Education versus Looking after Younger Siblings - Essay Example

Moral dilemma: Education versus looking after younger siblings The dilemma A female adolescent’s parents place a low priority on the value of an education. In fact, they prefer that she care for younger siblings instead of studying or completing a high school education. It is March. The student has told her parents that she has in-school suspension for the rest of the school year in order to have time to study as she dreams of attending college one day. Analysis International laws and conventions regarding human rights and safety consider education as a very important element of human life. Education enables human beings to gain various and unique styles of handling complex life challenges through dynamic, relevant and appropriate decisions. In addition, education also causes people from different backgrounds to interact and socialize. In this way, education works to promote diversity and intrapersonal understanding among human beings. People from different backgrounds meet and socialize in learning institutions where individuals learn socialization skills, which also enhance problem-solving abilities. From the above perspectives, education is an important aspect of human right that everyone should obtain up to the highest level possible. With regard to the moral dilemma scenario above, the girl was right in making the steps she undertook in various ways. To begin with, education is a fundamental part of life that promotes enlightenment of individuals about world issues (Cox & Klinger, 2004). Education brings about exposure and enables understanding of general environmental concepts unknown to uneducated persons. Adequate understanding of various global concepts is important in fostering and enhancing problem solving and decision-making skills of individual learners (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2013). The move by the parents to prevent their daughter from continuing with her education in favor of caring for the younger siblings would hamper the girl from gaining the knowledge about various world concepts. Education is an important tool in enhancing individuals’ and social security. Through education, a person is able to gain sufficient self-awareness and self-concept, which are important in enabling nurturing individuals’ relation with the environment and other people (Ungar, 2011). Denying the girl opportunity to continue with her education would compromise the quality of her self-awareness and understanding. Since it was her life and she might have had the desire to relate positively with the environment, the girl had the right to apply every possible technique to persuade her parents let her continue with education. Concisely, it was justifiable for the girl to deceive her parents to rescue her future life. Even though the girl had the right to education as well as the right to apply any technique possible to convince the parents allow hr go to school, it was wrong to deceive the parents. It is moral responsibility for children to respect their parents by adhering to rules and guidelines set by the formers. Any intention to breach the guidelines without effective consultation with the parents is usually tantamount to social indiscipline. Instead of deceiving the parents, the girl could have engaged the parents into discussions about the importance of her education. In case the parents failed to understand, the girl could have sought the intervention of a carrier counselor or government authorities concerned with education to advice and persuade the parents (Brooks & Good, 2001). Another mistake in deceiving the parent is that the girl could face relationship problems if the parents could discover the lie later. Such occurrence could have the impact of eroding the trust that the parents had on the girl. Moreover, the girl ought to have been sympathetic and empathetic to share in the troubles and challenges that the parents faced in caring for the younger siblings. Instead of plotting the lie, the girl would have agreed to help the parents in working towards improving the family. References Brooks, G. R., & Good, G. E. (2001). The New Handbook of Psychotherapy and Counseling with Men : A Comprehensive Guide to Settings, Problems, and Treatment Approaches. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass. Carr, A. (2000). Family Therapy : Concepts, Process, and Practice. Chichester: Wiley. Cox, W., & Klinger, E. (2004). Handbook of Motivational Counseling : Concepts, Approaches, and Assessment. Chichester, West Sussex, England: J. Wiley. Kail, R. & Cavanaugh, J. (2013). Human Development: A Life-Span View. 6th Ed. Belmont; CA: Cengage Learning. Ungar, M. (2011).Counseling in Challenging Contexts: Working With Individuals and Families Across Clinical and Community Settings. Belmont; CA: Cengage Learning. Read More