Download Ethics

In teaching, ethics means putting the satisfaction
of the needs and goods of the students before
those of anyone else

The first rule of ethical teaching is to do no
harm to students
◦ The abuse of authority, which can take many forms,
such as prejudice, favoritism, and intimacy, is
especially threatening to students’ welfare
◦ Teachers take upon themselves responsibilities akin
to the responsibilities of parents for their children

Ethical teaching requires exclusive attention
to students’ welfare
◦ Teaching requires an unusual degree of sacrifice, of
extension of self
◦ Teachers are obliged, as professionals, to defend
their students’ interests --- among the chief of
which is a search for truth
◦ Teachers must not involve students in their own
professional conflicts

Ethical teaching means setting high standards
and expectations and inspiring students to
meet them
◦ Despite resistance and resentment
◦ Must not react by lowering expectations
◦ “We won’t give up,” should be the motto.

Ethical teaching means embodying the
principles of teaching
◦ Good examples of mature behavior
◦ And of devotion to learning, discipline, and service
to others

Ethical teaching means teaching ethics
◦ Teachers exemplify the worth of knowledge, service
to others, and compassion
◦ Must iterate and reiterate the priorities of truth,
honesty, and fairness
◦ Must instruct their students about the costs of
plagiarism and cheating, including self-injury

Ethical teaching requires consideration of
students’ differing but tenable viewpoints
◦ Teachers must distinguish facts from fiction,
hypotheses from theories, the possible from the
probable, and the wise from the foolish
◦ Teachers must actively encourage their students to
discover and justify their own views
◦ Teachers must ask for evidence, logic, and honest
self-examination

A difficult task
◦ Gains a certain clarity by virtue of its unwavering
focus on students’ welfare
◦ Holding the long view of what is in the students’
best interests --- learning, moral development, and
aspiring to do more and better