ETHICS IN EDUCATION AND ON LEGAL ISSUE

Ethics In Education And On Legal Issue

Ethics In Education And On Legal Issue

As part of ethics and law review cycle, I interviewed one of the administrators in my school, Mr. Henry D. Schon , who is abide by all ethical and legal concepts. An hour interview was a good experience for me. I would like to share his views in respect with the education ethics and legal issues.

Interviewer: In what ways might we best transmit ethical skills and knowledge to our students?

Interviewee: At the classroom level, a variety of methods can be used for both undergraduate and graduate classes. Indeed, I believe we can start teaching ethics in Introductory Psychology. As you know, case studies are very popular, and several texts do a wonderful job of covering the APA Code with good case examples.

My colleagues and I have been advocating a more "positive" approach to ethics, which means, in part, asking students to look carefully at their values and backgrounds and to incorporate philosophical principles like autonomy and beneficence into their ethical reasoning. One assignment I found quite useful has been the "ethics autobiography" as a paper assignment. Students write about what it is in their backgrounds that helps them think through and identify what is right and wrong professional behavior. I have found that when students explicitly relate professional ethics to their personal morality they develop a good foundation for dealing with the inevitable conflicts that arise between their intuition and the APA Code.

Interviewer: What are some of the ways in which we can sensitize students and faculty to this process of acculturation? How might we introduce students to our culture and transmit our values?

Interviewee: First, we need to be explicit about both the acculturation process and ethics. For example, just lecturing on the APA Code and other rules and hoping that students are good enough people to do the right thing, may not be enough. Ethical acculturation is a complex process that takes time. There are (at least) two issues that may be critical to raise with students when they learn about ethics. First:

Good people are subject to bad behavior. Many of us tend to make dispositional attributions for the unethical behavior of others: "They are bad people." If we do that, we miss the situational and other factors that account for getting into trouble. We also distance ourselves ...