Ditching Classes for an Utilitarian

Ditching Classes for an Utilitarian

Introduction

The utilitarian doctrine is an ethics that prescribes action (or inaction) to maximize the overall welfare of all sentient beings. Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism: it evaluates an action (or rule) only by its consequences, what distinguishes the moral deontologists, including morality Kant.

Aside from causing students to fall behind in their work and suffer academically, truancy is often cited in connection with a number of other problems, such as juvenile delinquency and daytime crime. And high levels of truancy can cause schools and school districts to receive significantly decreased levels of funding. For those reasons, school attendance is an issue that preoccupies educators and others who care about education. Some lawmakers have sought to reduce truancy by tying school attendance to welfare payments. In the U.S., a number of states have enacted programs that withhold some government assistance from the families of truant students. In some other countries, such as Mexico, governments have provided extra support to families that ensure that their children attend school regularly.

Other initiatives have been taken by school districts and individual schools. Some U.S. schools provide incentives to students with good attendance records as a way of cutting back on absences. Those incentives range from cash to cars to computers to rent or mortgage payments for students' families. Often, rather than winning the prizes automatically, students with good or perfect attendance become eligible to win the them through raffle drawings.

The use of school attendance incentives has touched off a controversy. Supporters contend that they are needed to cut down on truancy, which causes harm to students, schools and communities. Although critics may dismiss incentives as bribes that do not instill a desire to learn, supporters argue that attendance is a prerequisite to any kind of learning. Incentives work better than the punishments that some schools use, they say. And they offer important lessons on the value of work, they argue.

Critics of school attendance incentives, on the other hand, counter that rewarding school attendance fails to make students interested in school itself, which can be a problem in the long run. Rather than offering incentives, schools should improve their programs and make more of an effort to reach students, they recommend. Students need to feel an actual desire to learn, critics of incentives argue. In addition, attendance incentives do little to address the real problems that students who miss school sometimes have, they charge.

Discussion

Children's minds are new and fragile. They don't know much about life or the world yet except for what their families teach them. For that reason, everything that is taught to them will be very crucial. Kindergarten teachers are bringing children into the world of education, a place where the mind will absorb knowledge and be in the process of developing. The knowledge that is put into their young minds is very important and will affect their future. Kindergarten teachers are helping them develop the brain which is something very ...