal to Truth when he increased the price of phone by 1%.
Reliability: You become dependable when you are honest. Orto would lose this attribute because he didn't give a sincere reply to Jay's question.
You earn the trust of people
It makes you honorable
It earns you favour.
It eliminates corruptions and brings about transparency
It will exalt the nation.
There is this saying from the chairman of Microsoft and it goes thus:
Our success has really been based on partnerships from the very beginning - Bill Gates
TYPES OF COOPERATION:
1. Direct Cooperation
2. indirect Cooperation
3. Social Cooperation
4. Religious Cooperation
5. Financial Cooperation
6. Community Cooperation
7. Occupational Cooperation