Educational Ethics in a Complex Age

Throughout my formal training to become an educator, a training that spanned nearly 28 years and included several degrees and a wide variety of instructional and administrative certifications, I never had a course on professional ethics.  I often wondered about that, even as an undergraduate.  I had several courses in school law that prepared me well to "comply."  But of course, compliance is very different than acting ethically.  In fact, acting ethically is sometimes at odds with compliance.

Other professions maintain ethical standards that provide guidance for practitioners in their decision-making and professional behavior.  Practitioners may choose to ignore this guidance, but that is a personal decision.  In fact, all ethical decisions are ultimately personal.

Few would disagree that the field of education, which touches every individual, has a far-reaching impact on society as a whole.  Indeed, schools have been credited with preparing and inspiring some of our greatest leaders.  Unfortunately, they have also been cited in the past as having served as important tools used by dictators and despots. 

As our society becomes ever more complex, educators in the United States face significant ethical challenges.  The lack of training in understanding and dealing with these ethical challenges concerns me.  My concern grew recently as I read about  changes made to the Texas social studies curriculum.  According to many accounts, changes made to the curriculum reflected political ideology rather than historical fact.  The fact that the changes were adopted by elected officials who voted along straight party lines seems to lend credence to this contention.

Today, educators face serious issues of ethics and conscience.  Just a few of these include:

• The politicization of the curriculum,
• The narrowing of the curriculum allowing only a few students to explore their talents and passions,
• The emphasis on high-stakes tests that steal time from learning and discourage risk-taking,
• The emphasis on conformity rather than creative and divergent thinking.

Teachers face tough ethical questions every day.  Yet, our teacher preparation programs don't seem to understand this.  Teachers enter the profession unprepared and unaware of the compromises that they will be expected to make.  This leads to disillusionment, frustration and stress for the most highly committed and principled among them.  I have noted that over the years many colleges and universities offer "stress management" courses for teachers.  How much of this stress comes from teachers constantly being asked to compromise on what they consider to be their core values as professionals?