Unethical Situation in Education
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Unethical Situation in Education
Introduction
Ethics can be referred to as the moral principles that guide people’s behavior. Ethical behavior is when individuals’ actions are in line with the values that are generally accepted by society and also those that are in line with individual rights. The key moral principles that are considered for a behavior to be ethical include equality, fairness, honesty, and dignity (Serholt et al. 2017). Unethical behavior, on the other hand, is a deed that is not considered morally right for an individual or a profession. Professionals, businesses, and politicians are among the group of people who can behave unethically. In a class management situation, there can be unethical behavior perpetrated by an individual whose profession is that of a lecturer. Class management can be defined as the different skills and methods that the teachers use to ensure that students are orderly, attentive as well as the student’s actions will make them academically productive. It is essential for the teachers to ensure that the actions they use are ethical and acceptable.
The Situation
Mr. K was our biology teacher in high school. One morning he realized that some of the money he had placed at his desk was missing. Without hesitation, he suspected me since I used to sit near his desk and also Sam, who had stolen money in the past from another teacher. Mr. K first called Sam in and talked to him, and he even went ahead and made false claims that I had told him that Sam had stolen the money. He did this to force Sam to admit that he was the one who had taken the money. Sam, however, went ahead and refused all the allegations that were presented before him and came out of the room depressed since he had paid for his previous mistakes, and he had vowed that he was never going to steal again.
He then called me into his office and asked me if I was the one who had taken his money. The question took me by surprise, and I immediately explained to him that I was not the one. He went ahead and told me that a student had seen me taking the money, and therefore I had to return the money before severe actions were taken against me. I felt insulted since non of what he was saying was true and even explained to him that maybe he student accused me since he or she did not like me. ” but you are the only one who sits close to my desk, so you saw where I kept the money” I then concluded that he was accusing me of stealing based on only the fact that I sat at the front near him. He called us thieves and asked us to return his money failure to which we would be severely punished. Later that evening, as he was removing some of his books from the desk, the money fell off from one of the books. You would expect him to apologize to us after making the false accusations and calling us thieves, but he did not; instead, he assumed the whole matter.
Objectives
Based on the outcome of the situation and also the act itself, the act of Mr. K was unethical. He caused the friendship between Sam and me to be destroyed since he accused both of us of saying that the other had stolen the money. He also made Sam, and I feel insulted since we knew very well that we had not taken the money. He did not apologize even after realizing that we had not stolen the money. He was dishonest in the sense that he lied about being told by either of us that the other person had stolen since this was not the case. He acted unfairly since he did not consider other pupils in the class but only pinpointed to the two of us, given that Sam had a history of stealing and the fact that I sat close to his desk. He also based his accusation on assumptions and not on evidence, and hence he accused Sam and me falsely.Mr. K’s actions were, therefore, unethical as he was dishonest, unfair, lacked emotional control, and also accused us falsely with no evidence.
Lectures Review
According to the lessons taught in the previous lectures, the actions of a teacher should reflect what is expected of the students. A teacher should be like a role model to the pupils since most of the students look up to the teacher for moral guidance. Teachers have the responsibility to not only teach the students academic matters but also ethical matters and how they are supposed to behave in the society (Ambrose & Cross, 2009). In addition, the teachers should learn te importance of adhering to the ethical values that are expected of them on a personal level, societal, and on a professional level. A teacher should, therefore, nurture and promote ethical professionalism and show the moral consequences of their decisions and actions as well towards the students.
Discussion
In class, teachers are expected to show unquestionable ethics. They have two roles to play when it comes to ethics, point out the ethical issues in their students, and act as role models. Ethics is mainly studied by example, and if a teacher practices actions that are unethical, then the students may also follow after all; their teacher is doing it (Sharma et al. 2018). Most students become a mirror of their teacher’s morals and social behavior, and hence it is crucial for teachers to behave ethically (Malhotra, 2019) .some of the unethical values that the students can adopt from their teachers include unfairness, inequality, lack of consideration and emotional control. Teachers should motivate students to develop ethical skills.
Mr. K failed as a teacher since he portrayed acts that were morally wrong; for instance, he went ahead and jumped into conclusions lacking emotional control and accused Sam and me of stealing his money. The fact that he picked the two of us was very wrong since it showed how much prejudice he had against us. He is supposed to act ethically since he is at a leadership position, and many people look up to him (Seoane Pardo, 2018). He should have apologized after realizing that we had not stolen the money to show his regret for his actions. He, however, pretended like nothing had happened, which is morally wrong since one should apologize after realizing that they were wrong. Mr. K, therefore, perpetrated unethical actions, yet he is supposed to be promoting ethical actions.
Recommendations
Mr.K should have first looked for his money carefully and thoroughly in his desk. If he failed to find the money, he should have asked the whole class first, and is he suspected the both of us; he should have called us aside and asked us politely is we were responsible for taking his money instead of throwing false accusations. After realizing that we did not take his money, he should have apologized and acknowledged that he had behaved in an unethical manner, which was wrong (Pardo, 2018). By doing this, he would have shown ethical principles in his behavior.
Conclusion.
Ethics are the moral principles that guide people’s behavior. A teacher during class management should ensure that their behaviors are ethical as they aim to keep the students organized and academically productive in class. Teachers are a mirror of what is expected of the students, and hence they should ensure that their actions are in line with what is expected of them by society. In the case scenario where Mr. K accused Sam, and me of stealing his money without any evidence was very unethical. His actions had consequences such as they ruined my friendship with Sam, and also he made us feel insulted since he only picked the two of us out of the whole class. He did not apologize after finding the money which he should have done with regret. Some of the unethical behaviors that were seen are unfairness, inequality, and lack of emotional control. Mr. K, therefore, failed as a teacher since he was supposed to be a person who motivates his students to develop ethical skills.it is important for teachers to act as role models for their students since the students look up to their teachers for many things. Teachers should also discipline the students who behave unethically, and this way, the students will develop ethical values and principles.
References
Ambrose, D., & Cross, T. L. (2009). Morality, ethics, and gifted minds (Vol. 385). New York, NY: Springer.
Malhotra, P. (2019). Ethical Behaviour of Teachers: A Comparison of Generation X and Generation Y. Journal of the Gujarat Research Society, 21(13), 94-102.
Pardo, A. M. S. (2018). Computational Thinking Between Philosophy and STEM—Programming Decision Making Applied to the Behavior of “Moral Machines” in Ethical Values Classroom. IEEE Revista Iberoamericana de Tecnologias del Aprendizaje, 13(1), 20-29.
Seoane Pardo, A. M. (2018). Computational Thinking Between Philosophy and STEM-Programming Decision Making Applied to the Behavior of” Moral Machines” in Ethical Values Classroom. IEEE REVISTA IBEROAMERICANA DE TECNOLOGIAS DEL APRENDIZAJE-IEEE RITA, 13(1), 20-29.
Serholt, S., Barendregt, W., Vasalou, A., Alves-Oliveira, P., Jones, A., Petisca, S., & Paiva, A. (2017). The case of classroom robots: teachers’ deliberations on the ethical tensions. Ai & Society, 32(4), 613-631.
Sharma, A., Khandelwal, U., & Agrawal, R. (2018). Impact of Teachers’ Ethical Leadership Behaviour: A Students Perspective. International Journal on Leadership, 6(1), 36.