Standard 1: Model ethical and moral behavior
EDU 6085 Moral and Theological Issues in Education
Modern day education presents diverse sets of ethical moral behavior. To me, the ideology of ethical and moral behavior itself made a cultural shift. This is because of the cultural community pockets. Therefore, I feel one cannot determine ethical and moral behavior until spending time within a said community. Of course, there are ethical and moral behavior that remain a staple of virtuous behavior. Most Christians as well as non-Christians have adopted the Ten Commandments as acceptable ethical and moral behavior. However, there are additional civil “laws” adopted to protect human rights for all humans. We explored the issues that surround ethical and moral dilemmas in our 6085 Moral and Theological Issues in Education course.
In the three books The Charged Classroom by Judith Pace, Religion in the Classroom by James, et al., and Way of Love by Norman Wirzba, we explored these issues in education. Each book allows the discernment of the existence these issues in the classroom.
Beginning with The Charged Classroom, Judith Pace explains “the charged classroom as “longstanding tensions, increasing demands, and exciting possibilities in American public school classrooms” (pg. 1). It is the conflicts teachers experience from curriculum, personal beliefs, and desired and undesired student outcomes. In my personal classroom, the charged classroom is embedded in the space I create when I teach social studies. The reading/social studies curriculum I teach conflicts with how I feel it should be taught. This is especially true when colonialism is brought up or not brought up within the framework of the reading curriculum. The classroom becomes charged when differences in family values arise from discussion.
The charged classroom also comes in the form of student expectation. Navigating student capabilities “charges” a classroom. One experience I endure is battling the idea of lowering expectations because of student culture. For example, I’ve heard. “They can’t access the learning because it’s too high for the student, so I have to teach it a couple grades lower. They don’t have the help they need at home.” This idea tends to lower the critical thinking bar thus hindering the student’s ability to problem solve. I have a real problem with teachers doing this. To me, we adjust the cognitive demand not the grade level expectations.
Religion in the Classroom presents a different set of moral issues. I believe it lies within the 1st Amendment. There a couple points that are evident in the 1st Amendment centered on the topic of religion. The first point is that law cannot be passed to “respecting” an establishment of a religion. In this, a government cannot direct public funds for religious activities. This begins a long debate on religious practices that occur in schools which is an access point in the Religion in the Classroom by Jennifer Hauver James into the discussion. A classic case is the Christmas tree in schools. In the chapter, a parent wanted to do something other than traditional Christmas activities. Ultimately, the parent was put in place where she experienced being marginalized because of the dominant culture. Her voice was silenced. The question which follows from this situation is if this is a violation of the 1st amendment. I’m certain there are many taxpayers that would argue that it is. That is until we put it up against the Lemon test which is used to “evaluate the lawfulness of government-sanctioned religious activity” (James, J.H, et al., 2015). The second point is the prohibiting of practicing one’s religion. For example, a school cannot prevent a student from missing a day because of the student’s religion. Chapter 4 “The Not-So-Hidden Curriculum of Religion” stood out to me the most because it is so relevant to current issues. On page 24, the author tells a story of her experience and awakening of feeling marginalized in the wake of a Winter-Holiday-Christmas party. So many times, the dominant culture “silences” the voice of different cultures. This practice bleeds into the hearts of our children and prevents them from being open to understanding differences. Just for the sake of being “NORMAL.” I connect so much with this because of the process of assimilation immigrant families undertake to “Be Normal.” The norm is to submit to the dominant culture. This is what we teach. To me, this is not democratic by any stretch. But then again, I believe that to be by design. I know a lot of teachers do this. My point is we need to teach democracy with more intentionality by bringing in these discussions in the classroom.
Lastly, Way of Love by Norman Wirzba, on the surface, helps those who are discerning Christianity. Christianity presented in recent years have caused many Christians to begin questioning their faith. I have seen a secular movement displacing traditional beliefs with an ideology that makes more sense to some people. You don’t have to look any further than our national holidays to see Christian traditions turned into secular practices. Easter is one in which Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Now, the confectionery industry booms and photos with the Easter Bunny populate the stores during the Lenten season. The point I’m making is Norman Wirzba re-interprets Christianity as the true “way of love.” He expresses them in four movements: creation, fall, redemption, and hope. He describes how Jesus showed God’s love through him. Jesus became “The Way” of love. It is through Jesus’s way of living that Wirzba invites us to approach Christianity. Wirzba takes us away from the ideology of Christianity as just a set ancient teachings to a way of life. That life is through love.
In the end, we want to be looking at the laws of treating people with human dignity and respect. To me, this is the point of ethical and moral issues. I think people are lumped together all too much to simplify a civil society. However, it is not that simple. There is diversity. The lumping of people causes implicit biases and micro-aggressions towards others. I see this all the time. Especially with our students of color and immigrant students. As teachers, our focus should be to make curriculum and programs accessible to all students. This is an inequity students face. Zamudio, M. (2011) write, “ students from the lower socioeconomic class were provided an education designed to make them compliant, obey requirements, and take orders-preparing them to be laborers” (pg 97). This is a far too familiar practice. Often times, these practices manifest themselves as covert microaggressions. I have seen many times students of color or immigrant students asked to do janitorial duties which idea is sold to students as a “good thing.” These programs are deemed acceptable. This is far from treating students as humans in my opinion. To me, this is an example of a moral and ethical issue. This is the exact reason cultural responsive education exist. It exist to counter the ethical and moral issues in education. “Culturally responsive teaching has value for majority and minority students, for both similar and different reasons, and that these benefits are direct and indirect, individually and collectively” (Gay, G. 2018).
References
Gay, G. (2018). Culturally responsive teaching : Theory, research, and practice (Third ed., Multicultural education series (New York, N.Y.)). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
James, J. H., Schweber, S., Kunzman, R., Barton, K. C., & Logan, K. (2014). Religion in the classroom: dilemmas for democratic education. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.spu.edu.
Pace, J. L. (2015). The charged classroom: predicaments and possibilities for democratic teaching. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.spu.edu.
Wirzba, N. (2016). Way of love : Recovering the heart of Christianity (First ed.). New York, NY: HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins.
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