A foundation in ethics is a critical tool for any education administrator because of the necessity to make sound decisions which ultimately affect the lives of students. In their book, The Ethics of School Administration (2005), Strike, Haller, and Soltis provide a general overview of the various schools of ethical reasoning. They use engaging case studies to teach ethical reasoning concepts in a way to which every-day practitioners can relate. They then take their teachings a step further by presenting disputes of the issues from multiple perspectives, introducing critical concepts that are necessary to understand in order to process the situations presented in each case, and giving analyses of the cases. Strike, Haller, and Soltis’s methods are pertinent to educators because …show more content…
They are first presented as the Principle of Benefit Maximization and the Principle of Equal Respect. The Principle of Benefit Maximization states that in decision-making, the best decision is the one that benefits the most people, whereas the Principle of Equal Respect “requires that we act in ways that respect the equal worth of moral agents. It requires that we regard human beings as having intrinsic worth and treat them accordingly” (Strike, et al, 2005, p. 17). The connections of these principles to the terms consequentialism and nonconsequentialism are made on page 19, in the conclusion of the “Intellectual Liberty” chapter. Introducing these concepts there, rather than earlier on in the text somewhat downplays the importance of this connection rather than presents it as being an important aspect of ethical reasoning. That conclusion also states that benefit maximization and equal respect are a part of most people’s moral reasoning; they may be dependent on one another, or may conflict; and that benefit maximization may seem to presuppose equal respect (page
Professors Bojan Borstner and Smiljana Gartner of the University of Maribor believe that ethical decision making through critical thinking is proven to be the best way for people to improve themselves as human beings. In fact, some ethics instructors want to teach their students how to project human nature itself, act in accordance with their moral beliefs, and use reasoning and thinking skills to analyze specific problems (Borstner 13). If these main class objectives could affect the curricula of educational institutions worldwide, a majority of students may have a better understanding of virtue, an expanded knowledge of human nature, and more effective communication skills for discussing any current issue. At any educational level, a typical ethics course requires students to enhance their persuasion skills by understanding and taking advanced steps to finding the right solutions to controversial issues. Reasoning skills are the most effective way to personally attain moral values because it enables people to view ethics as a critically reflective thinking process. It also helps individuals express their thoughts and reactions toward each ethical dilemma that they face in their lifetime, yet there are other steps beyond reasoning to successfully handle real-life situations. The most important of these steps are to use case studies and to interpersonally communicate often about the issues
During the course of living human being are subjected to many controversial arguments and ethical stations. Education in concept of ethical reasoning and in the fundamentals of the principles are important for one to be skilled in ethical reasoning. Ethical reasoning is a very important element in human nature of living either professionally or individually. Ethical reasoning offers critics with the capability to represent viewpoints, ideas and make judgement. Moreover ethical reasoning enable critics’ to consciously give examination for them to reach a solution that does not harm anybody else. Ethical reasoning can be defined as arguing the wrong and the right of human behavior.
There is a code of ethics that school personnel must follow, it is the school’s leader responsibility ethical practices are maintained. Not only must he/she protect others, they must exhibit the same high-quality of standards themselves. A proficient administrator will protect the moral values of a school by implementing high expectations for the administration, staff, and students in the district.
This essay will provide a theoretical understanding of the four ethical frameworks: Consequentialism, Non- Consequentialism, Virtue Ethics and Care Ethics. When applied to a situation these frameworks help teachers to resolve and justify their decision making. The objective is to apply the four frameworks to the scenario Helping Molly, to establish the most ethical course of action. Finally, a recommended course of action will be justification. The overarching ethical issue present within the Helping Molly scenario is the community sponsorship and the alignment with school beliefs and initiatives.
It is important to begin a study of resource management and allocation with a discussion of ethics because work ethics guides the school leaders with the help of moral compass how to utilize the public resources and taxpayers’ money. In order to execute the school budget efficiently and avoid conflict of interest, school leaders must know how to develop the code of ethics regarding resource management and
Consequentialism states that an act is moral if the consequence of the act will bring the greatest amount of good and immoral if the act will bring bad consequences.
Its general outline is the moral rightness of an action is determined by outcomes. For example, a student was struggling to help an old lady who has fallen on ground while other people do not even care about it and a student had to leave in a hurry. However, he helped her and a lady offered cordial thanks. As the example is illustrated, the act is good if its consequences are good, but if its consequences are bad then the act is wrong. Shaw et al(2013, p. 63) emphasizes that consequentialists determine what is right by weighing the ratio of good to bad that an action will produce. According to consequentialists, the decision of the Dean of Harvard Business School is simply explained as the result of decision which rejected all applicants who attempted to access the information derive a conclusion which Dean Clark observed their belief, principles and it shows making own decisions is always with responsibility for actions. In addition, utilitarianism will be applied on this case because this theory is in contrast with egoism which can be defined by Shaw et al(2013, p. 63) as egoism contends that an act is morally right if and only if it best promotes an agent’s long term interest.’. It means self-interesting is most important key point whether going into action or not. However, Utilitarianism is focused on more about ‘achieving the
1. Consequentialist moral theories see the moral rightness or wrongness of actions as a function of their results. If the consequences are sufficiently good, the action is right; if they are sufficiently bad, the action is wrong. However, nonconsequentialist theories see other factors as also relevant to the determination of right and wrong.
Some things change, some things stay the same. The National Education Association (NEA) adopted a code of ethics in 1975 (Strike & Soltis 2009, p. viii). While this code still upholds many concerns that educators face today, it is important to make sure that a code of ethics is a breathing document. It must adapt and change with the changing of time. Strike and Soltis (2009) reference the code of ethics quite regularly throughout the entire book. It is first introduced in full at the beginning of the book. Looking over the code, it is important to remember that much has changed since it was first adopted. While all of the code still applies, it is necessary to add to the code to make it acceptable for the twenty-first century.
Everyone was taught the difference between right and wrong at some point in their life, however, reinforcing such behavior is essential to ensure that people don’t lose touch as to how to make ethical decisions that may directly affect them in the future. After reviewing the TEA Code of Ethics, I believe the document reinforces ethical behavior that an educator should adhere to in a school environment. Additionally, the Code of Ethics is a set of standards that are used to judge ethical conduct. Therefore, the educator has to have a strong commitment to the students they serve as well as a strong commitment to their profession. By having a strong commitment to the students, the educator is ensuring that all students have an opportunity
Before beginning this class, I did not realize that there were so many ethical problems occurring on a daily basis, whether it is personal or business. Many problems that occur around my workplace seemed to be regular, everyday problems, and I never thought of them as being ethical or non-ethical. Unfortunately, this is probably the reason that so many ethical problems continue to occur within a company without being corrected; due to the fact that the issue at hand is not seen as an ethical problem, many people do not take the necessary steps to correct the problem. During this class, I gained knowledge on the 8-step decision making process that is described by Nelson and Treviño that helps an individual make the best decision when
The National Education Association Code of Ethics (1975) begins with a preamble that defines not only what constitutes an educator, but also to what the educator should aspire. The code itself is built
Consequentialism and non-consequentialism are both action based ethical frameworks that people can use to make ethical judgments. Consequentialism is based on examining the consequences of one’s actions as opposed to non-consequentialism which is focused on whether the act is right or wrong regardless of the outcome (Burgh, Field & Freakley, 2006). The three sub-categories of consequentialism are altruism, utilitarianism and egoism.
Two examples or branches of consequentialism are egoism and utilitarianism. The definition of utilitarianism is simply, doing the most good for the most people. The definition of egoism is the habit of valuing everything only in reference to one's personal interest; selfishness. Egoism is simply about you and you’re self-interest compared to utilitarianism is looking at others interests. There are pros and cons to each branch; however I personally think egoism is the better model. Both represent or contain an aspect of ethics but, egoism I believe is reflected or more related to the average person in everyday life.
“Ethics are defined as a set of principles of right conducts; the rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession” ( Dictionary of the Human Language, 2000). Teachers are often put in situations that require more than just knowing the basic school rules. It is within these situations, that the ethical dilemmas occur. There is not always a right way to deal with many daily problems that face educators, but there are ways to handle situations that are better then others.