Troy University News

November 13, 2003

Contact:
Tom Davis or Andy Ellis : (334) 670-3196; tomdavis@troy.edu

Office of University Relations
253 Adams Administration
Troy, AL 36082
(334) 670-3196
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TSU professors discuss ethics in the classroom

   More than 40 future teachers learned about the ethics of the education profession Wednesday from two faculty members in the Troy State University College of Education.
The occasion was the monthly “Brown Bag” luncheon series where TSU students majoring in education meet with faculty members to present programs that will help the students perform better in the classroom. The meetings are held in the second-floor lounge of the Trojan Center.
    Dr. Jeanne Wright and Dr. Janet McNellis, education faculty members, used role-playing to show students some of the more common ethical dilemmas for teachers and education students, including plagiarism, copyright and student privacy.
    Dr. Wright said many good teachers face ethical dilemmas because “the issues are not always cut-and-dried.”
    For example, one role-playing scenario revolved around the question of whether or not to turn in a fellow student suspected of cheating. The professors asked the students in the room to raise their hands if they would be comfortable turning in a classmate for cheating. Less than one-half of the hands went up.
    “Most of us have no problem with not cheating, but we are uncomfortable letting the instructor know that someone else is cheating,” Dr. Wright said.
    Dr. McNellis said emerging technologies also complicate matters. She pointed out that “everything on the Internet is considered copyrighted material.”
    Both professors stressed to student that teachers have a responsibility to their students and themselves when it comes to ethics. They urged them to take this dual responsibility seriously.
    “As educators, we must hold ourselves to higher ethical standards,” Dr. Wright said. “How are you going to teach children to accept responsibility if you do it (behave unethically)?”
    The monthly Brown Bag series is designed for educators and students majoring in education to meet in an informal setting to share ideas and discuss trends in education, according to Dr. Donna Jacobs, Dean of the College of Education. For more information on the series, call Dr. Jacobs' office at 670-3365.