Running Header: MY ETHICS AND DISPOSITION 1

My Ethics and Disposition in Education

Kyaria Walker

EDU 201

Professor Wendy Hamm

April 3rd, 2018

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Abstract

In this paper I will be talking about ethics, morals and disposition in education and what it means

to me as a future educator. I will talk about the difference between ethics and morals. Also, what

are my ethics as a future educator and what my disposition is. I will align how I think I am

ethically with The Georgia Code of ethics for Educators and my morals to Moral Turpitude of

Georgia. I will also highlight my personal experience with ethics in the classroom from some

other educators and from some of the literature I have read. This paper will be the essential focus

for what dispositions a moral and ethical educator should possess and why.
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Introduction

The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with other human beings.

(Futterman 2015).” Providing a classroom that helps learning be at its highest is our jobs as

educators. Much like Wesleyans Disposition. We are supposed to appreciate the learning that

takes place in the classroom across the curriculum. Through my personal experience and some of

my field experience, I’ve witnessed that a lot of teachers don’t carry that same idea of think as

Wesleyan’s disposition. They all stick to the standard and want all the students to think about

different situations and problems the same and get there the exact same way.

Educators combine all of these and make sure the classroom is an environment that is morally

right and ethical codes for educators are followed. Things like endangering children won’t take

place, conduct with students will not become something that isn’t morally right, using drugs or

consuming alcohol l while teaching or around students, and many other ethical standards.

Disposition

At Wesleyan, our disposition on the type of education students should be receiving. Much like

our disposition is clear, the disposition for effective teachers is focuses on the well-being of the

students learning in the classroom (Wesleyan College Education Department Conceptual

Framework). As an educator we have to have empathy for the different learners that we are

teaching and their different point of views. Having a relationship, that doesn’t go against any

ethical standards, that helps further student’s intellectual ability will not only help the students,

but help the classroom environment (Disposition of an Effective Teacher). In some of my field
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experience classes, I have seen some of dispositions of the teachers weren’t what I thought they

should be to provide the students with a classroom environment that is conducive to their

learning. It was only helpful to the kids who were the “teacher’s pets” or the “class favorites”.

Ethics

Ethics is how we govern ourselves. In a classroom or in the professional way how do we make

that judgement? In Georgia, the Code of Ethics for Educators, is the guiding light for what we

should follow as educators. There are 10 standards that educators have to follow. The Code of

Ethics for Educators standards are as follows: Legal Compliance, Conduct with Students,

Alcohol or Drugs, Honesty, Public Funds and Property, Remunerative Conduct, Confidential

Information, Required Reports, Professional Conduct and Testing (Code of Ethics for Educators

GAPSC 2018). We see a lot of these standards broken. Some teachers break the standards and

don’t realize it because they think its innocent and not harmful. For example, Confidential

Information, in my personal experience during my field experience a teacher revealed some test

scores to the class and shared it with the entire class, not thinking about how that information

should be for her eyes only. Another seemingly innocent thing some teachers do is have their

favorite student grade all the classes work, which is a violation of this standard. Professional

Conduct deals with how teachers carry themselves around their students and at school functions.

An example of a violation of this standard is the book we have been reading in our Foundation in

Education Class, Educating Esmé: Diary of A Teachers First Year there is a lot of unethical

things that happen within this book. Towards the beginning of the book, there is a situation

between a fifth-grade teacher Ismene Stieles. One of her students has been telling her to “suck

my dick” when she asks the young man a question, tell him to do something, or give him

redirection. So, to make a point to Esmé, the teacher takes the student and the author into the
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bathroom where she tells the young man to pull down his pants so that she can “suck his dick.”

(Codell. E pg. 17-19). Remunerative Conduct an example of violating this standard would be

accepting money for tutoring one of your students after school in your classroom. Conduct with

Students is being transparent with your students. Letting your students know what it is and what

it’s not. Keeping the line visible between you and your students as what you can and can’t do.

Alcohol and Drugs standard explain what it means when a teacher is around students or at some

type of school function that is sponsored by the school and is under the influence of drugs and

alcohol. When a teacher is under the influence, their judgment is blurred. They won’t be able to

make sound decisions as they would usually do since they are under the influence (A. McKinley

volume 61). In a case between the Professional Standards of Commission and a teacher, the

teacher was fined for giving students who were 18 and under alcohol and consuming it along

with them (GAPSC vs. Peterson). Honesty for a teacher is not lying on any documents and not

having full disclosure with the appropriate person in the chain of command. Public Funds and

Property, is when teacher take or misuse school property for their personal gain. Legal

Compliance is the laws the teachers have to abide by. The local, state and federal government.

The biggest violation of standards beside conduct with students is Testing. In Atlanta, there was

a scandal on testing because a group of teachers inflated testing scores from a struggling school.

These teachers received prison time in consequences for messing with official testing scores. The

standards are clear and cut. So, following them should be easy.

Morals

Morals are the way we behave through our culture. Also, what we think is normal ways to

behave (R.C. Sproul 2015) They are what we are taught that helps us distinguish the difference

between right and wrong. As an educator, that is a big part of job. Even though the students get it
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from home, we have just as much influence over then as their parents. As an educator, you

should only do things you would want your students to do. Giving them the impression that its

fine for them to do things like; murder, fraud and selling drugs, isn’t what it means to be a person

with solid morals (Moral Turpitude GAPSC 2018).

Ethics vs Morals

What’s the difference between these two? Aren’t they basically the same thing? During

my research, I found that they were completely different. Ethics are basically our value system.

Morals are customs, habits, and normal forms of behavior through the different cultures. Ethics

deal more with what people should ought to be doing. Morals are dealing with what is actually

being done (R.C. Sproul 2015). Morals and ethics and standards are important part of education

and how teachers know how to properly behave with students. Dispositions connect with all of

this because it gives teachers something to connect with and a standard to teach and help students

learn by. Ethics, morals and dispositions are all about what’s best for the student’s well-being.
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Sources

CAMPBELL, E. (2008), The Ethics of Teaching as a Moral Profession. Curriculum Inquiry, 38:

357-385. doi:10.1111/j.1467-873X.2008.00414.x

Codell, E. R. (1999). Educating Esmé Diary of a Teachers First Year. New York: Algonquin

Books.

Dispositions of an Effective Teacher. (2003, November). In 2nd National Symposium on

Educator Dispositions. Retrieved April 2, 2018, from

http://www.dartep.org/handouts/Dispositionsproceedingssession_P.pdf

Ethic. (n.d.). Retrieved April 03, 2018, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethic

Futterman, L. (2015, March 31). Beyond the Classroom: The importance of ethics in education.

Retrieved April 02, 2018, from

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/community-

voices/article17030966.html

Handbook of Criminal Evidence by Davis, 2000 edition

Http://ljournal.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/a-2017-023.pdf. (2017). 505- 6 -.01 THE CODE

OF ETHICS FOR EDUCATORS. doi:10.18411/a-2017-023

Moral Turpitude (2000). Retrieved April 2, 2018, from

https://www.gapsc.com/Ethics/Downloads/moral_turpitude.pdf

Sproul, R. (2015, October 14). The Difference Between Ethics and Morality. Retrieved April 03,

2018, from https://www.ligonier.org/blog/difference-between-ethics-and-morality/

Wesleyan College Educational Department’s Conceptual Framework

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McKinley, A. (2015). Http://www.avensonline.org/fulltextarticles/JSUR-2332-4139-S1-

0001.html. Journal of Surgery,01-07. doi:10.13188/2332-4139.s100001

FindLaw's Court of Appeals of Georgia case and opinions. (n.d.). Retrieved April 03, 2018, from

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ga-court-of-appeals/1156183.html

Fantz, A. (2015, April 15). Prison time for some Atlanta school educators in cheating scandal.

Retrieved April 03, 2018, from https://www.cnn.com/2015/04/14/us/georgia-atlanta-

public-schools-cheating-scandal-verdicts/index.html