Christin Williams

Education 650

Standard Activity 2.7C

Ethics

For the purposes of this assignment, I met with a group of 8th grade students at East Bank

Middle School to discuss ethical practices in our school and classrooms. Their thoughts and

opinions were completely honest, blunt, and informative. I gained some very valuable insights

from these students as to how they see their peers, teachers, and school as a whole.

Upon the start of our conversation, the students did not know exactly what ethics or

morals were, so I gave them a description and a few vague examples as to not persuade their

opinions. We discussed what they felt “right” versus “wrong” is as well as how situations labeled

as “right” and “wrong” make them feel. Once students understood what it meant ethics meant

and what ethical practices were they began to lead the discussion.

The students were quick to point out negative ethical practices that they see as unethical.

Three of the biggest issues it seems that the students kept coming back to were cheating, taking

other people’s things, and spreading rumors or gossiping. Some of the students in the group (who

were hard-working students) were very angry at the fact that they knew other students would

take their work out of turn-in baskets and either copy it, or erase their names to write their own.

One student said, “It’s just not right. I work my butt off to do good in school and make good

grades so I can play sports. Then these lazy jerks want to just take what I did for themselves and

turn it in. It really ticks me off!” This lead into the topic of taking other people’s things.

Collectively, the students said they do not trust a majority of their classmates when it comes to

their personal belongings. They said that they know that there are certain students who take
things that don’t belong to them, which makes them angry. One student commented, “It doesn’t

matter what it is, even if it’s just a pen, don’t take things that aren’t yours!”

For a majority of the female students in the group, and a few male students, was the

spreading of gossip. The students felt strongly that they are “sick of the drama” at our school. As

in correlation with other conversations and surveys presented to stakeholders within EBMS, they

feel that bullying and harassment are big concerns, which often begin with gossip, then escalate.

Students then brought up the fact that they feel our staff does a great job at having ethical

practices toward students, other staff members, and other people, such as parents, that visit the

building – for the most part. When they said “for the most part” I asked them to elaborate on

what they meant. Students expressed that they feel there are a few teachers that show favoritism

and let certain students get away with things that others would never get away with. They said

this also is the same administration because some students receive lighter punishments for

actions that others are suspended for.

After speaking with and listening to the students, I learned a lot. I would recommend that,

as a school, we work on firstly, incorporating lessons on ethics into our classrooms. It was

unfortunate that these middle school students had never really heard of what ethical practices are.

I do feel that we need to take into consideration the homelives of our students. Much of our

student population live in less than ideal circumstances; this potentially plays a key role in them

not necessarily understanding certain things being “right” or “wrong.” Secondly, I would

definitely recommend that we have a whole-staff meeting to address the issue of inconsistencies

with our reactions to student behaviors. We are not perfect, and there may be days we allow

students to push the boundaries more than others, however we must try our best to remain

consistent with our rules and expectations when it comes to student behavior. Our students
deserve the best and deserve to feel the best when they are at school, so we try to be the best for

them!