The Meaning of Ethics: What is it?
By Prof. Jonathan
Acuña Solano
Sunday, October 11,
2015
Twitter: @jonacuso
Post 193
The question of what ethics is is one
that has been on the academic scene for a very long time. Still it has not been
properly defined and what it is ascribed to it. And if thought in the teaching
practice and practicum, faculty members or regular teachers may not be fully
certain of what they are talking about.
Velasquez, Andre, Thomas Shanks, and
Meyer (2010) came up with a very important review of what ethics is not. The authors state the fact that
ethics “is clearly not a matter of following one’s feelings,” “nor should one
identify ethics with religion,” and is “not the same as following the law.” In
addition to these ideas, they also specify that ethics “is not the same as
doing whatever society accepts” either.
Then, what is ethics and how does it
relate to one’s teaching? The same cohort of authors agree that “ethics refers
to well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought
to do” (Velasquez, Andre, Thomas Shanks, & Meyer, 2010) . And then, ethics is
“the study of one’s ethical standards” (Velasquez, Andre, Thomas Shanks, & Meyer, 2010) . However, though the
authors mention what ethics is not by our constant exposure to society and its imminent
social conditioning. In the end, ethics becomes a science of the self in which
individuals analyze and pounder their decisions based on one’s moral beliefs
and our moral conduct.
If ethics “prescribe what humans ought
to do” (Velasquez, Andre, Thomas Shanks, & Meyer, 2010) , how does this apply
to faculty members or teachers in general? “Ethics is a critical element in
teaching and plays an important role in a teacher’s personal and professional
life. A teacher’s ethical stance will govern how he or she instructs and
assesses students” (The Ethics of Teaching, n.d.) . Bearing in mind
that “ethics is more than just a code of ethics which does no more than codify
a set of principles and rules which serve aspirational and/or disciplinary
purposes” (Clark, 2004) and what Velasquez, Andre, Thomas Shanks,and Meyer (2010) state
about what ethics is not, ethics for educators should imply that it is not
about following our feelings when teaching, dealing with students, or grading
their work; ethics is something that is not meant to be connected to one’s
religious beliefs or simply following the code of ethics of one’s school. One’s
ethics stance does not necessarily have to be linked to whatever is expected
from us in school, because at times one has to ethically behave differently
from what school accepts.
In fairness of
what ethics should be for educators, teacher-student relationships must be
governed by moral principles. “Respect for persons, impartiality,
inequality, trust, privacy, confidentiality, cooperation and competition” (Clark, 2004) need to be present
in any relationship where the instructor holds certain power over students’
grades and disciplinary punishment. “At the heart of
a strong and effective teaching profession is a commitment to students and
their learning” (Ethical Standards, n.d.) ; any other
difference that may arise in the course of teaching should not be taken into
account when grading or assessing learners.
As a conclusion,
ethics can be defined as the science of the self (me, the teacher, as an individual)
pertaining to what is right or wrong. It cannot be attached to one’s feelings,
religious creed, country’s laws or school’s regulations, or to whatever society
(or other school officials) considers OK. Ethics is something that does not
deviate from standards of virtues and the rights linked to those virtues.
References
Clark, J. (2004). The Ethics of Teaching and the
Teaching of Ethics. New Zealand Journal of Teachers’ Work, Volume 1(Issue
2), 80-84. Retrieved from
http://www.teacherswork.ac.nz/journal/volume1_issue2/clark.pdf
Ethical Standards. (n.d.). Retrieved from Ontario College of
Teachers: http://www.oct.ca/public/professional-standards/ethical-standards
The Ethics of Teaching. (n.d.). Retrieved from Pennsylvania Department of
Education: https://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/unit_1_-_the_ethical_teacher/21081/the_ethics_of_teaching/1237587
Velasquez, M., Andre, C., Thomas Shanks,
T., & Meyer, M. (2010). What is Ethics? Retrieved from Markkula
Center for Applied Ethics:
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/whatisethics.html
Sunday, October 11, 2015
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