Ethical Autobiography
Morality and the corresponding moral norm is the basis of civilization and humanity in general. This is the concept that determines whether a person is in the “right” or in the “wrong”. When morality and moral foundations collapse the society becomes gradually destroyed, people become degraded and immersed in vice. Morality is our inner code of conduct making us behave in a good way towards other people. The issue is that some people have lost their sense of morality and are doing the contrary of “right” and “good.” Moral (see “right”) actions follow a certain spiritual principle of honor, conscience, duty, justice, love and kindness. In fact, morality is the essence of true human dignity (Ferrell et al., 2015). Truly worthy is a man who by all actions demonstrates such behavior evoking respect, approval and love.
The moral man is the one who demonstrates spiritual principles implementing them into his life, embodying in himself under the authority of relevant convictions and personal qualities. Responsibility, honor, honesty, dignity, respect for others, kindness, loyalty, etc. are all highly moral activities (Ferrell et al., 2015). To paraphrase then morality can be defined as the correspondence of concepts, beliefs, values, behavior and all forms of human universal values (good, non-violence, honesty, respect, etc.), And ideally all spiritual laws and cultural heritage. The laws of morality and the best traits of man have always been inherent to culture. This is in fact what distinguishes us from animals – our behavior.
The four examples of ethical behavior most important to me are honesty – always telling the truth; being responsible – means bearing responsibility of all personal actions, deeds and words; treating people fairly – each person is entitled to his or her own opinion and if it does not coincide with mine I will simply try to prove my point of view, however in no way will I mistreat a person simply for the fact that the latter is not supportive of me; being lawful – I am a citizen who follows the word of the law and do not violate it even for my personal good (Ferrell et al., 2015).
Professional/Ethical Hero
My Ethical Hero would always be Mr. Jones my PE teacher at Junior High. A true teacher is always a humanist, focused on the relationship with other people, and teaches his students just that. Mr. Jones was strict and democratic at the same time. Of course, even the best of teachers is but a human being, and can make mistakes, blunder, have regrettable failures, but in any situation he finds a truly human way out. Mr. Jones was fair and sympathetic, never showing arrogance and vindictiveness, more so when he was in the wrong for something he always apologized (Ferrell et al., 2015).
Educational activity is analyzed by those at whom it is directed. Children capture all the nuances of the relationship of teachers towards them, with the other teachers, parents, and so on. Mr. Jones tried to always be in the process of communicating with students making us understand and comprehend the ABC of social relations, when they are formed and fixed basic moral principles (Ferrell et al., 2015). We learned about the adult world through the prism of his views as a teacher, and for many of my then classmates the vision of Mr. Jones became their ideal for life. If a teacher is abusive, arbitrary in dealing with children, offending their dignity, such a person cannot enjoy the prestige and respect from students. They tend to actively resist such a teacher, even when the latter is in the right (Ferrell et al., 2015).
The moral and pedagogical image of the teaching staff is one of the most important pedagogical factors affecting the students, both directly and indirectly, through one or another teacher. Teaching staff is a complex whole, united by common goals of teaching, made up of people, differing in age and experience, tastes and interests, specialties and educational views, moral development and intelligence (Ferrell et al., 2015). And in such a differentiated environment Mr. Jones remained true to himself. Not a single person was able to influence him and change his values. Pedagogical tact, was something Mr. Jones used to realize his teaching morality and pass it onto us.
Pedagogical Tact is moral behavior. Among the main components of pedagogical tact elements are respect for the individual, high standards, the ability to listen to the interlocutor with interest and empathy, poise and composure, businesslike tone in relations, without principled stubbornness, care and sensitivity towards people. Mr. Jones was among the few people who was always ready to listen to the needs of the students. Pedagogical Tact is a sense of ratio in the behavior and actions of teachers, including humanity and respect for the student dignity, justice, self-control and self-control in relationships with children, parents, colleagues at work. The main feature of pedagogical tact is its membership in the moral culture of the teacher's personality (Ferrell et al., 2015). Tact refers to moral regulators and pedagogical process is based on the moral and psychological qualities of the teacher.
- Rigor and respect for the student;
- The ability to see and hear the student, to empathize with him;
- Business tone of communication;
- Attentiveness, responsiveness.
Professional tact also shows through:
- The external appearance of the teacher. Mr. Jones was never seen in a tracksuit outside the Gym. He always either wore a suit or some strict pants and shirt;
- The ability to quickly and correctly assess the situation and at the same time not to jump to conclusions about the behavior and abilities of students.
- The ability to control emotions and not lose self-control in a difficult situation. Mr. Jones is the person with the best self-control ever. It was enough for me to see what the younglings attempted to tell him once about their not being ready for PE simply because they did not want to. Mr. Jones listened to them and explained the importance of PE in such a way that these same kids were the first ones ready the next class (Ferrell et al., 2015).
- Strict attitude towards the students combined with the reasonable demands;
- A good knowledge of the age and individual characteristics of students;
- Demonstrating self-critical assessment of their own work.
Morality of the teacher, moral norms, which guide their professional work and life, their attitude to pedagogical work, to students, colleagues - all this is of paramount importance for the spiritual - moral development and education of students. No educational programs will be effective if the teacher is not always a role model for the students’ moral and civil personal behavior and development (Ferrell et al., 2015).
Ethical Decision-Making Style
In ethical decision making I personally use the flowchart which consists of 6 levels of questions, the positive answer to which enable me to move on to the next level. If the answers to all 6 questions are “Yes” then my actions are most likely to be ethical and not harm anyone in the process. The Green arrows stand for the answer “Yes”, whereas the Red arrows mean “No” (Pic. 1).
Pic. 1. Ethical Decision Making Model
Professional and Ethical Development
Professional ethics is a system of moral principles, norms and rules of conduct taking into account features of professional activity and various situations. Professional ethics should be an integral part of the training of each specialist. The contents of any professional ethics consists of general and private. The general principles of professional ethics is based on universal moral standards, suggest: a) professional solidarity (sometimes degenerates into corporatism); b) a special understanding of duty and honor; c) a particular form of liability, due to the subject and the type of activity.
Private principles are derived from the specific conditions of detention and the specifics of a particular profession and are expressed mainly in the moral codes - the requirements in relation to art. Professional ethics, as a rule, relate only to the types of professional activity, which is present in all sorts of people's dependence on professional activities, i.e. the consequences of these actions or processes have a particular impact on the lives and fates of other people or of humanity. In connection with this distinguished traditional professional ethics, such as the pedagogical, psychological, medical, legal, scientific ethics, and relatively new, or updated which are associated with the increasing role of the "human factor" in this kind of activity or gain influence in society.
In my case, professional development is still required in terms of coping with other people and having enough patience to cope with the behavior of other people. I deem my moral standards high enough not to set other people up; however, I find it hard to cope with the insufficient knowledge and seeming superiority of other people when they demonstrate it.
References
Ferrell, O., Fraedrich, J. & Ferrell, L. (2015). Business ethics: ethical decision-making and cases. Stamford, CT, USA: Cengage Learning.
