Chapter 8 The Everyday Ethics of Teaching

There is a lot more to be a teacher then teaching students the basic subject that need to be taught such as Math, English, Science and Social Studies. Teachers also play a big role in developing a student’s ethics. According to the author Ryan Cooper in the book Those Who Can, Teach “Teachers ethically influence students in three ways: by personal example, by the classroom climate they create and by the dialogue they establish.” (Cooper pg 245) An example of the first influence would be, how a teacher teats their students, by showing the students that they themselves are treating all the students with respect, teaches the student that everyone deserves to be treated with respect. An example of the second influence is creating a safe and trustworthy environment, where the student feel comfortable and not afraid, this will teach the student to be more cooperative because they feel safe with their surroundings. An example of the third influence is talking about the main core ethical values such as being responsible, kind to others and honesty are not only in the study of the main subjects such as History and English but in their everyday life. With that knowledge teachers have a huge amount of responsibility for the student’s learning process in all aspects of their life.

In the article, Ethics in the Classroom: What You Need To Know by Anna Weinstein found at the web address http://www.education.com/magazine/article/cheating-ethics/ it is discussed how ethics should be taught in schools ““But ethics must be taught and are being taught in school. It’s impossible not to teach ethics in a school.” (Dr. Bruce Weinstein) With out a human being having an ethics at all would simply not make them a human being or someone that will succeed in this world. Most criminals would be considered non-ethical, or druggies or drug dealers, but even then they possess some kind of ethics. Five basic principals that are found around the world according to Dr. Bruce Weinstein are Do no harm, Make things better, Respect others, Be fair and Be loving. (Dr. Bruce Weinstein) In different parts of the world these principles make not be worded exactly the same but have the same meaning. Having ethics being taught not only at home but in schools make for a better and safe environment for learning. And like anything that is taught, ethics have to be talked about over and over again and then practiced for the result to be successful. The successful result would be the students not only applying ethics to their household and school environment but to carry the ethics with them through out their whole entire life.