Elementary Ethics Dilemmas

Elementary Ethics Dilemmas

Scenario 1: Andrea Miles’ case

The behavior that violet the educator code of ethics is changing students’ test scores and intervening with a student’s education based on personal relationships. The two behavior have broken the code of ethics which every educator must uphold where they should not let their relationships affect the outcome of the student’s test results whether positively or negatively. In addition, the student scores are what they should have indicated on their results slips without any manipulation by the educator. This is what Andrea broke when she tended to act in a way that breaks the rules and gives students unnecessary favors.

The standards that were violated in the cases scenario included lying about the student performance to the board, altering the student scores, or manipulating the scores or grades of the students an educator has personal relations worth. In this case, the code of ethics of the educator which upholds honesty, responsibility, and integrity was broken when favoritism and unethical manipulation of results was witnessed. This affected the fairness that educators are expected to uphold in their work and duty when serving students.

Ms. Miles should not have manipulated the test scores but indicated the right scores each student got from the test. Honesty and transparency would have been the only option in this case to uphold the code of ethics of the educators. Her actions should have been in line with the set standards of the educator’s code of ethics.

Scenario 2: Mr. Armstrong’s case

When Mr. Armstrong told the substitute about Mrs. Long’s anxiety issues, he violated the standards in the educator’s code of ethics. Whatever information he disclosed regarding the anxiety and the medication was more than unnecessary and he should have withheld the information. Another one was when they chose to select the substitute without letting the management manage it and Mrs. Long should have applied for sick leave and let the management handle the substitute issue rather than having it revealed.

The standards violated by this case were the confidentiality standards where information about educators should be confidential especially their personal medical history and life. Mr. Armstrong should not have revealed the anxiety case of Mrs. Long to the substitute who is also a parent as it may raise unnecessary worry among parents and reduce their trust in Mrs. Long handling their children.

Mr. Armstrong should not have disclosed the truth behind Mrs. Long’s absentia but stated that she is absent for medical reasons. He should also have advised Mrs. Long to apply for sick leave with the management and let them handle the substitute issues. In addition, the school management should have been informed of the situation so that they find a substitute who does not have ties with the students like parenthood in case Mrs. Long’s situation gets known among the educators in the schools it can be protected.

Scenario 3: Ms. Olsen’s and Mr. Park’s case

The behaviors that violate the educator's code of ethics are inconsideration that was shown by Mr. Parker and favoritism shown by Ms. Olsen. The two also broke the code of ethics when they showed corruption and unethical behavior where they already made the list of students who cannot enter the club even if they meet the set criteria. Mr. Parker does not speak up when he notices those who are not making it on the list fall in the low SES category since he thinks he cannot wait for the parents to show up late hence fails to consider students who want to join the run club. On the other hand, Ms. Olsen only accepts a few of the late applications because those students are friends with her daughter and wanted her daughter to participate together with her friends.

I think they violated the standards of fairness and consideration to all students by educators. They should have considered the situations of the students who had a late application and their parents. This should have been the case with Mr. Parker mostly since he thought he cannot wait late at school for the parents to arrive. Ms. Olsen should have been fair to all students who had applied late and those who qualified should have been given a chance or denied all those who were late a chance to join the club. Favoring her daughter’s friends was unfair and lack of integrity on her side.

The two should have allowed the students who qualified even if they were late to have an equal chance as others to apply to the club. They should have thought of what the students want and what is beyond their control then given them a chance to get into the club after meeting the criteria set. All in, they should have denied those who do not meet the criteria or were late a chance to join the club rather than allowing some on favoritism case.

Scenario 4: Mrs. Nelson’s case

From this scenario, Mrs. Nelson upholds the educator’s code of ethics to the latter. She takes care of her learner Maddie’s psychological health and keeps it confidential as is highlighted in the code of ethics. She is committed as a teacher and thus there is no behavior showing violation of the educator’s code of ethics.

There is no standard violated but I think Mrs. Nelson upholds the standards of educators' code of ethics where she keeps student information confidential and takes care of the learner to make them comfortable and have a conducive learning environment. She is supportive of the learners and encourages them to participate in the communications app as a way of making them speak up when they are having a hard time as they should understand someone is there for them. This makes learners know that they are not alone but someone is there for them.

There is no other way to handle the situation than the way she handled it. When she followed the code of educators and became supportive of the learners and kept the information confidential, showed she was a good teacher and upheld the code of ethics. She can only find better ways of having face-to-face communication with the learners and encouraging them to approach her or any other teachers to share what they go through. She can also share with other educators that they have to make the learners approach them and understand them to find more ways of making the school a suitable environment to learn and bring peace and support to learners.