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Will Snavley
Teaching Ethics
4-22-2014
Patrick Leonard

Using Teaching Positions for Personal Gain.

Ethical teaching is a subject that I hold in high regard, and one that I believe needs to be
safe guarded more closely. Through this discussion I will cover the National Education
Associations Code of ethics, along with how teachers are expected to act, and the conduct that
they must adhere to in accordance to the expectation to these codes, along with bringing to light
how some teachers use their positions for personal gains; also how these violations are ignored
by the school systems to protect their teachers.
The teaching profession is one of moral integrity and high ethical standards. According to
the National Education Association (2008) Code of Ethics of the education profession, and
NEA Representative Assembly. The Teaching profession is looked upon in our society as a
profession of truth, with a devotion to excellence, and the nurture of democratic principles.
Essential to these goals is the protection of freedom to learn and to teach and the guarantee of
equal educational opportunity for all. The educator accepts the responsibility to adhere to the
highest ethical standards. (Kauchak and Eggen 23)
With this in mind, I believe that knowing exactly what those ethical codes are is an
important part of this debate. Principle I is the Commitment to the Student, and states, The

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educator strives to help each student realize his or her potential as a worthy and effective
member of society. The educator therefor works to stimulate the spirit of inquiry, the acquisition
of knowledge and understanding, and the thoughtful formulation of worthy goals. (Kauchak and
Eggen 23)
In fulfillment of this obligation to the student, the educator 1. Shall not unreasonably
retain the student from independent action in the pursuit of learning. 2. Shall not unreasonably
deny the student access to varying points of view. 3. Shall not deliberately suppress or distort
subject matter relevant to the students progress. 4. Shall make reasonable effort to protect the
student from conditions harmful to learning or to health and safety. 5. Shall not intentionally
expose the student to embarrassment or disparagement. 6. Shall not on the basis of race, color,
creed, sexual orientation unfairly: A. Exclude a student from participation in any program. B.
Deny benefits to any student. C. Grant any advantage to any student. 7. Shall not use
professional relationships with students for private advantage. 8. Shall not disclose information
about students obtained in the course of professional service, unless disclosure serves a
compelling professional purpose or is required by law.
Principle II Commitment to the Profession. The education profession is vested by the
public with a trust and responsibility requiring the highest ideas of professional service. In the
belief that the quality of the services of the education profession directly influence the nation and
its citizens, the educator shall exert every effort to raise professional standards, to promote a
climate that encourages the exercise of professional judgment, to achieve conditions which
attract persons worthy of the trust to careers in education, and to assist in preventing the practice
of the profession by unqualified persons. (Kauchak and Eggen 23)

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In fulfillment to the obligations to the profession, the educator- 1. Shall not in an

application for a professional position deliberately make a false statement of fail to disclose a
material of fact related to competency and qualifications. 2. Shall not misrepresent his/her
professional qualifications. 3. Shall not assist entry into the profession of a person known to be
unqualified in respect to character, education, or other relevant attribute. 4. Shall not knowingly
make a false statement concerning the qualification of a candidate for a professional position. 5.
Shall not assist a noneducator in the unauthorized practice of teaching. 6. Shall not disclose the
information about colleagues obtained in the course of professional service unless disclosure
serves a compelling professional purpose or is required by law. 7. Shall not knowingly make a
false or malicious statement about a colleague. 8. Shall not accept any gratuity, gift, or favor that
might impair or appear to influence professional decisions or actions. (Kauchak and Eggen 23)
Now with those fresh in your minds I want to move on to the point of all this. Teachers
who use their positions for personal gain. That personal gain may be many different things, such
as money, revenge, to keep their job, even to protect a friend and fellow co-workers job. There
are other reasons along with motives for a teacher to use their position for personal gain
however, I am going to focus on the ones listed above for this presentation as they are the ones
that best fit the situations that I will discuss.
I want to time travel back to 1980, and tell you a tale that happened to a 10 year old boy.
In 1980 a 10 year old boy that I will refer to as Bones for now. Bones was for the most part a
normal ordinary 10 year old boy he idolized his father he wanted to get good grades, and he
enjoyed school. School was a time when he got to get out of the house and away from his mother
who was very abusive and who would not only throw things at Bones, but would also hit him full

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force, if he was close enough. Bones had an older sister who would when she could step in front
of objects or get in-between the mother and Bones.
Now I tell you this part of the tale so that you may understand the rest of the tale in the
proper light. One day Bones was at school, and his older sister who always kept an eye out for
him had been moved to middle school leaving him by himself in a school full of people who
didnt understand or care to understand what was going on in his home. Bones father was a
teacher and that kind of thing would never be tolerated in a teachers home. Bones was in the
cafeteria trying to eat, and the local bully decided that sitting behind him and flipping his ear
every time he took a bite of his food was the game of the day. This happened while lunch room
attendants and teachers watched on, and as this bully continued his little game Bones got so mad
that he stood up and threw his tray on the tray return line and walked out clinching his fists.
As Bones stood at the bottom of the stairs on the playground clinching his fists trying to
cool down so he wouldnt explode, and then someone touched his shoulder; and that was the last
thing Bones remembers. Witnesss say that Bones turned and assaulted the person who touched
his shoulder caving in her throat and beating her until they could pull him off. Sadly this story is
not done, the mother of the girl he assaulted was a member of the staff at that very same school
and used her position to enact her revenge on Bones for an act that he didnt even know he had
committed.
When Bones returned to school the next year he was told that he was a danger to the
other children and that he would be put on the small part of the playground were he could not be
around his friends and classmates. Bones went to recess that first day and while he was on the
playground he watched as the playground guard disappeared back into the school and 2 boys
walked out the door not 15 seconds afterwards headed straight for Bones. The boys exclaimed

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that they were going to beat Boness ass. At this Bones asked what for? and the boys said you
know what for, and Bones said, No I Dont. the boys responded with we dont care we are
doing it anyways. Bones was beaten by these 2 boys and knocked unconscious when he awoke
he didnt even remember what happened. When his father got there he heard the school nurse tell
his father that Bones had fallen off of the monkey bars and landed on his head. Being a
concerned father Bones was taken to the hospital were the doctors told his father that his memory
would return in time.
Stories like this one, and many others have never hit the air waves or the televisions
because the schools handle it in house. Protecting their teachers and allowing them to get away
with terrible acts against their students. Today we have technology to stop these teachers and
administrators from getting away with acts like the one that I mentioned, and yet they are not
installed in the schools. Had there been cameras, security guards, and at the least attentive lunch
room guards who were less interested in their colleagues tale of how big the fish that got away
was. The truth behind this terrible act would have been revealed, and the revenge may have
never happened. Instead this act was blamed on the child who had no way out. The child who felt
that he was backed into a corner, and as any animal does, he struck.
Using the utilitarian view what these teachers did to the boy could be said to have been
for the greater good of the other students However, Bones had the second highest grades in his
class before his amnesia. After this incident all of his grades went to Fs, and Bones was
summarily passed to middle school to get him out of that school. It had been argued that the use
of Cameras in classrooms could impede the teachers. But is it not the protection of the students
that should be more important? I believe that stricter policies and harsher punishment for

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incidences like this one and others is called for, We as the teachers of our students, are
responsible for their futures and for the way that they view them selfs and society.
According to the NEA Code of Ethics, The Teacher shall make reasonable effort to
protect the student, and in this case and others like it the teachers are not living up to their own
ethics. Teachers who commit these acts should not be given a 1, 2, 3, strikes youre out they
should be given the appropriate punishment for their crime. Just as doctors are given for
malpractice. I beg all future educators to consider all the facts before making harsh decisions.
That could lead to another childs life being forever scared by such an uncaring system that is
more interested in protecting a persons job than the children they are entrusted with.
Inclosing I simply ask for each of you to consider this case for I know for a fact that it is
real. I know for a fact that it happens in our schools today. As Professor Paul Burrus of this very
school has informed me, his own grandson has been a victim of the same school district
protecting their employees over his grandson in a case that just happened earlier this year. I have
covered the National Education Associations Code of ethics, along with how teachers are
expected to act, and the conduct that they must adhere to in accordance to the expectation to
these codes. I have brought to light how some teachers use their positions for personal gains,
also you now see how these violations are ignored by the school systems to protect their
teachers. I want to thank you all for listening today and I hope that you take this story to heart.
My name is William George Snavley Jr. or otherwise known as Bones.