SMU's plans to start a humanities programme may seem contrary to prevailing academic fashion elsewhere, where job scarcity after the 2008 financial crash turned opinion against courses considered "less useful". But the move, which will likely start off as modules within business programmes, is consistent with Singapore's drive towards producing adaptable graduates who can do much better than crunch numbers and make PowerPoint presentations. But as a business university, SMU has another compelling reason to move faster on its humanities programme, like having a separate faculty to complement its existing six schools. The teaching of ethics, moral reasoning and societal values will presumably be a part of the core canon of history, modern languages, philosophy, literature and civilisational studies. What blighted the business world during and after the most recent market failures has been the systematic illegal and immoral conduct by firms in the pursuit of profit. Organised bank frauds and individual criminality in Ponzi schemes are almost a habit for some in the developed world. The credo seems to be: Just don't get caught. In Singapore, albeit to a much smaller degree, blatant law-breaking by some employers over unpaid wages and Central Provident Fund contributions, denial of medical benefits and injury compensation is of the same reprehensible order.