THE
ETHICS OF TEACHING
ED 169X
INSTRUCTORS:
Eamonn Callan Rob Kunzman
Office: Cubberley 224 Office: Cubberley 30
Tel.: (650) 723-8317 Tel.: (650) 368-2129
e-mail: ecallan@stanford e-mail: kunzman@stanford
Office hours: by
appointment Office
hours: by appointment
The purpose of this course
is to help students to prepare for the ethical problems they will routinely
confront in their professional lives.
Addressing these problems adequately is as important to teaching well as
keeping control in a classroom or maintaining knowledge of subject matter. Much more than unreflective goodwill or
familiarity with a code of professional conduct is needed if teachers are to be
equal to the moral challenges their work will pose. Teachers require moral sensitivities and understanding that will
develop haphazardly – or not at all – without some systematic study in the
applied ethics of teaching. This course
is an opportunity to begin that study.
By the end of the course, students should have a command of the basic
skills of ethical reasoning, a familiarity with the most important ethical
concepts that apply to their work, and an ability to apply these skills and
concepts in the analysis of case studies.
The
course is organized around a set of interlocked ethical themes that impinge on
teachers’ lives. These themes will be explored primarily through the analysis
of case studies. Moral philosophy will
be introduced only to the extent that it can help us to understand more deeply
the morally relevant features of the cases we study. Required readings comprise Kenneth Strike and Jonas Soltis, The Ethics of Teaching, 3nd
ed. (New York: Teachers College Press, 1997), as well as a short reader that
will be available in the University Bookstore.
Information on assignments will be available on the first day of the
class.
Regular
attendance and a willingness to participate in class discussion are
required. Students will be assessed on
the basis of two case-study assignments and two critiques of drafts of other
students’ work. Each assignment must focus on a theme in Units 2, 3, and
4. Students must not submit both
assignments on themes in a single unit.
1. Ethical Responsibility in Teaching (April 9, April 16)
The concept of ethics (or
morality) has be distinguished from custom, law, and self-interest if teachers
are to be clear about what morality requires or permits. But the special moral obligations that
teachers have to their students must also be understood in the particular
context of their professional identity.
Professional ethics, whether in medicine, law, or teaching depend on a
special “fiduciary” relationship between the professional and the specific
category of people for whose sake the profession is constituted. In teaching, the relevant category is the
students a teacher is entrusted to teach.
Ethical theory will be briefly introduced as a resource in helping us to
understand the special character of teachers’ fiduciary obligations to
students.
Required reading: Strike
and Soltis, The Ethics of Teaching, chs. 1 and 2; Kenneth Strike, The Legal and Moral
Responsibilities of Teachers; Onora O’Neill, “A Simplified Account of Kantian
Ethics”
A range of issues
pertaining to the liberty of teachers and students will be the focus of this
unit. Freedom of speech and academic
freedom are fundamental moral principles in democratic societies. They impinge on teachers' lives in
controversies about censorship within schools, the control of hate speech among
students, and the right of teachers (and students) to express morally or
politically unpopular views. The
liberties at issue here are not unlimited, and teachers must be sensitive to
the moral considerations that mark those limits. One critical area where such sensitivity is needed is in
balancing the freedom and authority that teachers claim in order to act on the
basis of their own expert judgment and the demands of students and parents for
a voice in educational decisions that will affect them. The conscientious judgment of students and
their parents may conflict with the professional judgment of teachers on
matters such as placement, retention, discipline and curriculum. What are the proper limits to the teacher's
authority when such conflicts arise?
How can such conflicts be adjudicated in a morally responsible manner?
Required reading: Strike
and Soltis, The Ethics of Teaching,
ch. 3; John Stuart Mill, On Liberty,
ch. 2.
3. Equality
and Difference (May 7, May 14)
The principle that all
human beings are equally entitled to our consideration and respect is
fundamental to ethics. But so too is
the fair accommodation of differences.
How are do we distinguish between the equal and the unequal treatment
that justice requires from one situation to another? Teachers are rightly expected to ensure a learning environment
that is genuinely hospitable to all students, regardless of culture or gender,
and including those who are mentally or physically disabled. How can anyone be fair in responding to
such diverse and conflicting needs?
Furthermore, fairness will sometimes appear to conflict with the ideal
of compassion and also with considerations of efficiency. How should teachers respond to such
conflicts?
Required Reading: Strike
and Soltis, chs. 4 and 5; Elizabeth Chamberlain and Barbara Houston, “School
Sexual Harassment Policies: the Need for Both Justice and Care”; Lawrence Blum,
“Race, Community, and Moral Education”; Naomi Zack, “An Autobiographical View
of Mixed Race and Deracination”;
4. Indoctrination and the Teaching of Values (May 21, June 3)
Teachers are necessarily
engaged in the process of moral education at least to the extent that their
conduct in the school (and outside) sets a moral example. But if teachers exert moral influence on
their students, how is this to be done in an educationally defensible way? Should teachers shy away from discussion of
moral controversies with students? If
teachers engage in discussion, should they disclose their own views to students
or try to remain neutral? How are
teachers to avoid the evil of indoctrination?
Martha Nussbaum,; William
Hare, “Open-Mindedness in Moral Education: Three Contemporary Approaches”;
Cultivating Humanity, ch. 4
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