So many students, it seems, are grade-hounds that try too hard to workaround topics they find difficult or uninteresting.

Sorry but, real world problems like foreign-policy practitioners have to encounter on the job don't respect _any_ boundaries, let alone boundaries about what topics one knows/doesn't-know/doesn't-have-to-know. For Christ's sake, these students were majoring in "Science, _Technology_ and International Affairs."

They had some coursework where they encountered a bit of programming and some hardware configuration, SO WHAT? It's good for them.

Now, if we can get computer science students to wet their feet in some public-policy...

In older use, "coding" meant only assembly and machine language programming, which would be a separate process from writing a high-level algorithmic version. A paper on FORTRANS claims that it will "virtually eliminate coding and debugging" Thus the statement that the class is no coding could be considered truthful.

http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/FORTRAN/BackusE...

That doesn't seem relevant, given what the article says:

>On the first day I soothingly assured them that they wouldn’t have to do any programming, which of course was a complete lie.

Sorry, I must have misremembered and thought they said "no coding" instead of "no programming". But people would probably call such a usage a lie if it is intended to mislead even if strictly speaking it isn't.

Is it unethical to do something if all parties are happy? Does it only become unethical when a party has been tricked and become unhappy, or is tricking somebody even for their own good unethical? In that case, what would be your definition of ethics?

I don't have a strong stance whether his decision was ethical or not, just interested in seeing your opinion as you seem to be implying that it might not be :P

Is it unethical for a professor to lie to their students?

Yes.

Is is still unethical if the professor argues that the lies were for the students' own good?

Yes.

Is it still unethical if, a few months into the course, the professor tells the truth?

Yes.

Is it still unethical if, a few months later, the professor tells the truth and one or more students says "you know, I understand now why you lied to us"?

Yes.

This really isn't a challenging conundrum. The student-teacher relationship is a special one. There are expectations that need to be fulfilled on both sides. One of the most basic ones that can be expected of a teacher is don't lie to your fucking students.

This doesn't answer the prompt at all, which is: how do you define 'ethics'?

It could be considered a non-lie under the concept of mental reservation. In older usage, coding a computer meant writing assembly or machine language only; thus, a report on FORTRAN indicates that "FORTRAN virtually eliminates coding and debugging". This is a standard usage of the word coding although slightly archaic.

http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/FORTRAN/BackusE...

Otherwise, presenting informal proofs to students in engineering or science that would not be considered mathematically rigorous would also be a lie and unethical.

Possible overreaction alert...

Lying always being unethical is actually a relatively standard idea in classical ethical theories e.g. Summa Theologica, Question 110, Article 3. However, the statement that the class involves "no coding" could be considered truthful in the social context or as part of a use of mental reservation.

Lying can be perfectly okay under consequentialism, which also goes way back. Personally I'm not very convinced of ethical theories where lying is unethical in all circumstances (sorry Kant), and I suspect I'm not the only one. Stating that there exists an ethical theory that supports your point just isn't very convincing for people who don't subscribe to that particular theory.

Who is the professor to judge what is for someone's own good or not?

That is literally the job of a traditional educator.

Their job is to educate, and stimulate the mind. They aren't telepathic, any "for your own good" they engage in is born of assumptions unless they know the student well.