Different Educational Ethics Perspectives

Education Ethics The author of this report has been asked to find an article relating to education. Of course, that topic is very widespread and wide-ranging in nature. The author of this report decided to center on ethics in education. Specifically, the article chosen was written by Maughn Gregory. Its title reveals that ethics education should exist and manifest as philosophical practice. There is material drawn from Socratic, critical and contemplative pedagogies. The remainder of this page and the next page will serve as a summary of that article.

While it is indeed possible to engage in navel-gazing and over-thought when it comes to ethics in education, the topic is extremely important…without a doubt. Article Summary The article starts off by quoting the words of John Dewey when he said that moral education is growth from impulsive behavior to what is known as a "reflect morality" (Gregory, 2015).

Further, Dewey said that morality is a realm that is a stage of individual and collective growth in which "interests and concerns that began as impulsive or were learned as conventional have become clarified, revised and operationalized by means of rational inquiry and social intercourse (Gregory, 2015). Dewey goes on to state that young children commonly use and react to words such as naughty, nice, hate, love, anger, lie, punish, hurt, fair and help. Rather than just being mere concepts, they are associated with more deeply-felt feelings and experiences (Gregory, 2015).

Gregory then moves onto the three types of pedagogies that he wishes to identify and speak about. The first one noted is Socratic pedagogy. Gregory notes that this educational movement is "informed by discourse theory." There is a heavy involvement with theory of dialog, critical thinking and informal logic. There is also educational psychology (e.g. social learning theory) and the overall Socratic method. Of course, Socrates was a philosopher.

The raw and real meaning of philosopher is one that pursues (philo) the somatic, emotional, psychological and spiritual insights (Sophia) that enable one to live as a human being (Gregory, 2015). There is then what is known as the critical pedagogy. It begins from the premise that the schools work of socializing kids together is a means of reproducing political and social injustices. However, schools can also be sites for democratic change. There are swaths of critical theory, liberation theology, historical/social/political campaigns and programs of popular education.

Finally, there is a contemplative pedagogy. It is the newest of the three educational movements mentioned in this report. However, some of its roots are modern while some date back to the days of the early Greeks and Romans. There are also swaths of other ancient philosophies such as Hinduism, Buddhism and so forth. This approach aims for stillness in which "deeper thoughts arise" (Gregory, 2015).

Conclusion As noted in the introduction, it is possible to over-think and over-analyze ethics within the educational sphere just like it could happen in any other sphere of life and the life experience. However, it is of the utmost importance to be ethical when it comes to educating the youth of today and tomorrow. It is vital that the ethical standards involved are top-notch and of the highest order. People that teach or lead schools that do not follow proper ethical standards should be corrected or expelled.

Reflection The author of this report can now shift from a strictly evaluative and summary-based view of the research in question and actually reflect and react to some things that the author of the article said. Of course, most children are not going to understand what all these terms mean but that is not the point. In the opinion of the author of this report, the point is how the children learn, whether they learn well and so forth.

Even so, adults have a duty and responsibility to react and behave in an ethical and proper way lest they get caught up in things in indoctrination and transference of views that are best left to parents rather than teachers and administrators. Indeed, children have enough issues learning and retaining even basic civics facts.

The point to be made here is that the article sort of skips over the idea that impulsivity and "doing the right thing" gets a little bastardized and misconstrued when handled and done by the wrong people and that needs to.