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