- Published: November 21, 2022
- Updated: November 21, 2022
- Level: College Admission
- Language: English
- Downloads: 31
ETHICS IN THE ROOM In a situation where children in my kindergarten were telling a child they could not play with her because she had twomoms, I would immediately recognize several issues. The first issue would be that the girl in question is unique and does indeed have a special vulnerability. This situation would be an exploitation of her vulnerability, because she is being discriminated against by her peers as a result of parental opinions. Any failure to change this situation would be ignoring the fact that she is unique in her family structure and environment. The ethical responsibilities I have to the families of children would call for me to contact all parents involved but chiefly the lesbian mothers in order to let them know what is going on in the classroom and what kind of treatment their child is being exposed to. The family of this child deserves respect due to its individual beliefs and child-rearing values, and should be highly engaged in the solution to their child’s classroom problems. I would ask these parents what their reaction to this behavior of the child’s peers is, and if they have any specific course of action that they would like to take or ask of me. I would be sure to make clear that I am in a position to do everything possible to help them and their child find a solution to this that fits their expectations, and am not coming to them without my own determination to resolve the issue. If they had no special expectations I would furthermore make clear to them that I can be trusted to adhere to the ethical code of keeping mutual trust while completely respecting their families values as well as their child’s individual character. My next course of action would be to speak with the parents of the other children involved, and explain to them that as a teacher I operate by an ethical code of conduct that requires me to have a special, open, and considerate position towards all children in my class. I would express my understanding that they are not held to any special standards as individual families, but also I would ask them politely to read over the NAEYC’s code of conduct in order to understand why I find their children’s shunning of their classmate to be intolerable and adverse to the development of all the children. I would ask them to speak with their children about their classmate, and explain that there is no reason they cannot play with that particular child. This mending of relationships among the children is completely crucial to keeping a productive, friendly, and positive environment in the classroom. I would also let the parents of the discriminating children know that as part of my code of conduct I am required to respect their culture, customs, and beliefs, specifically in this case those that look down upon lesbian pairs of mothers. I would let them know that they are fully entitled to their point of view, but that their child should not act in a discriminatory manner as a result of this because it causes undue conflict in my own area of expertise. I would explain that the require compromise therefore allows them to keep their beliefs, even openly, but to encourage their child to get along with their peer despite the family structure of that peer for the sake of maintaining a good classroom atmosphere. If necessary, I would have all the parents meet, and try to reconcile them, but I believe this would lead to further hostility. Overall, I would act as a mediator and avoid confrontation between the two parties. I would explain to the students that they all are permitted to play with one another under my supervision, and I would inform the parents of the discriminating children that as a final decision, they could withdraw their children from the classroom if they disagreed with the code of ethics that I practices as the teacher of the class.