Principles and Ethics for College Professors - Term Paper Example

 Principles & Ethics for College Professors Contents Abstract ………………………………………………………………………….…3 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………...…3 Role model to emerging leaders…………………………………………………….4 Leadership for learning, self improvement and knowledge……………………...5 Preserving democratic rights……………………………………………………….6 Safeguard and extension of human rights…………………………………………7 Following ethics, fairness, and justice ……………………………………………..8 Conclusions ………………………………………………………………………….10 References Abstract: The relationship between the professor and the student is a power relationship where all the power is being possessed by the professors as the evaluation process solely depends upon him/her, hence at times, the students can be at the mercy of the professors. The individual autonomy of the professors are sometimes limitless, as they play an important role in determining the topic to be taught in the class, the texts that are to be used in a particular course, the frequency and the nature of the tests and examinations, the policies on supplementary exams. In certain cases these all are being determined by the universities or any other institutional bodies of the university but the professors’ decision are also involved. the paper looks at different ethical codes of conduct and the leadership principles which the college professor’s are expected to incorporate in their day-to-day professional demeanor. Introduction Professors are the members of the university who teaches the students on behalf of the University. Hence as the University has certain rules and regulation the professor also follows certain ethics and principles while imparting education to the students. Teaching is regarded as an art and while teaching certain things are always taken into concerns like the way things are to be taught and what is to be taught. (Markie, 1994, p. 3) There are certain professional responsibilities which are expected from the college teachers. (A statement of principles for college teacher of education, 1954, p. 128) The relationship of the student and teacher is generally cooperative and there are significant sets of power that has been granted to the teachers. And the individual power of the teacher is very obvious in the classroom where the teachers or the professors determine the on goings of the class and evaluate the performance of the students. He has the sole power to do it. The power that has been given to the professors can be utilized to make it “supportive” or “destructive”. (Markie, 1994, p. 6) The ethical professor should be guided by the basic three principles, they are: “demonstration of equity and fairness”, “attention to cheating”, “responsible use of power”. (Klein, 2005, p. 4) Benjamin Bloom (1956) categorized learning activities into three essential parts- cognitive (including mental performance and the quest for knowledge), affective (encourage feelings and passion or generate the right attitude) and psychomotor (physical skills and manual efforts). the effective leadership of the college professor will be reflected in proper management of his duties keeping in line with the taxonomy suggested by Bloom. When power has been bestowed on the professors it is also expected that he/ she uses it in a fair way and hence comes the need of principles and ethics for the college professors. Role model to emerging leaders To strike the correct balance in the relationship between the students and the professors has been always challenging for the professors. The way he or she addresses these challenges shall decide his or her image before the class. In all spheres of the world, “the universally expressed need is for leaders who will rise to meet the challenges that seem to overwhelm many of today’s organizations” (Blackaby & Blackaby, 2001, p.5) the problem is not in a crisis of voluntary leaders but the doubts amongst followers about which leaders to follow or whether a leader can actually carry out his job effectively. The warning of Warren Bennis might be recalled, “At the heart of America is a vacuum into which self-anointed saviors have rushed” (Blackaby & Blackaby, 2001, p.5). However people seek a leader who they can trust. it is important to come up as a role model to the emerging leaders. The important aspect for the professor is to build the right professional relationship with each pupil. The important principle that the professor should follow is to address the student’s need properly and in an appropriate manner. The common practices among the students of giving excuses should be properly addressed and the principles of the professors should be a guiding philosophy for the students. The college professor should ensure that everybody in the class understands the lecture that has been delivered hence he should be guided by the principles of treating all student equally and thereby should not involve himself in discrimination of any kind. The professor should make sure that any speech or lecture delivered by him/her in the class does not encourage racism or distinction of any kind in the class. The professor and student relationship should not be abused thereby leading to unprofessional liaison. The professor must be guided by the idea of making the right use of his/ her power thereby not taking the undue advantage of the power bestowed. (Buller, 2009, pp. 160-170) The idea should lie in presenting an ideal example or role model before the students and the emerging leaders (Thomas, & Bambridge, 2001). Leadership for learning, self improvement and knowledge The American Association of University professors (AAUP) have listed out a set of statements for the professionals in the academia which are acknowledgements and not a set of bindings. These set of statements are essentially the ethical codes for the professionals involved in the teaching professions. The ethical principles of the academic line of work will differ from other professions. The statements say that the professors should be guided by deep passion for the value and dignity of the improvement in knowledge and should acknowledge the particular responsibilities bestowed upon them. The main responsibility of the professors to their students is to look for the truth and cite it as they see it. The professors should dedicate their energies in enhancing and improving their academic skill. They should acknowledge the obligations in judging their discipline critically and thereby extending and passing on their knowledge to the students. The professors should initiate the learning pursuit among its students and should present before them the best academic and standards of ethics (Thomas, & Bambridge, 2001). Developing the right curriculum is also important in this context. One may bring in Christian educational leadership where the educators must decide which content to keep for which group of audience – “An effective Christian education curriculum is balanced” (Daniel & Wade, 1999, p.103). This should be the aim of the educational leaders or college professors while framing the curriculum. Going by the principles of sequence pursued by the Christian educational leadership team, a curriculum development process should include not only the “progression of curriculum topics from one age level to the other, but also to the development within a given level” (Daniel & Wade, 1999, p.103). This way the college professor can benefit by following the ethical principles followed by the Christian educator in order to instill the appropriate knowledge base among students. Preserving democratic rights The college professors should give due respect to the students as an individual and play their role properly as scholarly guides and advisors. The professor should take every logical effort to encourage sincere academic conduct and thereby should ensure that the evaluation of the students reflect their true merit. The confidential character among the professor and the student must be respected. The confidential matter between the student and the professor must be kept within them and it should not be disclosed to anyone else who is not connected to the matter in any way. Maltreatment, harassment and prejudiced treatment of the students must be avoided and the academic freedom of the student must be protected by the professors. The professors should always have the mentality to be effective teachers and scholars. The ethics are not binding on them and do not encroach upon their academic freedom and hence they have the authority to condemn and criticize and seek revision. As the member of their social community they also have the civil rights and duties as other citizens. The professor measures the necessity of these obligations in the context of their own responsibilities and duties towards their subjects, their students, their profession and to their institutions. While speaking and acting as an individual and in private associations they should avoid speaking or acting on the behalf of the institution they work for. The professors possess the specific duty of encouraging conditions for freedom of enquiry among his/her students. (Statement on Professional ethics, 2009; Thomas, & Bambridge, 2001) Safeguard and extension of human rights There are certain responsibilities on the part of the professors and ethics has been laid down regarding this by certain institutions and universities. Preservation of human rights is one of the key ethical areas to be maintained by the educational leader or professor (Thomas, & Bambridge, 2001). The recent instances of students being sexually harassed has made the American Association of University professors list down certain ethical standard and code which are applicable to the professors. Under this code of conduct it has to be made clear that sexual nuisance and attempted sexual pressure are unprofessional which encroaches upon the academic freedom of others. And this responsibility has to be taken by the individual institutions. The Institutions should see to it that the students are not exposed to any kind of exploitation by the professors. Any unprofessional treatment from the professors towards his/her subjects or towards the colleague has to be treated severely by the individual institutions. Any kind of verbal or advances in sexual harassment has to be brought to the council of members who deals with it. No means of abusive speech should be tolerated in and outside of the campus. Again this has to be kept in mind that the initial meeting between the accuser and the grievance officer should be kept secret. The institutes should follow coordinated proceedings in this regard which would ensure the victims to step forward in protesting against it without fearing of anything. Steps have to be taken by the institutes that would ensure prevention of sexual harassment. All the associates of the academic community should stand against the sexual harassment which is a failure in the ethical behavior of the individual involved in it. (Sexual Harassment: Suggested policy and procedures for handling complaints, 1995) Following ethics, fairness, and justice The ethical issues that are associated with the University professors are often neglected due to the fact that college teaching is not documented as a separate profession. in the words of Rebore (2000), “There are three important reasons for educational leaders to incorporate ethical analysis as an ongoing way of thinking: ethics explores important issues that act as a framework for decision making based on core values; ethics utilizes a disciplined way of thinking; and ethics provides a unique kind of response to leadership issues” (p.15). There are number of incidences which has been reported to have breached the basic principles and ethical codes, like coming late in the class, demonstrating vulgarity, discriminating among the students, failure to maintain administrative duties, using of the institution funds in an inappropriate way, plagiarizing and involving oneself in unprofessional relationship with the students, and ignoring one’s duty of imparting education and upholding research. Some studies conducted reveals that the student has rated the unethical behavior of the professors on the basis of their conduct in the class. When students cross the boundary of school and steps in the threshold of the college they come with a certain set of expectations from the authority and the professors as well which does not changes with time. Sixteen behaviors by the professors have been rated to be unethical and against the principle as they indulge in discrimination among the students like ignoring students who involves themselves in cheating and giving grades to the students that does not asses the students’ capability in actual. The unethical behavior of the professors also includes incidences of writing false praises and information about the student’s recommendation of the letter and giving all students the highest grade irrespective of the quality of the work. There are also instances where acts of ridiculing some students and embarrassing someone in the class have been reported. (Klein, 2005, p. 5; Thomas, & Bambridge, 2001) The enhancement of the ethical standards is of an immense importance in the society and the first place to focus will be the educational institutes and the universities which are the foundation of any society. But in the recent times incidents have been reported of the violation of the ethics and principles among the students who largely engage themselves in cheating and plagiarism. Though some professors involve themselves in teaching ethics courses in the colleges but even the general discipline of the professors are not professed as ethical compared to other professions. In a survey conducted in America, nursing has been regarded as the profession with highest ethical values and principles (83 percent) where the ethical ratings for the college teachers or the professors were 59 percent. In a study conducted reveals that the ethical professor will be one who does not ignore cheating among the students and who does not take advantage of their positions and powers. They are also of the opinion that female professors differs from the male professors as they do not want to lower the demand of the course for those who have too much working demand and family responsibility. Studies have also revealed that it is highly unethical to mark someone less as s/he differs from the professors’ view. The presence of sexual relationship between the professors and any undergraduate student is against the ethics. It has been also reported that teaching while in the influence of the alcohol or any illegal drug or cocaine and making conscious sexual comments and signs in the class is also regarded as unethical. Professors’ teachings or any expression should not reveal any racism. (Friedman, Fogel, Freidman, 2005, p. 10) Conclusions Ethical decisions are an important aspect of teaching but even then it becomes difficult for the college professor to acknowledge the same as it is not readily visible. Further when ethics are taken into consideration in higher education institutes they are treated as a negative term. The university professors are confronted with certain ethical issues which are sometimes not clearly addressed in the professional codes of ethics or in the policies of the institutions. Education and ethics goes hand in hand and the need of it in the educational institutions becomes very important and significant for shaping the future of any nation. The professors are ideals for the student and their philosophies and principles are being followed by them, if they indulge themselves in misconduct then that gets transmitted to the students and they learn from it and in return the relationship of mutual respect between the student and the professors gets endangered. Professors should restrict themselves from any kind of misuse of the power that has been given to them to enhance the spirit of knowledge among his/her subjects. Though the universities have come up with processes where the professors are being cautioned and warned about the ethical codes regarding their conduct in the institutions, it is important for the professor to personalize the ethical conduct in their very nature and normal behavioral traits such that no external force is required to generate the same. Only in this case (ethical conduct should be a spontaneous outcome) can the professor emerge as the true leader. References: 1. A statement of principles for college teacher of education, (1954), History of education journal, 5(4), 128-133 2. Blackaby, H. & R. Blackaby. Spiritual Leadership: Moving People on to God's Agenda, B&H Books, 2001 3. Bloom B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc. 4. Buller, J. (2009), The Essential College professor: A Practical guide to an Academic Career, United States, John Wiley and Sons. 5. Daniel, E. A. & J.W. Wade (1999), Foundations for Christian education, College Press 6. Friedman, H. Fogel, J. and L. Friedman, (2005), Students Perceptions of the ethics of Professors, Electronic Journal of business ethics and organization studies, 10(2), retrieved on May 18, 2011 from: http://ejbo.jyu.fi/pdf/ejbo_vol10_no2_pages_10-15.pdf 7. Klein, J, (2005), A collegiate dilemma: The lack of formal training in ethics for professors, Journal of college and character, 6(2), retrieved on May 18, 2011 from: http://journals.naspa.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1417&context=jcc&sei-redir=1#search= 8. Markie, P. (1994), A professor’s duties: ethical issues in college teaching, New York, Rowman & Littlefield. 9. Rebore, R. (2000) The Ethics of educational leadership, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall 10. Statement on professional ethics, (2009), American Association of University Professors, retrieved on May 18, 2011 from: http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/policydocs/contents/statementonprofessionalethics.htm 11. Sexual Harassment: Suggested policy and procedures for handling complaints,(1995), American Association of University professors, retrieved on May 18, 2011 from: http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/policydocs/contents/sexharass.htm 12. Thomas, M.D. & W.L. Bambridge. (2001), School Leadership 101: Understanding the principles of effective leadership leads to better schools, Show Me Education. Read More