This situation is not about cheating or plagiarism or even power; instead it reaches to the core problem facing this entire world and that is the loss of basic morality and a loss of the sense of personal worth and honesty among a large part of the human population. This problem has infiltrated the base mindset of people like a virus and has begun to grow and multiply to the level of a pandemic. Because of this situation the answer to the question “What is the morally right action required in this case?” is very ambiguous. This is because, without a base moral guide based upon divine principals, the rational for decisions people make come out of their twisted sense of fairness. Everyone has experienced a different set of circumstances growing up and have also formulated a different base upon which to determine fairness.
In addition to a person’s “base” most people are influenced by both personal desires and wants and also the outside influence of others they feel have a hand in their destiny and the possible achievement of the desires and goals they seek. For example from the point of view of Ms. Pelton and the rest of the teachers the decision to “go easy” on the students is morally unfair and goes against all of the principals they have been trying to teach the students. In addition they feel that they have earned their position in the class room through hard study and work and they don’t want that devalued be allowing the students to get away with such gross and blatant dishonesty. Even some of the students that were involved in this fiasco realize that this was wrong and should be answered for.
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"Which Way Does Your Moral Compass Point?".
On the other hand the School Board President is more of a Politian than he is an educator, and as such his moral compass points in a different direction. He is more concerned about what the parents and public that elected him will think if he supports the position of the teachers as opposed to the educational value of the moral lesson the students would learn from the punishment and consequences of their actions. As the School Board President he sacrificed his moral and ethical standing with the teachers he was supposed to support out of fear of what the parents and voting public would say in the next election.
Ms. Pelton, the teacher in this situation, believed that “if you teach a child what is right when he is young, he will remember it when he gets older”. She knew that if she allowed these students to get away with overt cheating and a disregarding of basic moral standards of right and wrong this would leave a lasting imprint on the students she was charged with teaching principals of hard work and honesty to. Ms. Pelton knew that if she accepted the decision of the Board and just chalked it up to being “over ruled” then she would never be able to hold her head up in a class room and speak about the value of integrity. Because of this belief she knew she had no choice other than to leave her position, not because she was “over ruled” but because she was “under mined” and that was more hurtful than anything else that could happen to a teacher. To know that for political reasons the morally correct decision was pushed to the side was more than any quality teacher should be expected to accept. As a role model to the students and as a parent herself she could not in good conscience allow her name to be associated with supporting such a moral breakdown of the basic principles surrounding the profession of teaching.
The School Board President, Mr. Chris McCord, refused to publically disclose what made him reach the decision that he did but he did make it a point to state that the parent protest had no impact on his decision. The telling of that blatant lie is a key to accurately seeing the serious bend in his moral compass. Like all politian’s his moral principle is that it is “better to keep happy the people that feed you” as opposed to the people you feed. He was looking not at the beneficial lesson the students would learn by supporting the teacher instead he was focused on the voting power of the parents in the next election that could cost him this job. Thinking about his family and his livelihood he chose to sacrifice his moral ethics for the chance at cold hard cash and the prestige of being the School Board President.
As a parent of a student accused of cheating in such a gross and blatant manner I would give 110% support to the teacher Ms. Pelton because every day I put my child in her care and keeping to continue teaching, not only the course work but also the moral principles I try to instill in my child at home. Understanding that sometimes peer pressure can influence the behavior of a child that has been taught right from wrong it is imperative that the child learn at an early formative age that there are serious consequences for not doing what they were taught is right. It is the teacher’s responsibility and the school boards responsibility to provide that support of moral principals in their dealing with my child.
Now as regards the parents of the children that were protesting the decision to the board, you have to ask yourself, what is the direction of their moral compasses and what lessons are they interested in teaching their children? Obviously they are not as concerned with the moral and ethical future of their children as they are with the immediate face saving of their children’s position in the class. They would rather save their children the embarrassment of the consequences of their dishonest actions than allow them to learn the value of being ethical in the face of peer pressure.
