The Importance Of Ethics In A Teacher's Career

Education represents success in one’s life—in both their personal and professional life. Educators prepare students for the future. However, in order for students to become successful individuals in the future; the students must come across effective teachers throughout their educational careers. An effective teacher must know what is ethically right and wrong. Therefore, I find it pivotal for future educators to have background knowledge in moral decision-making.

In my future classroom, my goal is to make my students feel comfortable. For instance, students tend to argue that teachers only like certain students in the classroom—pure favoritism. Therefore, it will be important for my students to understand that grades are not given based on how much I like them; it is based on the effort, commitment, and how determined one is to earn the highest grade possible in the course. Nevertheless, being determined is important, especially in one's educational career, such determination will guide a student to a successful college career.

Favoritism gives benefits to some people without a justifiable reason for singling them out; discrimination imposes burdens on people who are no different from those on whom burdens are not imposed. Both favoritism and discrimination are unjust and wrong.

Consider the following scenario: two students in my classroom were caught cheating on a major assessment. Nevertheless, one of the students is my favorite student. Thus, I decided to give that student another chance; however, I gave the other student that cheated a zero for the assessment.

For that reason, a teacher with background knowledge on the study of ethics would argue that my action was morally wrong, and that I should have given both of the students a zero for cheating. Yet, others may argue that certain individuals were raised in an environment where cheating is acceptable—it is a normal thing to do—it is part of their daily life.

Furthermore, in the future, my main goal is to deliver a high-quality education to all of my students. However, in order to deliver such education, I find it crucial for me to inform and make sure that my students understand the difference between what is morally right and wrong. Ethics and morals are often associated with religion, but schools can also provide important lessons in ethical thinking and action. Teaching my students the importance of ethics will allow me to run a positive and successful class environment; where education is taken seriously, especially since it determines one's future.