As a high school teacher for the past seven years, one training on how to connect with our students stands out. The instructor asked us to consider the meaning of fairness. Is fairness the act of offering a Band-Aid to every student that has an injury? They’d all receive the exact same thing. Would it still be a fair policy if one student had a paper cut and the other student had a broken arm? The paper cut and broken arm are symbolic of the way students enter our classrooms. Every students enters class with a deficit of knowledge and ability, but some students enter with a much bigger deficit than others. Yet, schools operate on set rules and policies. Is it ethical and fair to alter certain rules and policies depending on circumstances? In effect, we have to consider the ethical question of how standards and policies should apply to each student. As an instructor, it might be considered morally acceptable if I were to operate on the law of standards and policies, rather than on the spirit of their word. At the cost of my ethical integrity, I could justify a one size fits all mentality, ignoring the varying deficits of my students. For example, for good and right reasons, educational policies dictate that all students must demonstrate competency in certain learning objectives in order to receive credit for certain courses. In order to move on to Algebra 2, a student must show acceptable competence in Algebra 1. What happens when a student doesn’t demonstrate competence? Morally and socially, if a student is struggling in or failing a credited class, not many would question an instructor’s decision that requires the student repeat the course. It seems obvious that the student has not learned. On the other hand, if the instructor passed the student on, the student might feel grateful, but confused. Of the two paths, the former follows the policies and the other is socially acceptable. However, neither path addresses the root cause of the student’s deficit. Finding the root cause is the ethical issue and takes a little more effort to address and answer. If the deficits aren’t addressed with the proper tools (Band-Aid or cast), it is very possible more will be affected than just the individual with the deficit. The student feels helpless to stop the downward
As a high school teacher for the past seven years, one training on how to connect with our students stands out. The instructor asked us to consider the meaning of fairness. Is fairness the act of offering a Band-Aid to every student that has an injury? They’d all receive the exact same thing. Would it still be a fair policy if one student had a paper cut and the other student had a broken arm? The paper cut and broken arm are symbolic of the way students enter our classrooms. Every students enters class with a deficit of knowledge and ability, but some students enter with a much bigger deficit than others. Yet, schools operate on set rules and policies. Is it ethical and fair to alter certain rules and policies depending on circumstances? In effect, we have to consider the ethical question of how standards and policies should apply to each student. As an instructor, it might be considered morally acceptable if I were to operate on the law of standards and policies, rather than on the spirit of their word. At the cost of my ethical integrity, I could justify a one size fits all mentality, ignoring the varying deficits of my students. For example, for good and right reasons, educational policies dictate that all students must demonstrate competency in certain learning objectives in order to receive credit for certain courses. In order to move on to Algebra 2, a student must show acceptable competence in Algebra 1. What happens when a student doesn’t demonstrate competence? Morally and socially, if a student is struggling in or failing a credited class, not many would question an instructor’s decision that requires the student repeat the course. It seems obvious that the student has not learned. On the other hand, if the instructor passed the student on, the student might feel grateful, but confused. Of the two paths, the former follows the policies and the other is socially acceptable. However, neither path addresses the root cause of the student’s deficit. Finding the root cause is the ethical issue and takes a little more effort to address and answer. If the deficits aren’t addressed with the proper tools (Band-Aid or cast), it is very possible more will be affected than just the individual with the deficit. The student feels helpless to stop the downward