What Is the Ethical Responsibility of Teachers?

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1. Firstgrademonkey says:

   October 3, 2015 at 12:08 pm

   Stand up, push back.

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2. drakestraw says:

   October 3, 2015 at 12:25 pm

   I think I’ll print out the Ethics Code proposed and keep it in front of me. Many years ago, I worked in local government as an assistant city manager. I was a proud member of the International City Managers Association and the first thing I received after joining was a copy of the ICMA Statement of Ethics, which I framed and hung on my wall. I remember looking at it when I would get a particularly challenging phone call from a resident, or be asked to do something questionable in my role. In a couple of instances, it gave me the strength to refuse to do something I felt was inappropriate, even in the face of significant pressure from the city’s attorneys. Having such a reminder in front of me now might help me stick by some difficult steps facing me as a teacher.

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3. Brad says:

   October 3, 2015 at 12:26 pm

   Statewide strike… All the leading organizations along with Diane can help organize this monumental task

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   • vincebeasley says:

     October 3, 2015 at 7:44 pm

     A strike by teachers in North Carolina would be illegal, and grounds for dismissal (and in the other so-called “right-to-work” states too). We don’t have the right to join a real union, and have no collective bargaining rights either. This is a big part of the problem.

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4. ira shor says:

   October 3, 2015 at 12:34 pm

   Ethical professional practice in any field requires the professional to refuse cooperation in any way with any official or unofficial undertaking which is dehumanizing, anti-democratic, subordinating, or abusive. This is true of the psychologists who assisted the Pentagon in torturing detainees as well as the scientists assisting Coca-Cola in turning around the national debate on child obesity by declaring that the problem is not sugar consumption but rather exercise. Lawyers who assist landlords in evicting low or middle-income tenants to enable property-owners to gentrify urban areas for the super-rich, are engaged in unethical practice. All in all then, teachers are professionals whose ethical responsibilities coalesce with that of all experts in any area.

   Teachers must not accept abusive, divisive, subordinating practices or policies of any kind. Our job is to raise all kids to become competent, creative, and critical citizens of a robust democracy which abhors hierarchy and enforced discrimination. Large class sizes are unethical. Underfunded and over-regulated public schools are unethical. Standardized testing, VAM and the ugly continual enforcement of merit pay schemes are unethical. Classrooms full of hungry children are unethical. We teachers are part of the public trust that the great advances in expertise in every field will be used for justice and humanity. A hundred years ago, John Dewey wrote that any curriculum which trains children like horses instead of educating them like human being, which fails to equip and orient children to be makers of meaning in their society capable of acting civically on that meaning, which simply offers vocational or technical training for jobs in a society where they will not be allowed to discuss and intervene in the purposes of their work, is an illiberal form of education and those who take part are engaging in illiberal practice.

   Finally, teachers have deep ethical responsibilities to their students, their student’s families and communities and to society. To keep faith with these ethics, we need to recognize that classrooms cannot be defended from the inside or managed from the outside. Professional and ethical teachers must be freed from outside control to do their work among students in the classroom; we teachers can only win those rights and that power by campaigning together outside the classroom with other groups in society with a stake in robust democracy.

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   • retired teacher says:

     October 3, 2015 at 1:20 pm

     I agree with your view 100%, but it is hard for me to comprehend that we are in this position in 2015. Labor has gone backward at least twenty years. This is due to the influence of billionaires, the Tea Party and neoliberals.

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     • Ellen Lubic says:

       October 3, 2015 at 4:19 pm

       Isn’t that a group of strange bedfellows? The uber wealthy and greedy colluding with the uber ignorant and greedy.

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   • Yvonne Siu-Runyan says:

     October 4, 2015 at 2:20 pm

     Right on, IRA.

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     • caplee68 says:

       October 4, 2015 at 10:54 pm

       Right, and we do it by developing our own school educational plan and implement it.

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5. alice says:

   October 3, 2015 at 12:43 pm

   Exactly. Please read the book “Intelligent Disobedience – Doing Right When What You’re Told to do is Wrong,” by Ira Chaleff. The author discusses the importance of speaking out against wrongful directives in many different contexts. Although I don’t believe he got the part on education right (he puts the burden on teachers,) he has gotten it right in other areas of our society. He reviews the research of the Milgram Experiments in New Haven and the Stanford Prison Experiments, as well as many individual stories of speaking truth to power, and what happens when you don’t.
   Now is the time for the revolution to begin. We can’t continue to be compliant teachers and consider ourselves “doing right.” We all have a moral obligation to speak out.
   Earlier this morning I asked if Ms. Ravitch had a vision for the next step beyond writing blogs and books and speaking out at forums, and whether she’d be willing to lead the movement forward.
   I, for one, would follow where she leads.

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   • Duane Swacker says:

     October 3, 2015 at 1:55 pm

     “We can’t continue to be compliant teachers and consider ourselves “doing right.”

     Quite correct Alice!!

     Teachers have to quit being GAGA*ers and stand up for what is ethical, right by the students.

     *
     Going Along to Get Along (GAGA): Nefarious practice of most educators who implement the edudeformers agenda even though the educators know that those educational malpractices will cause harm to the students and defile the teaching and learning process. The members of the GAGA gang are destined to be greeted by the Karmic Gods of Retribution** upon their passing from this realm.

     **Karmic Gods of Retribution: Those ethereal beings specifically evolved to construct the 21st level in Dante’s Hell. The 21st level signifies the combination of the 4th (greed), 8th (fraud) and 9th (treachery) levels into one mega level reserved especially for the edudeformers and those, who, knowing the negative consequences of the edudeformers agenda, willing implemented it so as to Go Along to Get Along.
     The Karmic Gods of Retribution also personally escort these poor souls, upon their physical death, to the 21st level unless they enlighten themselves, a la one D. Ravitch, to the evil and harm they have caused so many innocent children, and repent and fight against their former fellow deformers. There the edudeformers and GAGAers will lie down on a floor of smashed and broken ipads and ebooks curled in a fetal position alternately sucking their thumbs to the bones while listening to two words-Educational Excellence-repeated without pause for eternity.

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   • Ellen Lubic says:

     October 3, 2015 at 4:34 pm

     Alice…this is exactly why two years ago, I founded Joining Forces for Education, which is a pro active, loosely amalgamated group of both working and retired educators and community activists. We have a speaker’s bureau and offer our time to educate all groups and individuals, lately including Tea Partyers, churches, AAUW, League of Women Voters, Rotary, etc. to send the message about the disaster of privatizing our public schools.

     We write articles and letters to editors about the dramatic increase in charter schools, parent trigger laws, and all issues surrounding the Billionaire aggressors who are assiduously working toward creating a vast free market investment opportunity and profiteering off of free universal public education.

     We encourage members to attend all public meetings and speak out, including BoE meetings and PTA meetings. It can be grueling, but hopefully there has been progress even in the snakepit of LA and LAUSD. Since our startup, which Diane was kind enough to publish some years ago, we have had contacts from teachers and parents all over the US.

     We are available to help others set up groups mirroring ours.

     joiningforces4ed@aol.com

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   • caplee68 says:

     October 4, 2015 at 10:57 pm

     Speaking out is meaningless. The revolution is to develop a plan for your school, occupy the school and implement it. Those who have followed this blog know what I am saying. And if you want talking points, I will be glad to travel anywhere in the US or beyond to give my thoughts.

     They loved it my 5 years in Colombia

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6. Linda Johnson says:

   October 3, 2015 at 1:11 pm

   Most teachers still have substantial job security so they should continue what they’ve always done: Teach subversively.

   There are 1001 ways for a teacher to pretend to do one thing while doing another. In the meantime, teachers must continue to fight for policies that support healthy learning environments for children. Hopefully, other professionals (pediatricians, psychologists, university professors, etc.) will join us.

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   • Threatened Out West says:

     October 3, 2015 at 2:14 pm

     MOST teachers????? You obviously are not in a “Right to Work” state, where teachers are all at-will employees and can be fired at the drop of a hat, particularly if a teacher ticks off someone powerful.

     And “Right to Work” states are becoming even more numerous.

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     • Linda Johnson says:

       October 3, 2015 at 2:50 pm

       No, I’m not in a “right to work” state and neither are “most teachers.” Look it up. Those who still have job security need to help those who do not.

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     • Ellen Lubic says:

       October 3, 2015 at 4:42 pm

       Linda…in LA, teachers who even answer a parent’s question about opting out of testing get into serious trouble. Many, if most, teachers in LAUSD are mandated to keep their mouths shut.

       This is why Joining Forces for Education and similar groups are vital to let our community understand what is happening and how to fight back. As you know, I am a university public policy prof, and I am continually dismayed at how little my own colleagues know about, or care about, this huge issue of public education and the rapid far-reaching political and Wall Street takeover of our public schools by Broad, the Waltons, and their ilk, has progressed.

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     • retired teacher says:

       October 3, 2015 at 7:17 pm

       Non-educators are largely unaware of the war on public education. It is rarely covered on corporate media, and real educators are only 13% of those discussing education on TV.

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     • Threatened Out West says:

       October 3, 2015 at 8:52 pm

       Yep. In Utah, we have been threatened with revocation of our licenses if we even tell parents that they have a right to opt out. While right is enshrined in state law, few parents know about it. It’s sent out as a “flyer” by the superintendent’s office with a lot of other flyers that go into junk mail and get ignored.

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     • Threatened Out West says:

       October 3, 2015 at 8:54 pm

       And how are you planning on helping those of us in Right to Work states, Linda? I genuinely want to know, because Utah now has a non-educator for a state superintendent and a majority state school board who likes (and often works for or owns) charters.

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   • Lynn DeBay Chen says:

     October 3, 2015 at 3:37 pm

     Unfortunately the “most teachers” you’re speaking of work in non-title one schools. This means that the subversive teaching will only happen for the suburban kids. The sosioeconomically challenged students have a majority of teachers without continuing contracts.

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7. GE2L2R says:

   October 3, 2015 at 1:27 pm

   Whatever happened to teacher’s responsibility to act as a mandated reporter of child abuse? Does it any difference when the perpetrator is local, state or national mandates rather than an individual?

   From https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/manda.pdf

   “Standards for Making a Report
   The circumstances under which a mandatory reporter must make a report vary from State to State. Typically, a report must be made when the reporter, in his or her official capacity, suspects or has reason to believe that a child has been abused or neglected. Another standard frequently used is in situations in which the reporter has knowledge of, or observes a child being subjected to, conditions that would reasonably result in harm to the child. Permissive reporters follow the same standards when electing to make a report.”

   I could not find the circumstances under which the reporting was considered optional.

   What was it that Thoreau wrote of? Is it odd that in this situation, that the civil disobedience required would be government-mandated reporting of abuse caused by that very same branch of government entrusted with the safety of our children?

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8. Duane Swacker says:

   October 3, 2015 at 1:40 pm

   All ethical responsibilities and actions (which means all human interactions) begin with a simple maxim:

   .

   Being faithful to the truths that you have perceived to be correct and without error and falsehood, even if any one of those truths may at some future time will be proven to be flawed and/or inaccurate (one can only know so much at any given time, no one’s knowledge is ever compete), is the only just mode of being.

   As teachers, adherence to which leads to justice must be primal, central, fundamental and paramount. Once a practice has been shown to be based on error, falsehoods and/or causes harm to any student that practice must be modified or discarded at the very least for the student(s) being harmed. Any course of action that belies fidelity to truth is unethical.

   A couple of times before I’ve posted this summation of Andre Comte-Sponville’s thoughts on justice (which cannot be separated/divorced from fidelity to truth) and expedient behavior that contradicts, contravenes justice (unfortunately, too many education policy and practices fall into the realm of gainsaying justice) and I post it now as it very much bears on the issue of ethics in teaching:

   “Should we therefore forgo our self-interest? Of course not. But it [self-interest] must be subordinate to justice, not the other way around. . . . To take advantage of a child’s naivete. . . in order to extract from them something [test scores, personal information] that is contrary to their interests, or intentions, without their knowledge [or consent of parents] or through coercion [state mandated testing], is always and everywhere unjust even if in some places and under certain circumstances it is not illegal. . . . Justice is superior to and more valuable than well-being or efficiency; it cannot be sacrificed to them, not even for the happiness of the greatest number [quoting Rawls]. To what could justice legitimately be sacrificed, since without justice there would be no legitimacy or illegitimacy? And in the name of what, since without justice even humanity, happiness and love could have no absolute value?. . . Without justice, values would be nothing more than [self] interests or motives; they would cease to be values or would become values without worth.”—Comte-Sponville

   And it is that is the buttress and bulwark of justice which in turn is the foundation of ethical behavior.

   Fidelity to truth! Simple. . . and doable but not always easily.

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   • Duane Swacker says:

     October 3, 2015 at 1:47 pm

     Unfortunately, I had typed <<>> with only single >< and the phrase got deleted.

     "Fidelity to truth" is the maxim-insert as a stand alone statement after the : of the first paragraph. And fidelity to truth should be added to the following:

     "As teachers, fidelity to truth which leads. . . "

     and (toward the end)

     "And it is fidelity to truth that is the buttress. . . "

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9. LeftCoastTeacher says:

   October 3, 2015 at 3:03 pm

   As a teacher, I feel a great and grave responsibility to defend my students, their families, my colleagues and myself against all forms of experimentation in Darwinism and Spencerism, 130 or so years of social Darwinism that never will cease. All free market, survival of the fittest policy is the direct antithesis of ethical. If you look up ‘ethical’ in the dictionary, you will not find any references to market shares, market competition, Big Data, merit pay, or charter schools. There will be no photos of CEOs or hedge fund managers. There might, however, be a picture of one of us.

   Therefore, when I teach, when I work, when I live, I encourage people to share, to empathize, to participate, to think and be thoughtful. Sometimes, we the people are great together. When we are low, we the people band together and muddle on through. Helping. Sharing. If you tell me it sounds corny or call me a bleeder, I’ll be calling you names like crypto-fascist. I resist social Darwinism by participating. Democracy requires it. It’s a pleasure to be with you all.

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10. V says:

    October 3, 2015 at 3:22 pm

    I just received a copy of my Professional License from New York State signed by Elia. Along with it came a copy of “New York State Code of Ethics for Educators” It is a “public statement” that defines the “clear expectations and principles to guide practice and inspire professional excellence…[that] can assist in the individual exercise of professional judgement. This code applies to all educators “serving in New York schools in positions requiring a certificate, including classroom teachers, school leaders and pupil personnel service providers.”

    They are each explained in greater detail but here are the six principles:

    1. Educators nurture the intellectual, physical, emotional, social and civic potential of each student.
    2. Educators create, support, and maintain challenging learning environments for all.
    3. Educators commit to their own learning in order to develop their practice.
    4. Educators collaborate with colleagues and other professionals in the interest of student learning.
    5. Educators collaborate with parents and community, building trust and respecting confidentiality.
    6. Educators advance the intellectual and ethical foundation of the learning community.

    I can find no textual evidence to support the contentions of our current state leader who is not bound by this code and insists that educators have no individual voice but must blindly enforce the her dictates.

    I can find textual evidence to support educators continuing to voice their opinions to protect the emotional, intellectual and social well-being of our students, to respond honestly to the parents and communities they serve, and to continue to teach our students and learning community how to exercise their civil rights.

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11. Lloyd Lofthouse says:

    October 3, 2015 at 4:03 pm

    When this happens, every teacher in the country should stage a walk out until the Top apologizes for their actions—-and STOPS what they are doing.

    For me, I’m not a diplomat. I was trained to do what had to be done after the diplomats failed. That’s why I think every public school teacher in this country should have a national walk out day until this high stakes test mentality where greed is good crap stops.

    Of course, Obama could do what Reagan did, fire all the teachers and then hand the schools to the Bill Gates/Walton/Koch/Broad Cabals and admit that he is not the leader of the United States, that the oligarchs are pulling all of Obama’s puppet strings.

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12. Duane Swacker says:

    October 3, 2015 at 7:39 pm

    If I may repeat:

    Any course of action that belies fidelity to truth is unethical.

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    • Ed Detective says:

      October 3, 2015 at 11:01 pm

      “If one acts against what he/she believes, he/she is in the wrong.”

      I see several grey areas.
      1. When a smaller “wrong” action enables a greater “right” action in the future.
      2. When nobody is harmed.

      While I generally agree with the principle, I do not believe ethics is always so clear.

      Please let me know if I misunderstand.

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      • Duane Swacker says:

        October 4, 2015 at 5:47 pm

        EdD,

        I did not write the “If one acts. . . “. So your response to me is a straw man, putting words into my mouth, therefore no need for a response from me. I will respond to another of your later posts, check there.

        And I agree that problems in the ethical realm are not “always so clear” but if one holds the basic principle of “fidelity to truth” one can go a long way to clarifying many, if not most ethical problems.

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      • Ed Detective says:

        October 4, 2015 at 9:27 pm

        Duane, I was attempting to paraphrase. If my interpretation was accurate, then it would not be a strawman.

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13. caplee68 says:

    October 3, 2015 at 11:03 pm

    A great piece! To accomplish this we must take a step that may be risky but in the interest of students. I call on Principals and teachers to develop a school that respects the intelligence and abilities of all kids, that is moral and just.

    The time is now to take action. Every second teaching to the test is selling our soul to the devil. Where is there a Principal that will stand up and not only say we aren’t taking it anymore but will take action. A Principal who will develop a school with whole child assessment driving a whole child curriculum. A Principal that not only recognizes that children are different but one who will change the promotion failure mentality where kids grow at their own best rate where failure is a guideline for success and letter grades no longer exist.

    A system that tells parents on a regular basis what their child has learned and a system that gives more options than passing with a D- or being failed into oblivion. And a system that recognizes that the big test has no impact on kids. Replacing it with a one on one small pre and post test given locally with immediate impact on teaching and learning rather than winning or losing.

    I am free to help someone set up this school that I did back in the 90’s. It is field tested making change real

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14. Ed Detective says:

    October 3, 2015 at 11:04 pm

    Beware of greedy and power-drunk people who claim the high ground of ethics. They do not understand or even think in terms of ethics, and it is more likely an attempt at manipulation.

    The politicians aren’t going to tell us what is ethical. Better decide for ourselves.

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    • Duane Swacker says:

      October 4, 2015 at 6:22 pm

      See below.

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15. Duane Swacker says:

    October 4, 2015 at 6:21 pm

    EdD,

    Following up!

    It appears, when there are discussions of ethics and what constitutes ethical policies and practices, that most folks are not comfortable in discussing them, deferring to supposed “codes of ethics” or looking for some “higher” source for their ethical thinking. The mistake they make is not recognizing the ubiquitous nature of ethical behavior as a very human day to day activity that we all participate in, make use of and attempt to understand.

    Ethics and ethical behavior should not be limited to realm of philosophers, priests, poets and the few other folks who actively attempt to understand the realm better. Ethics are very much the purview of everyday common folks, more so than most realize. Our desire to seek out “authority” in this realm belies, contravenes the very need of all to seek out ethical behavior for it is with ethical behavior that society can exist in a civilized fashion.

    I re-posted my thought about “fidelity to truth” being the basis of ethical behavior because I sense that most deny their own capabilities to cogently discuss such matters. And no, it’s not hubristic to attempt to do so. We all need to more closely examine these educational malpractices with an eye toward “fidelity to truth”, always keeping in mind the ethical nature of our policies and practices.

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    • Ed Detective says:

      October 4, 2015 at 9:33 pm

      I agree. Ethics is simply determining how to best live with ourselves and each other. No religion necessary… all are welcome.

      It is unfortunate though, that when our leaders should perhaps be the most ethical of us, they are often the least ethical. Lots of stuff is backwards.

      People who are consumed by greed simply laugh at us and our talk of ethics. For many of them, there is no such thing. It is good to know this when confronting them and their ideas.

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      • caplee68 says:

        October 4, 2015 at 10:49 pm

        That’s why I say start the revolution in the schools and classroom. Show them the way we can teach. Name calling and screaming at each other is bringing down the profession. Take action and develop a plan for your school to proceed without teach to the test. If teach to the test is unethical, then we only have ourselves to blame because we are the ones doing it.

        The cowardly way out is to kiss up in the classroom by teaching to the test, and then whining, name calling and doing the very things we tell our kids not to do.

        Anyone who does that has no right to talk about ethics when we ourselves aren’t being ethical. We are teaching to the test, we are name calling and finger pointing and we are bringing down our profession.

        I’ll be amazed if this isn’t censored.

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16. Susan Lee Schwartz says:

    October 5, 2015 at 11:58 am

    Re posted the original piece here
    http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Re-Claiming-a-Moral-Profes-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Decision-making_Education_Laws_Moral-Values-151005-249.html#comment565895

    with this comment, which has many links HERE and to important articles oon this subject at the page itself.

    The end of the profession of pedagogy is upon us, as anyone, who experienced the enormous assault on the civil rights of teachers, knows.
    http://www.perdaily.com/2011/01/lausd-et-al-a-national-scandal-of-enormous-proportions-by-susan-lee-schwartz-part-1.html

    Steve Matthews, superintendent of the Novi school district, here
    http://novisuperintendent.blogspot.com/2015/03/how-to-kill-profession.html?spref=tw&m=1
    explains how the education profession has been attacked and demonized, with premeditation. He begins: “So you want to kill a profession. It’s easy.”

    The hidden costsof this destruction is enormous!
    http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/03/30/395322012/the-hidden-costs-of-teacher-turnover

    Go to the Diane Ravitchblog and get the daily feed, to see the ongoing and quick destruction. and put or corruption or privatization or ‘charter school fraud’, IN THE SEARCH FIELD and get the truth about the end of the INSTITUTION of public education

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