Running Head: A STUDENT-TEACHERS REFLECTION ON ETHICS

A Student-Teachers Reflection on Ethics

Sara Zapalowski
Canisius College

A STUDENT-TEACHERS REFLECTION ON ETHICS

Ethics discerns actions of people, especially people with certain

occupations, as either the correct or incorrect action to take within
particular circumstances. Since ethics is not based upon religion, what
the majority of society believes is correct, or on personal feelings
(Velasquez, M., Andre, C., Shanks, T., & Meyer, M.J, 2010), a code of
ethics must be established for society as a whole as well as for certain
occupations. One of the occupations that needs a code of ethics is
teaching. Since the actions of a teacher can make a huge difference in
a students life, whether it is negative or positive, teachers must abide
by the teachers code of ethics and understand how to ethically solve
difficult situations. According to Barrett (2012), teachers mainly
struggle with ethical issues in the areas of personal harm,
public/private speech, carelessness, and grade inflation in the
classroom (p.894). Therefore, teachers should be highly aware of
these categories so that they may use the ethical framework
(Valesquez, M. et al., 2009) when addressing these issues.
Teachers, who influence the lives of their students, must act
ethically according to the code of ethics in all situations; however,
since there is a fine line between ethical and unethical and is often
circumstantial, teachers may not always clearly see which course of
action is ethical. As in the case presented by the USC Levan Institute,
there is a fine line between a teacher giving information on a

A STUDENT-TEACHERS REFLECTION ON ETHICS

controversial issue and improper advocating for a particular religious,

political, or social point of view. As a high school student, I had a
teacher cross this fine line, which made many of the students including
myself, very uncomfortable. Attending a Catholic high school, I was
expected to attend mass monthly with the entire school population.
Since I decided to attend this school and knew this was a requirement,
I willingly went to these monthly masses and participated accordingly
to my own religion. However during one mass in my senior year, the
priest offered that any student who wanted to go to Confession could
go after mass and meet him in the Chapel. Once mass ended, over
three-quarters of the school went to the Chapel while the other onequarter stayed in the gymnasium where the mass had taken place.
After all of the other students left, one of the religion teachers came to
the microphone and said that all of us that were left was to go to one
of the religion teachers in the room and tell them of a sin we each
committed. As a Lutheran, I thought that this was very wrong, for I
believed that the repentance of sins occurs between the sinner and
God with no mediator in between. When my Buddhist friend, my Hindu
friend, and I tried to say we did not believe in this, the teachers told us
we did not have a choice. Since the teacher made us feel like our
religions were not as important as theirs, we were made to feel inferior
as well as pressured to assimilate to their religion. Since this teacher
made the decision that crossed over the ethical line by forcing her

A STUDENT-TEACHERS REFLECTION ON ETHICS

practices onto us, this action had a negative effect on some of her
students. Therefore, if a teacher ever forced his or her religious,
political, or social views on a student, the teacher could have a
damaging effect on a student. Although the teacher may believe that
she is trying to set a good example according to her beliefs, this could
hinder the student from being comfortable, speaking his or her views,
or from learning about other views.
In this USL Levan Institute case, more facts are needed in order
to decide if the teachers actions are ethical or not: the intent of the
teacher, what type of school the teacher is teaching in, and the effects
on the student. For example, since my school was a Catholic school,
this was not about what was legal but about efficiency. Instead of
allowing us to go back to the classrooms unsupervised, we were given
a task in the gym to keep us occupied so that we would not simply
socialize with our friends. Therefore, I do not fully believe that the
teachers intent was to make us repent our sins as if we were Catholic;
instead, I believe that the teacher was trying to keep us busy so that
chaos would not ensue, making this an issue of efficiency. Furthermore,
since it was a Catholic school, the teacher had a right to teach the
ways of the Catholic Church. However, if I had gone to a public school,
this would have been a legal issue since there is to be no affiliation
with a particular religion. Although this action was ethical in the intent
and according to which type of school I attended, this action was not

A STUDENT-TEACHERS REFLECTION ON ETHICS

ethical due to its effects on some of the student population. Having a

stake in this situation, the students reactions should have been taken
into consideration. Since the action at my high school made certain
students feel as if her religion was not important, put down her views
on religion, and made her feel uncomfortable, this action was not
ethical. Due to its damaging effects, the teacher should not have
forced this practice upon her students. If we are to look at the USL
Levan Institute case, there are too many unknown factors such as the
above to determine if a teacher advocating for his or her beliefs are
ethical or not.
When deciding upon which approach a teacher should take, the
teacher must consider what outcome he or she would like to produce.
In the example with my high school, the teacher who made us repent
our sins to a religion teacher either utilized the Utilitarian or Virtue
approach to ethics. If the teacher made each of us repent because it
would keep us from socializing and chaos, she was simply trying to
create the most good for the most people through the Utilitarian
Approach. However, if she was doing it to set an example of how we
should act as Catholics and it was due to her beliefs, she was most
likely acting by the Virtue Approach, which leads her to be the type of
person she would like to be (Velasquez, M., Andre, C., Shanks, T., &
Meyer, M.J, 2009) . However, since her choice made others feel
uncomfortable and inferior, she should have also considered the Justice

A STUDENT-TEACHERS REFLECTION ON ETHICS

Approach, where all of the students would have been treated equally
and proportionally, or the Rights Approach, which best respects all of
the rights of the people at stake. Personally, I think she should have
taken the Justice Approach, where all of the students would have
equally and proportionally been able to practice their own religion.
That is, the teacher should have allowed those who wanted to partake
in Confession, go to Confession while allowing those who did not want
to partake in Confession, not partake in any religious action of the sort.
In this manner, none of the students would have felt uncomfortable
and the decision would be considered ethical under the circumstances.
As seen by my personal account, teachers must consider the outcome
in order to make an ethical decision.
As people who influence others daily, teachers should be familiar
with the ethical framework to help them to act ethically and for the
success of their students. Although we may want to believe that what
we as teachers are doing is immediately ethical and correct, teachers
should fully think through their decisions and reflect on previous
actions. In order to make an ethical decision, teachers must take all
who would be affected into consideration; that is, the teacher must
think about themselves as a person as well as their students. Because
a teachers actions can negatively or positively affect a student, the
teacher must think about how to carry out an act and how their
students will react. Just like my teacher was trying to act out of

A STUDENT-TEACHERS REFLECTION ON ETHICS

efficiency by keeping the students occupied for the greater good, she
should have also tried to take the students perspectives into
consideration. If she had thought about those who were not Catholic or
who were uncomfortable, she may have thought of another activity
that was not religiously affiliated to keep us occupied. As seen with my
personal experience, I now know that all teachers must think through
each action ethically and should act so that my students and school
community can benefit from my decisions and actions.

References
Barrett, D.E. (2012). How do teachers make judgments about ethical
and unethical

behaviors? Toward the development for a code of

conduct for teachers.

Teaching and Teacher Education, 28, 890-898.

Velasquez, M., Moberg, D., Meyer, M.J., Shanks, T., McLean, M.R.,
DeCosse, D.,

Hanson, K.O. (2009). A framework for thinking

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ethically. Retrieved from
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/framework.html
Velasquez, M., Andre, C., Shanks, T., & Meyer, M.J. (2010). What is
ethics?. Retrieved

from

http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/whatisethics.html