What, in your considered view, is the most serious breach of morality that can be committed by a) a student and b) a faculty member? Why is this the case? Critically evaluate the position of ONE other person using one of the moral theories (Utilitarianism, Deontology, Virtue Ethics, Egoism). Post your essay (and reply) here but NOT as an attachment. It is probably a good idea to compose your essay (and your reply) separately in a word processing program and then copy and paste it here. In any case, make sure the content is typed or pasted directly into the page. Your essay MUST be equivalent to approximately 2 pages in length (500 words). Your essay is due by November 12 at 5:00 p.m. Use the comment function here to post your essay. The reply should be about 1-2 pages in length (250-500 words) and is due by November 16 at 5:00 p.m. Also use the comment function to post your reply.
NOTE: Each essay should have, ideally, no more than two replies and preferably only one. So if you see an essay that has no reply, please consider replying to that one.
I am an egoist, I fall under the ethical egoism theory, and I intend to be selfish at times to get the most out of life as you do only live once. I believe that most individuals fall under this moral theory but are afraid to admit since it would be ethically wrong of them too. I also believe that individuals who major in teaching are more of an egoist then other professions.
A serious breach or morality that can be committed by a student can be to cheat. There are several ways one individual can be unfaithful to a class. To name a few, A student can be preparing for a test the night before and feels overwhelmed with the amount of information and decides that he or she will look on the test of someone else next to them or even go as far as writing the answers on a sheet of paper and using it during the test. Another way a student can cheat is to plagiarize. A student can be assigned a 5-page essay on a certain topic and is limited to the amount of information the student knows by heart. The student decides to have a friend or family write the remaining of the paper for them or even copy and paste someone else’s work off the internet and use it as their own without any credit being given to the original author. Today many students are under stress of having to work, and provide for their family and have personal matters that can be on their mind while in school. Many adults from the past generations may seem not to understand the amount of stress individuals in today’s generations maybe going through. As I like to say “yesterdays stress was not as challenging as today’s”. Stress is like an invisible tumor growing inside your mind and starts to affect the rest of your body if changes are not made to deal with it. This is why many people like to go the easy way out. Some of these ways can be less moral then others, for example, like cheating or lying to someone that you potentially do not want to hurt. What humanity does not realize is that, we find it so easy to make lies and cheats, but the second it happens to us, we are completely shocked and get angry with the individual(s). Why is that? Some teachers do take under consideration that life is very difficult to live in today, with everything that is going on like the recession and having to work, so make an effort to have the class be a little easier and more convenient for students to pass it then others. The ones who tend to lean on making the life of a student even more challenging are the ones who unintentionally persuade the student to cheat. I am trying not to be bias, so I do agree that cheating is an academic integrity. The student who is caught cheating should have consequences to pay for by not following the schools creed. On the other hand, the school should also feel just as guilty for not having a better teacher to help the student avoid the choices of cheating. This leads me to what is a serious breach a teacher can commit, not teaching up to the students standards. I have been a student now for almost 15 years of my life. Several teachers and professors have taught me by this time in my life to conclude that majority of teachers really has the gift to teach then others. Statistically I would say that 1 out of 5 teachers may had choose the profession for the wrong reasons and let the anger they have within them out on their students by making the class for more challenging then it should be. Do not get me wrong I thrive on competitiveness but it is ridiculous if everyone is competing but have no idea how to win. A teacher/professor should understand the many possibilities a student can be going through while in their class and help make life just a little easier by still keeping the class challenging but making it easier for more students to succeed then just a handful.
In my opinion the most serious breach of morality to be committed by a teacher and student would be showing favoritism to a student because he/she is involved on a school sports team. In showing favoritism to a specific student because he/she is involved in school athletics is unfair to the rest of the students in the class. Not having all the attendance and other rules apply to this student while others are penalized has broken the morality of the teacher. In a second level Spanish class at the university level, attendance was counted towards the overall grade in the class. Tests, quizzes, a presentation, and a final were to be taken by every student in the class. These rules were made clear in the syllabus handed out the first day of class. While taking this class one of the students was part of a school sport and was an active player on the team.
In the beginning of the class he/she showed proper documentation of all the days that would be missed by the student and the teacher signed off on these specific days. Each day student signed in and the teacher kept this record for attendance. If more than 2 classes were missed unexcused then points would be decocted from your grade after each additional absence. As the semester went on I noticed that this particular student was absent more often and the teacher never questioned the student when he/she returned. This student was always allowed to make up any missed assignments, tests, quizzes or presentations and was also not docked points for being absent.
Come the end of the semester and finals week, this student is not there to take the final exam which was mandatory. This final was extremely hard and as a student with this teacher was not prepared for this final. The teacher did help us as much she could but because of our slower pace in the class and an unstructured class I did not perform my best on the final. This student which was not present on the final, to the best of my knowledge would have to make it up at a later date.
It turns out that I did become friendly with this student/athlete in this class and found out that he/she was treated above all the other students. Not only did this student miss many classes that were unexcused and did not get docked points but this student was happy with their grade come the final and could opt out of the final. Now as I stated before the final was mandatory and good percentage of our final grade in the class. So for all of the students who had to study for this Spanish final as well as all of their other finals their grade could have suffered from this circumstance. I did not end up with the A in the class but the athlete who I feel got special privileges ended up walking away from the class with an A and never even had to look at the Spanish 2 final which was given to all of the Spanish 2 classes on campus. This teacher allowed this student to be above the rules and there was nothing that any of the other students could do about it.
Dear Stela,
I think that is an Academic Integrity on behalf of the teacher. That is a serious case you can present to the board, if you have legitimate evidence. I would definitely speak to someone in the school, whom you can trust and get their guidance on this.
I agree with you on your bias. I think that it is unfair for a student to be in a class that get special privileges because he or she is on a sports team. I understand that the student on the team may have not enough time to attend class because of practices and ‘games’ but that should be taken under consideration when the student is registering for classes. I think the game or practice the student has to attend is no less important than a student who is not on a sports team but has bigger problems such as barely making enough money to make it to school and is struggling, or a student who is in sickness and can’t make it to school. Another practical reason can be a student who is always in class, taking maybe up to 4-5 a semester and has a job and kids etc, and does not even get a second chance to retake a test that perhaps they got a bad grade on. I would say retaking a test is less of a big deal then not taking a test at all and receiving an A.
In conclusion, I think it is not right for a teacher to favor one student over others in class. Just as a student, like me, who got in trouble for ‘plagiarizing’ and had to attend a seminar, they should have a similar thing for teacher’s who break the school’s creed or conduct.
Moral Damnation (Assignment #2)
The worst thing anyone can do, whether their position is to judge, discriminate and diminish the worth or potential of someone or his or her work. I don’t choose this act because I feel victimized by it. I chose this discussion because I’ve seen way too much of it. Our society as a whole, no longer functions as a cooperative team. Work places and even classrooms now participate in violent figurative blood baths. It’s not uncommon to cut down others to build yourself up. Frankly it’s disgusting, immoral and worthless.
Recently I had an argument with a professor regarding educational philosophy, more specifically reading comprehension and writing assessment. She argued that the two should be completely intertwined, every assignment should teach, assess and demonstrate both reading comprehension and writing ability. I strongly disagreed, that if the student is suffering in one of the two areas, the student is then now failing the entire class because he or she cannot comprehend what he or she is reading. We argued for about thirty minutes before we agreed to disagree. We actually made progress through this interaction. Both my professor and I left with a stronger belief in our own message and more importantly we did so without cutting down the other person’s philosophy. Rather than discarding the other’s idea we each added a different perspective on top of the current topic. The argument successfully exercised higher order thinking strategies.
I could imagine this situation with some of the other professors I’ve had here at the University of Central Florida. Their comments would be similar to, “if you honestly believe this than you have gained nothing from your education and therefore will not make an effective teacher at all. I hope for the sake of your students that you don’t get a job teaching.” The quote is elaborate for a reason, I’ve actually had a professor say this to me, only because I challenged what he was lecturing. In these same classes we are taught about Aristotle and Socrates and to question everything. How are we supposed to expect our students to believe everything out of our mouths? They aren’t learning anything if they just accept everything we dictate, yet, I question or disagree and now I’m the wrench in the cycle?
The whole reason I chose to teach in the first place is to inspire the unseen potential in students, defy the profiling tendency and be that one positive voice, because that’s all it takes to be the change in a student’s life. Just like it only takes one positive voice to inspire the extraordinary potential in a student, it also only takes one voice of doubt to obliterate that same potential.
Our society has become predominantly followers of ethical egoism. Everyone chooses to act on his or her own self-interest.
I agree with you on a lot of your topics. People do seem to cut each other down to gain self satisfaction, or to move to the top. People need to stop thinking about themselves, and start thinking about what’s best for everyone. This in turn will help you become a better person. I think that students need to demonstrate i higher will for argument like you did with your professor. You both argued your points and felt strongly about both. This in turn will maybe affect that teachers stance on the situation a little bit more. I like your point about a teacher teaching on what he or she feels strongly about, and the students will listen. I like your comment about one positive voice to inspire, and one negative voice to obliterate the potential. You seem like you are a very smart person and can go very far as a teacher. I am really glad that we have teachers like yourself that really care about the learning process of our young students. I am a little nervous about our future, but with people like you it makes me feel a little bit more confident for the future. I am a firm believer in teaching both sides of an issue, and going over the pros and cons of each side, this way you are letting the students get to choose which side they think is right. Not having an extreme teacher pushing his or her beliefs on the young mind.
I believe that there are a number of different levels of severity regarding ones breach of morality. Every day, individuals are faced with decisions that interfere with their own basic set of moral principles. In the school setting, however, I believe that there is a fine line between students and teachers with regards to ethical principles. In terms of a teacher’s most severe breach of morality, I would have to bring up the topic of student-teacher relationships. For example, I find that if a faculty member invites a student to his or her house for reasons other than school, than it would fall under the most serious of unethical and immoral acts. Time and time again we here cases on the news about teachers who’ve had sex with students. Just recently, a teacher from my old high school was fired for inviting students to her house party, providing them with alcohol, and allowing them to drive home intoxicated. The student attempted to drive the teacher’s car home before he ran it off the road and into a house. I sometimes perceive those who commit acts like this in a psychological manner and wonder if the teacher might have been suffering from some kind of disorder. Maybe its age, maybe its loneliness, or maybe it’s just the way that some crazy people act. Morally, what makes you think that it is ok to take advantage of your students? I also believe that it is the school’s fault for not thoroughly monitoring all of their faculty staff. Ultimately, this type of breach of morality, in my opinion, is the worst thing that faculty member can commit.
A student, on the other hand, can commit a number of different things that could classify as severe breaches of morality. Personally, I feel that the worst thing a student could do is to somehow provide another student with a copy of a test for a particular course. Let’s face it; we are all guilty to say that we haven’t thought about a situation like this happening to us. It would be the easiest thing in the world to just memorize the answers and get a perfect score on the test. However, ethics and morals tell us otherwise. I find this to be the most severe breach of morality because it doesn’t help anyone out in the end. In fact, both students would be lying to themselves by saying that they actually “passed” the course. The person providing the test would be just as fault as the one memorizing it. I also believe that these cases are the rarest of them all because it is very unlikely for a student to get their hands on the test itself. With this said, whenever a case does come about, then it should be handled with the most severe consequences. I personally believe that any student caught cheating in this manner be undoubtedly suspended from school. Finally, I would make sure that the test be immediately discontinued and updated with new question for future use.
Virtue ethics deal with refraining from things because they are morally wrong in your mind, not because you are afraid of the consequences but because it is your set of ideals and beliefs that govern the way you go about certain actions in order to become a better person. In reading over your article from the viewpoint of a virtue ethicist I agree with your argument. A teacher that was a virtue ethicist would choose not to sleep with a child, not because they would be afraid of getting fired, but because doing so would not be a morally acceptable decision. Not only must a teacher decide if inviting a student to his house is morally and socially acceptable in the first place, which can be argued. However, to make sexual advances to a student and provide them alcohol from the eyes of a virtue ethicist breaches all moral social norms. That person is not achieving good character in the community it is a part of. Instead they are fulfilling their own selfish needs.
As far as students cheating this is also morally wrong from the view of a virtue ethicist. When you choose not to study for a test in hopes of cheating rather through stealing a test or looking at your neighbors answers your are not achieving good character in your community. Not only are you ignoring your inner moral self man, you are being unfair to your fellow students by potentially ruining curves and messing up class averages and rankings. It is more than cheating, you are stealing, being dishonest, and not being a good neighbor. All acts that go against the theory of virtue ethics.
In conclusion, from the view of virtue ethics it is important do what is right not because of what society will think but because it is the morally correct thing to do in your mind. Most people have a great moral compass but sometimes just choose to ignore it. Virtue ethics suggest that you use your moral compass because doing so will not only better yourself but also better the community you are apart of.
I like your argument against consequentialism. I too argued for virtue ethics. It was nice the way you used both a student and a teacher’s perspective and also how you used current real world situations. I would have liked to hear your global application of these thoughts, not just confined to the classroom environment.
I believe that students and professors alike should behave with the utmost moral behavior when in the academic community, and in their personal lives. Students want a degree that has value at the end of their four years of hard work and professors want their position to be looked at with honor and respect. There are times, though, that people in these positions do not care about the moral standards of academia or just make a one time mistake. The most serious breach of morality, in my opinion, that can be committed by a faculty member would be to show unfair favoritism to a particular University of Central Florida student or many students in a class.
When I say favoritism I do not mean that the professor likes the student’s input in class, thinks that a student has the sharpest mind in the class, or enjoys their discussions during office hours. What I do mean is that if a professor gave a student the answers to tests or assignments without giving the same answers to everyone in the class. This would be a serious breach in morality because answers to exams should be kept private for the professors and/or teaching assistant’s eyes only. There are thousands of students that take a professor’s exams and perform their assignments each year, without any outside help from any source. If a student was given the answers to one of those exams from the instructor themselves, I believe there would be a serious problem at hand. What is given to one must then be given to all, in fairness of course.
Now, I am sure that most professors would never do such a thing, but that does not mean it has never happened. Most professors cherish their exams and assignments as they are a reflection of themselves, their knowledge, and their careers. Which I think is how it should be. Although, if a faculty member did do such a thing, in my opinion, I think that is the worst thing academically that they could do. Of course, if a faculty member yelled at or even hit a student that would be worse, but I am only speaking of the academic side of the issue.
If problems like this occur there is no longer any merit to the exam and an unfair advantage to one or many would lead to unfair curves, grades, statistics, etc. People must take pride in their work, pride in themselves, and pride in their actions. Most students cheat on tests because they are young, inexperienced, or just want the easy way out. If a professor were to do something like this, they would loose much respect in the world of academia. People at the University of Central Florida have said that if we do not punish cheaters that our degrees will be looked down upon for having little value. I believe that the same situation would occur if professors were giving students an unfair advantage. Outsiders could then look at the University of Central Florida and state that our degrees have no merit since many of us were just ‘hand fed’ our certifications.
All in all, most of us know the difference between right and wrong and the implications our actions can have on others. No matter if an action is minor or major and is still a breach of morality the action is wrong. A faculty member should know to act only in the highest moral standards. A professor is someone is very educated and respected in their community. I believe that only if they act morally they will be able to keep the high standards they deserve. If more people were given these ethics classes, students and professors/faculty alike, I believe that there would be a greater amount of good spread throughout our campus. If not good, then just at least people doing what is right and fair to all.
Fashion Lover,
I agree about the breach of morality with the answers to the tests. There are many classes with over 1,000 students and if one or a select few students get answers to exam then there is definitely a problem with morality on the professors’ part. It doesn’t even have to happen with a large class, anyone getting or giving information regarding a test is wrong and immoral. When things like this or other breaches of immorality occur students lose respect for their professors. This could even happen with students; I’m sure professors lose respect for students when they breach morality.
I also agree with you about our degree having little value if we let our university not take action on breaching morality on any level. The first thing someone does to someone else is judge them. When people start hearing about a university and that they have found a majority of the students cheating you are stereotyped as a cheater even if you are the most honest, moral, and ethical person.
The idea of being right and wrong is agreeable, but, we have to realize that no other student grew up in our house and people are raised differently. Some kids didn’t have the type of parents most of us had. Most of us grew up with split households and it’s hard for us to teach ethics and morals to some students. What we have acquired through the years came automatic and for others it will take them a while to learn exactly what we mean by those two words.
Dear Fashion Lover,
With regard to your post of the most serious breach of morality would be to show unfair favoritism by a faculty member to a student. I also agree that favoritism does exist within school and teacher/student relationships and that it is extremely unfair and a breach of morality. I also agree that most professors don’t brake this breach and are fair with there students. I believe professors should be held up to a high standard and should be held accountable when they do not uphold to it. I liked how you acknowledged the reasons why students cheat on tests. I did the same thing in my post. I also agree that professors should be given the same consequences as students. Everyone is allowed to make mistakes I don’t think that anyone is perfect. However, I tend to want to think teachers should be held to a higher standard with regard to forgiveness because they are adults and should know better than a young, inexperienced student. I do believe each situation should be looked at and evaluated fairly. I like how you also said most people know the difference between right and wrong. I do think that people even though the know right from wrong just sometimes don’t think of the consequences of there choices. I think that this is something you learn as you grow up. I agree with your statement that no matter if an action is minor or major and is still a breach of morality the action is wrong. I also agree with your statement that a professor is someone is very educated and respected in their community. I think professors are looked up to and respected like doctors and as such they should act accordingly. I loved that you stated “If more people were given these ethics classes, students and professors/faculty alike, I believe that there would be a greater amount of good spread throughout our campus.” I also think this seminar was a great overview of moral orientation and the reasons behind them and it was a great overview that was an eye opener for me and I bet other people as well. I think this seminar should be a requirement or a part of orientation. Great job on your post!
A breach of morality is very serious when it comes to school. A teacher and a student can be at fault; it doesn’t always have to just be a student. A breach of morality for a student would obviously be cheating. Cheating is a very broad word because there are various ways you can be classified as a cheater. Temptation is what kills students. Why would students want to study when they can ask a friend to give them the answers to the test? Most students don’t have the strength to do their own work because it takes too much effort to do the work required. Other reasons are that they are involved in sports and work part-time and full-time jobs along with a high amount of credit hours. That would put a high level of stress on anybody.
I find teachers breach morality on a few levels, but, the one that sticks out to me the most is when a teacher has had a student before and knows they’re a great student and just assumes that they can to do the same they did last time and grade them easier than the new students. There were countless times this happened in my classes in high school. This happened in the honors and scholars classes. We had teachers that we would take in a low level class and then have the same teacher in a higher level class. These teachers performed utilitarianism because we were the most elite in the school. The moral thing to do was to produce the greatest happiness for the greatest number. Providing us with A’s just because we were scholar students doesn’t give all of us happiness. Yes, most people take that for granted and would rather not do anything for a grade, but, earning an “A” would mean a lot more and give someone greater happiness. Favoritism was also a big problem because you can just see the students that the teacher favored. They were either called on all the time or would always get high grades because they had so much extra credit.
There are always two sides to every story. Someone could feel one thing and someone else can feel totally different about the same idea. That’s why there is a fine line with morals and ethics. Some students might not see how something is immoral or unethical and can breach morality simply because their childhood or how they were raised. Some students see things differently and just can’t agree on certain topics. There are always going to be students and teachers that breach morality. Mostly because it doesn’t seem like you’re doing anything wrong when in reality it breaches morality. I feel students are on a tighter eye than professors. Students are looked at as being wrong first in many situations. I realize students are expected to act a certain way, but, so are professors. If you hire a professor to teach a class then you should be able to expect him to act a certain way. The same goes for students, you grant them enrollment in the university therefore you should expect them to act a certain way. Professors and students therefore should be equal under the watchful eyes of the universities.
I would agree with you that most students today are lazy. I happen to also think that the problem is the education system. We teach “a memorize and repeat” mentality when in essence the culture and society in which we live is a study and analyze society. Though I do not think any level of stress is an excuse for cheating. If you have too much on your plate it is because you are overloading yourself with responsibility. Pursue financial aid and do without other things and solely focus on school it that is your true ambition. Though at the same time I do think this should be taken into account if a student does get in trouble as extenuating circumstances.
In terms of the teacher morality I would have to agree with you that favoritism or grading on previous performance can also be very problematic. When a teacher has a baias towards any student whether it is good or bad it can have a profound impact on their grading style. I know it may be difficult for a teacher to not cut a student a break if they were a great student or judge them more harshly if they were a bad student. It is the attempt at academic non favoritism that helps our current system succeed. We need to provide fair and honest grading system regardless of teacher preferences. I think this though leads to my overall point about the teaching style and system in which we use. Memorize and repeat with information becoming more readily accessible to us is and in some cases obsolete. We have to move to a more analytical type of teaching system and turn I believe the grading favoritism would dissipate or perhaps in the worst case scenario increase.
The most serious breach of morality that can be committed by a student in my opinion would have to be the case of student A stealing student B’s work and claiming it for his own. For example if a student had access to a test, file, or project that they were working on together and turned it in. Then having the professor catch the students with the same paper this would cause both students to become reprimanded when only one committed the immoral act to begin with. This causes several problems for both students and there is no true proof of either having the original work or not having the original work. This is an action that occurs most often in group work and projects but I would guess still happens quite frequently with projects and papers. I would consider this a violation of utilitarian moral theory. You as the individual know you did something wrong though you do not have the opportunity to know you would get in trouble. The true test of morality in my opinion would come after the student’s got caught and reprimanded. Would Student A realize the best way to make your true inner self happy and the other student happy would be admitting that the student B did the original work? If this would be the case Student B would then not get in trouble and only student A would. I can see several situations where the students are fiends and student A does admit; though in the most serious of cases when neither knows each other I can see the conundrum. In my opinion the most serious breach of morality committed by a professor would have to be in the case of unfair actions based on like, favoritism, racial or other non academic policies or procedures. For example if a teacher did not like a student for any reason; race, likeness, or any of the above stated reason, and there was an opportunity for a professor to help the student and he did not solely because of these reason. This would be especially wrong if there was a student that had the same problem as the aforementioned students but did receive the required help. This would be especially criminal if the action was a racist action in nature. Those policies and procedures in this world cannot be tolerated and must be made swift examples of. Students who are ever put in that situation must always stand up for their rights. To me this would be a violation deontology. The teacher is not treating the students fairly and correctly based on the situation but on personal developed feelings that can or can not be influenced by proper and improper means. Overall I find these two cases the two most serious breaches of morality that a student or teacher could act on.
I completely agree with you on this one. I was a victim of this specific breach of morality you’re describing so I thought I could add some value with my reply. I was reprimanded, accused, and sanctioned by the office of student conduct for not having authentic work according to my professor. I know what if feels like to be honest student who does their work and a so called friend who is a procrastinator calls you up the hour before the project is due to ask for your help and steals your whole project. By me doing the right thing being the honest UCF student that I am. I help my friend out by showing him the project and before you know it my work was plagiarized and copied word for word. Now I am in violation of the golden rule for sharing my work when in reality I was the originator and author of the project. I agree here about the utilitarian moral theory for this specific violation because it accompanies the breach of morality in the sense that the procrastinating student is so result oriented that he forget to consider the consequences for his actions. If this student who took my paper had any sense of this utilitarianism moral theory then he would have been able to see that this breach of morality would of caused a lot of consequences for the both of us. If I had not worried so much about the results I could of thought more about the consequences. I feel like I am the student who is looked upon as a cheater when in actuality I was just trying to do a good deed. I also agree about the violation of deontology concerning faculty and favoritism by a teacher. Racial preferences or your own specific preferences for favorite students is frowned upon in the academic community and is no way to act for a professional. Your personal preferences should not be biased and you should always treat everyone fairly no matter their race, age or nationality. We were all created equally
The most serious breach of morality in my eyes is when a student blatantly gets caught cheating on an exam. Being involved or associated with cheating is pretty much saying your looking for the easy way out. Cheating in my opinion breaches the Golden role and violates every aspect of what we strive for here at the University of Central Florida. First things first, I will refer to cheating in regards to students committing this act and not faculty. Cheating is uncalled for and is a disgusting trait that encompasses almost every human being whether it involves your workplace or school, almost every one at some point in time was faced with a situation where they contemplated cheating or took a shortcut to achieve a specific result this breach of morality infringes upon the logic sense of doing the right and wrong things in life. The world would be a much better place if cheating and dishonesty were brought to an end but lets be realistic with ourselves this will never happen in our current lifespan. Half of society abuses cheating to leverage himself or herself over another student to exploit their situation. In fact, cheating only hurts the students who worked their behinds off to study for a test or what ever the case may be. Similarly, students who breach this academic protocol and cheat on exams are only hurting themselves in the long run.
I would consider cheating unethical and inappropriate in regards to my moral orientation I believe in. That of which is virtue ethics, I believe that good things should happen to good people. Also, I am a firm believer in karma. Happiness is the ultimate goal in my life. More so, I tend to lean towards an egoist when times get rough. I believe cheaters are the epitome of this ethical egoism theory. At times were faced with important deadlines and have contemplated cheating, this goes for a lot of people . This underlying selfishness is a trait that accompanies most individuals with a considerable ego. Every student considers his or her own self-interest depending on the situation they’re faced with. Depending of your level of self worth one assumes their ego can play a major role in with the moral decisions they’re faced with. A student who procrastinates and has no intentions of completing assignments on time will look for another student to prey off of, one who completed their work. Consequently, the procrastinator 9 out of 10 times makes that irrational decision because this ethical theory of egoism is what cognitively stands in line with your moral abilities. In addition, a majority of students with a high self-interest could negatively create a sense of urgency for them to cheat given an opportunity arises. Every one should be honest and abide by the rules that were set in place and also should achieve the highest level of integrity. Cheating lowers your moral standards, making you incompetent. If your not learning the material that was assigned in class, then you definitely aren’t acquiring the knowledge to become a more intelligent human being. Ultimately, cheating devalues your self-worth. Knowledge is power and cheating only creates a false pretense of your true abilities.
In my opinion the most serious breach of morality by a student would be cheating on a test. Cheating on a test is morally wrong in a number of ways. One, your taking credit for someone else’s hard work and time spent studying by stealing there answers and using them as your own. The person that you cheat off of might have turned down a lot of things that they wanted to do while the person cheating is out doing whatever they want and still getting the same credit on the test. Cheating off of another student can be considered stealing which is obviously morally wrong. Some people might not think it’s stealing right away because the item isn’t tangible but taking someone’s thoughts is also a form of stealing. Another reason I think this is the worst thing you can morally do is because cheating on a test is essentially lying. When you turn in a test your saying this is what I think the answerers are but if you cheat on the test your actually lying because the answers aren’t really what you think the answers are. Another reason I think cheating is wrong is because your punishing all your classmates for your actions. A lot of teachers curve their test based on a class average. If you cheat on the test and get a higher score than you should of your punishing your classmates by not letting them get the curve points their supposed to receive. Cheating on a test is a selfish and inconsiderate act and these are all the reasons I believe cheating on a test is the most serious breach of morality. In my opinion the most serious breach of morality a teacher can do is grading students unfairly based on weather or not they like the students. In the past I have experienced both sides of this particular breach of morality. There have been certain teachers that didn’t favor me for whatever reason and it would reflect in the way they graded my paper, homework, etc. Teachers should never let personal feelings get in the way of the way they teach or grade their students work. When teachers grade a students work based on something other than the quality of there work their being dishonest because their not grading with their true opinion of the work but rather lying about the grade they give the student. I have also been on the other side of the spectrum where a teacher has favored me for whatever reason and it reflected in the way they graded. In one of my classes in high school my basketball coach happened to be my history teacher. At the end of the semester he showed me what my grade should have been then showed me the grade he was giving me was actually higher. I believe this is the most serious breach of morality because he was lying about what my grade was. This was wrong for him to do in other ways because it made me not want to try as hard in the following semester and it wasn’t fair to the other students who had done the same amount or more work than I had.
Breach of morality is an aware choice of an action even knowing the consequences and the evil of it.
In my opinion, the most serious breach of morality that can be committed by a student would be academic dishonesty by plagiarism. It usually happens when a student has an assigned research, projects or similar assignment requiring investigation on past events or thoughts, critical thinking, and analytical skills.
Students can be caught on plagiarism when they fail to acknowledge the source from where they borrow ideas, words, and thoughts. The student is taking advantage over another’s work as your own, to get credit or be evaluated. I believe that a student that is engaged in plagiarism possesses an ethical egoism moral. He does not care about others besides him. He wants what is easier and faster for him. Receiving credits for something that you show as yours but is not is dishonesty.
For honest, hardworking students is frustrating to put effort into an assignment and get a similar grade to someone who gave little or no effort at all. An assignment purpose is to gain knowledge, wisdom and understanding. When you copy another’s work you miss everything that you could gain from the assignment and place yourself on future immoral behavior.
In regards of faculty members, the most serious breach of morality that can be committed by them is mistreatment. It can happen in different forms and can harm student’s learning. Faculty members have power over students whether making recommendation for future studies or employment, evaluating their work, or any other benefits. Faculty/student relationship should be harmless, respectful, and free of intimidation and abuse. Faculty mistreat students when the assign duties as punishment rather than education, give lower grades, poor evaluation for unknown reasons, threats to fail, humiliate specially if it is in public. That is an abuse of power. Faculty members are expected to provide students with support and positive reinforcement not threats and humiliation.
Lpinho
I also agree that one of the most serious breaches of morality that can be committed by a student is plagiarism and that when one borrows ideas from some other source other than their own they must be sure to use proper citations and source. They do posses an ethical egoism because they only pursue their self-interest leaving the community, in this case fellow students, on a second plan. Of course each of us pursue our own happiness but that doesn’t mean we have to be egoist, we can do this by chasing what is better for us but with a commitment to the community in general.
Another point you made that I also agree is that a student who plagiarizes end up getting equivalent grades as a student who did the hard word and did the assignment the way it was supposed to gets all the benefits the instructor expected him/her to get when the assignment was assigned and that in my opinion really pays off.
Regarding faculty members we both had a similar point of view. Mistreatment is a serious breach of morality often committed by instructors who are sometimes biased or judge people based on outward appearance. That has often happed thru my college years and unfortunately it can have a serious affect on ones career and life after college. Instructor and faculty members are expected to make use of virtue ethics for a better community and a more enjoyable school environment. More specifically instructors may use their power to better help and benefit students career paths and as the name says instruct students instead of punish them when something wrong happens.
Morality is something that is very difficult to define; it is basically defined by each person’s perception of what is right or wrong and what the possible outcome of ones action might be. Students are bound by the rules of the university on what its right, wrong, moral, immoral, good and bad conduct, etc.
The most serious breach of morality a student can commit is certainly cheat. Bu cheating I mean everything that is considered as cheating by our culture and academic standards. Specially now because of the vast content available online cheating has never been easier. You can find online pretty much anything that can help you succeed in a class. There’s no excuse for cheating but specialists say that because of the enormous pressure society and the school environment puts on students it has become sort of a race to succeed and to leave competitors behind, this can be proven because a big number of plagiarism cases are regarding copying and pasting content found online and not cheating on the sense of passing out answers between classmates of looking over somebody else’s test trying to sneak answers. It has become more a natural selection than anything else. People are reluctant of helping others because at the end they will be competing on the market place.
In my opinion the most serious breach of morality an instructor can commit is underestimate a student’s intellectual capacity. I have personally witnessed a case where a professor lacked respect for a student whose native language was not English because he could not really explain his point of view. That doesn’t mean the student was not intellectually able to explain his point, it is just that for foreign speakers forgetting their roots and learn a new language in a environment that only the very best succeed and he/she find him/herself in disadvantage already because of the language barrier, makes everything a lot harder.
The topic of breach of morality is so vast that makes it hard to explain just two points out of such a big issue for college students nowadays and will continue to grow as access to online resources increase day by day by all sorts of students.
Casey,
As a believer in deontology I completely agree with what you have to say. On Ms. Stanlick’s website it says “duty requires that we always treat humanity as intrinsically valuable”. Cutting down others to build yourself up is not showing any sense of humanity and I agree with you that it is immoral and worthless. The moral theory of deontology suggests we should always do what’s morally right. I agree with what you have to say about society today and how we no longer function as a cooperative team but rather cutting down others to build ourselves up. If people in today’s society treated each other with more respect and always did the right thing we could all help each other become better without having to cut each other down. I believe that people control what they do and how far they wish to push themselves but if someone isn’t as good as you at something or you think they might be in your way to the top there is never a reason to act immoral by cutting them down or trying to push them out of your way. Instead, if someone is farther along then you they should help you to become as successful as there or if you’re ahead of someone else you should help them to become as successful as you. If everyone had the mentality to do the morally right thing instead of only thinking about themselves the world would be a lot better place today.
I found that the Utilitarianism view fit best for me because I found myself worrying about the consequences of my actions and how the outcomes will affect situations I also find myself worrying if the decision is the right one and how it will affect the people and environment around me. I expect teachers to make right decisions based on the consequences of their actions as well as the student. The teacher student relationship starts at a young age so it’s the job of these teachers to foster that kind of relationship. If a teacher becomes involved socially with a student this will distort or change the students perception about the student teacher relationship and is among the worst things a teacher can do to breach the morality of the student.
I have seen countless stories on the news growing up about teachers being caught for having sexual relationships with their students. This is not a new trend and it’s a very serious situation for the student and the teacher. The student has formed a perception over the years about what the teacher student relationship should be and by becoming involved on a personal level with the student life can distort the view of that relationship. We are counting on teachers to form young minds for the future and give them a sense of what is morally acceptable in the world we live in. This can also have negative psychological affects on the student in the long run. The relationship should be one with respect to a trusted authority figure that the student can learn from and develop rational moral views of what is right and wrong inside and outside the classroom. I have seen the consequences of having a relationship like this in the classroom. During high school a teacher was accused of having a sexual relationship with a student in her class. After the school looked into the situation closer she was let go soon after. I’m sure that this situation had some serious lasting effects on the student. Following the Utilitarianism view in that situation would have led the teacher to put aside his/her self-interest and put the sake of the student first. The decision to break the student teacher relationship caused the teacher make a morally wrong decision and also distorting the students view of that structured relationship. Teachers are given a huge responsibility to form the young minds of today into morally responsible citizens. If you put yourself in the position of the student in this situation it’s hard to imagine how they would feel becoming involved socially with a teacher. The students previous views and perception become distorted and feel that they can be treated different than the other students. This can cause serious issues with the student in future classroom environments where a clear student teacher relationship is needed. The student is there to learn and the teacher is there to teach and there should be a clear line of what is morally right and wrong on both sides.
Stevie Wonder,
I also felt that the Utilitarianism theory most appropriately a lined with my beliefs and views. Life is full of consequences and with every decision I make I am always trying to determine the outcome or consequence. I agree with your thoughts and perceptions on student-teacher relationships. I believe that teachers just like healthcare professionals take an oath to do no harm, but instead to ensure that they are doing what is morally right and acceptable for the individuals who trust and believe in them. I feel that a teacher engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a student is the same as a child sexual predator stealing the innocence from a child.
As a child and an adult I have always admired the work of educators, however the thought of someone that parents, students and the general public hold to higher standards engaging in a relationship with a child no matter what the circumstances are is utterly ridiculous. Teachers are supposed to help provide students with guidance and structure to help mold and shape them into productive individuals of society. I also believe that students who engage in these types of relationships are vulnerable and may be lacking parental guidance and support in their homes. I feel that we need to educate young children and teach them that any type of misconduct by a teacher and/or an authoritative figure that makes them feel uncomfortable is inappropriate. What are your thoughts in regards to why students get involved in these types of relationships?
I forgot to copy paste my last half of the 2 page paper so here it is. For faculty the biggest breach of morality would be lying on your resume to get a job at a university. Many manipulate their resume to seem more qualified than other professors. This form of utilitarianism would explain why teachers are so concerned about there level of perception among their constituents and subordinates. Lying on your resume to obtain a job on the school board is an outrageous breach of morality and should be noted.
I feel as if I would be egoism. I can sometimes be pretty self righteous. This can be a bad or good thing. I believe that most professions that include having power can fall into this personality trait. Cops, I feel are extremely egoisistic they do this job to feel so empowered. Judges and teachers do this lot to. I have done this in many ways. As a boy I was always taught to be competitive because I have always wanted to be at the top of my game in sports. It could either being at the gym and wanting to be the strongest or in school wanting and competition to be at the top in the class, even when it lead me to work on a assignment with my roommate, when this was an apparent violation of the student code of conduct with the university of central Florida. My actions have leaded me to this seminar which I learned a lot of great information with will help me in my future as being a student at this university.
I do feel however on of the biggest crime a student could do at a university would be to physical hurt someone. I mean the definition to me of mortality is being a good human being, and treating others as you would like to be treated. Most people do not like to cause physical harm to one another. As you are probably aware of the bomb threat we had in the parking garages this would also fall into what I am talking about by causing harm to someone. Maybe it’s just me but I just don’t get how a student’s life could be so ruff where he would want to hurt or kill so many other students. This is a really cruel since of mortality. The kids from the Colorado shooting a couple of years ago at columbine. Is a great example of the brutal mortality I am talking about from a student. This example is just down right cruel. Professors on the other hand can be cruel in many ways to. I would think show favoritism to students who are athletes, or who work for them or in some sick way doing sexual favors for them. In my eyes professors shouldn’t just be kicked out of the university for this they should be arrested and put in jail. Even though kids are of age during this time they are still using there powers to seduce the student. Even though this example of what professors do isn’t as close to as bad to what a in my opinion as my example of what the students did, it would still be a terrible act and I think both in my eyes are terrible and would be more action for punishment then just what the school would do.
Dear Mr. All Natural,
I agree that I too fall into the ethical egoistic theory. I often see myself as the one who will benefit first from any situation. I too have deemed it a personal objective to be the best at anything and everything that I put my mind to. I can understand your point of view in terms of people abusing their power such as cops, lawyers, judges, and teachers. Honestly, I feel that a very small majority of those who pursue careers in these particular fields actually do this job just because they’ve always wanted to. I feel that some pursue these jobs because they can achieve some kind of authority that they’ve always yearned for.
As you mentioned, a student’s most immoral act could be to cause harm to another human life. I too can agree with you on this particular issue. Last night, I received the text messages about the suspicious garage incident. This morning, I saw on the front page of the UCF newspaper about an individual getting arrested malicious acts towards others. I can safely say that I despise those who think that they can kill or harm others at will. Ironically enough, it is at this time that I would call upon those egotistic cops, lawyers, and judges to exercise their authority on the convicted individual. Justice should and will be served to those that endanger our way of life.
In terms of the professors most immoral acts, I too agree with what you have mentioned. My previous post highlighted this very issue. Ultimately, it’s sad that professors think they have the right to take advantage of their students. It’s hard to say why professors will engage in actions such as these. What is certain is that these actions cannot go unpunished. In fact, taking advantage of student for sexual favors is a form of violence such as what a student can do to harm someone else’s life. Neither is acceptable, even if you fall under the ethical egoistic theory.
I think that the most serious breach of morality that could be committed by a student would be cheating on an exam. I believe that I fall under the Utilitarianism moral theory in believing that there is a right and wrong way of thinking and that there are consequences in the choices that we all make. There are many different ways to cheat, whether you copied someone else’s work, ordered an exam with all the answers on it, paying someone else to take the test for you or simply made a cheat sheet. No matter which method you used it is considered a breach of morality and there are consequences that follow. This not only hurts you, it also hurts other students in the class and by that person making that decision to cheat it puts them at a disadvantage from their learning. Most of the time students do not realize the consequences because they are either working or too busy to study and think that they are going to get away with it or that the teacher won’t see them do it so there is no way to prove it. Even if the teacher did not see you do it, it is still not the right decision to make because it is not your work. If you did get caught the consequences could be very severe like for example, you could get an F on the exam, an F in the class, or maybe kicked out of the University. There are many reason why it is not the right moral decision to make.
On the other hand, a breach of morality by a teacher I think that the worst situation is a teacher having a sexual relationship with a student. When you feel that the teacher is reaching out to you in a different level other than in the class and I think you know what I mean by that. It seems like more and more we hear about it on the news or in paper. For example, there was a similar situation at the high school I attended where the basketball coach was having an affair with a student . No one new at first until we started seeing signs, like both of them would show up late for practice, then our coach would favor a player over others. Sooner or later someone saw them and reported them to the principle. The end result was he was arrested and went to jail for many years, he lost his family, career, and life. This is morally wrong, I was always taught going through a private school that you do not cheat on your husband or wife, just like it says in the ten commandments. This is one of the main reasons why, growing up my thinking method was always Utilitarianism. I also think that the principal and other staff members did not expect something like this coming from the pastor’s son that is why it continued to happen until someone caught him in action. This is my opinion of the worst situation that a teach could be involved in.
~Sasha
In reference to the moral theory of egoism, I think this theory is one where morality issue are most prominent. Egoism is acting as if you are the only person that matters; you want the best outcome for yourself which usually translates to doing anything to obtain that personal gratification. This sometimes result in participating in actions that you wouldn’t usually consider but due to the benefit it produces for yourself you are inclined to doing everything necessary.
In terms of the most serious breach of morality that a student can do is blatant cheating. Now you say well all cheating is immoral. But no, I think blatant disregard for the rules and procedures is way worse then that guy in the corner with a study guide created by another person. That’s part of college, Networking. The guy in the corner didn’t create the study guide, no. But he still has to put time into studying the material and applying it on the test. Back to the topic, I think the worst thing a student can do it already have the answers to a test. Why? Because most likely that student will not even look at the material and gain no benefit from the class. At least with the study guide issue the he/she still has to retain the core information given in class where as the guy with the answer to a test is not even giving 10% of effort to get a good grade in the class. Julie a hard working single mother with a day-time job is struggling in this very same class but does not have access to the answers for the exam. It just gives an unfair advantage to students when it should be an even playing field.
The worst thing a professor can do is give someone help, leverage, or even a higher grade not based on his/her academic success. Referring back to my earlier paragraph this would give students an unfair shot at a high grade. This is a bad thing for not only the students but also for the professor who if caught has to explain the reason for giving one student credit and not for the rest of the student body in the same class. Then that professor would have to go back into the grade book and rectify the situation by giving credit to everyone with the same issue. Which ultimately questions the credibility of the class and legitimacy that all other grades are fairly assessed? Now in the case of the professor there is no benefit for that professor other than maybe personal satisfaction for helping a student make the grade and move on to the next level. But in reality you may be crippling that student because now they expect the same kind of treatment from the next teacher and could possibly throw the “Nice” teach underneath the bus to a faculty member which isn’t good either.
To me the most serious breach of morality for a student is when the student is dishonest about his/her work and claims work from another student that he/she did not put the time in to complete. A great example of this would be, two students are in a classroom taking an exam and he/she has not properly prepared for the test. He/she knows the student beside them makes good grades on every test/assignment. He/she gets an idea in their head to walk behind the student next to them when he/she goes to turn in their test and then decides to put his/her name on their paper. When he/she walks away the dishonest student write his/her name on the other students test. This to me would be a serious breach of morality because the student that did not prepare for the test is basically lying and stealing work that isn’t theirs. This is an example of virtue ethics because the student who decides to cheat and claim work that isn’t theirs is just doing it off a spurt of the moment idea and he/she has not thought about the school rules on academic dishonesty or the consequences involved if he/she is caught. This is wrong to me because the student who put in the time and effort to study for the test should not have to worry about having his work stolen and claimed by another student.
A serious breach of morality for a faculty member would be, the faculty member changing a grade for a student athlete because he/she plays in a major sport for the school. This is a serious breach of morality to me because the student athlete is being treated different than the other students in the class. If one student can get his/her grade changed then it should be something that every student is eligible for. This would be an example of egoism because the faculty member is giving the student athlete a change of grade because of their own interest. It is in the faculty’s best interest because the faculty member is a fan of the team and he doesn’t want the player to not be eligible to play in the next up coming game.
Dear Theunknown,
I completely agree with everything that you had to say about the most serious breach of morality. I think that a teacher changing a student’s grade because he or she is an athlete is morally wrong. This is not fair for the rest of the students in the class who are working very hard. This is known as “favoritism” and is something that teachers should be forbidden to do. If teachers start changing student’s grades because they do not have time to do the homework, they should not continue to play the sport. I believe that school comes before athletics, and if you can’t make time for your schoolwork then you shouldn’t be playing a sport. I also have the same opinion that Theunknown has by believe that this would be a perfect example of egoism. I think that this would make the teacher very selfish and self-centered. Also, the student is not getting the real grade that they deserve. I think that it is important to give students the grades they earn. If not then the students will feel as though they don’t have to try as hard. In addition, I also agree that a very serious breach of morality for a student is being dishonest about his or her schoolwork. Not only are you cheating to your teacher, but you are also cheating yourself. You are lying to yourself because you are too lazy to actually do the work. It is not fair for the student who is being cheated from.
Theunknown,
I totally agree with you on the most serious breach of morality for students. Taking credit over another’s work besides of UNFAIR is unethical. I get pissed when I put an effort on doing something to get the best outcome possible, and someone wants to take advantage on me. I understand that some students says that they didn’t have time to study, or they studied the wrong content for the exam, or they forget about the date. But all these excuses are not acceptable. It is laziness and lack of responsibility. Even if the student didn’t studied for the test or whatever excuses he gave to cheat, he should do his own work and get the grade that he deserves. If he is caught cheating, he must get penalty for it. I’m pretty sure that he would be at least afraid of cheat again!!!
In regards of the faculty I do not think that it is the most serious but I do think that it is VERY unethical. Being an athlete student does not mean that you are better than others students. So why you would get better grades because of it?! There is no reasonable answer for it!! Faculty should not be allowed to do it. If one can have your grade changed, everyone must have the same right.
I believe morality can be breached on a number of different levels. While the act that crosses the line between ethical vs. unethical may vary between student and teacher, each individual’s morality is affected by the consequences. As far as a student goes, the breach of morality can range from something as small as skipping class to plagiarism. But what I feel is the most serious breach of morality a student can commit, is the physical harm of another student. This could be in the form of rape, verbal assault, or battery. To be honest I feel this particular act is one of the most serious blows to any individual’s morality. Today’s society has lost the since of companionship and brotherhood at universities. UCF is supposed to act as a family in a since, and now all you hear on the news is joggers getting brutally raped and harmed; students being drugged at bars. Maybe universities have become too large and public for these acts to be controlled, but it is sad when students and young professionals have to worry about their safety on campus and the surrounding community. For a faculty member the most serious breach of morality is quite obvious to me, and as I have read on some of the blogs many students are in congruence with me on this issue. To cross that line between professor or faculty member and student is the highest severity of an unethical act; to be more specific, to have a sexual relationship with another student. Many may argue that if the student is 18 years of age then it is not illegal and therefore ethical and not a breach of morality. But as we have learned in numerous classes, such as Business Law, an act can be legal and still unethical. A romantic relationship could affect many aspects of the UCF creed. What if the student benefits by receiving an “A” even when that student doesn’t do the work required in the class. Well that act affects an aspect of the UCF creed, Scholarship, doesn’t it? It’s a line that should never be crossed, and too many times has it been. I am losing faith in the integrity and confidentiality of the student-faculty member relationship.
The next idea that I would like to talk about is morality and ethics of Egoism in today’s politicians. I’ll begin with a comparison of history’s most acclaimed leaders, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. While yes they wanted to win over the voters, these two men wanted to make a difference and they proved it to the United States through their actions in the United States darkest times. Today’s politicians will say and do anything just for that extra vote. Yes, the object is to win, but do you really have to sacrifice the integrity of what the United States stands for? I am not big into politics, but this is a major reason why. I can not vote for people who truly do not have my best interest at heart. It is all bout self-interest and power for today’s politicians. How are their words going to benefit themselves and only themselves?
In reference to your breach of morality a student can commit, I believe that this takes into play with virtue and the ethics of character. I fully agree with the fact that students are scared for their safety in a place where we should be a cohesive community. On Tuesday night on campus there was a “bomb threat” in classroom 1 building on campus and two of the parking garages were closed. Along with the student-student physical, sexual and verbal violence occurring on and off campus, the student-teacher verbal abuse, this “community” is far from safe for teachers and students alike.
In the virtue and character ethics it states that if a person has a lack of awareness of their own negative actions (jumping, abusing or hurting) on someone else they feel nothing and no regret. I feel that people who are capable of physical harm to their fellow “brother” do not feel remorse for what they have done. Also in this theory of ethics, a person who lacks the ability to be happy for classmates excelling in their class leads to competition. In some majors on this campus students are very cut throat and can never be happy for a fellow classmate when they are not doing as well this can sometimes snowball into hate and lead to violence in a more extreme case. In the incident discussed about the jogger who was raped in the UCF area this would fall under “akrasia” meaning not able to withhold from your sexual or harmful desires.
People battling with character ethics have either an excess or deficiency of something. In the example with the student not being happy for a fellow classmate receiving a good grade this person would have a deficit in their academics. In order to achieve strength in virtue a person must find a middle ground for their excesses and deficiencies. These people battling their virtue can also have a problem with being overly courageous. In the virtue ethics it states that people with too much courage seek out adrenaline and can cause them to be overly aggressive causing physical or verbal assault to a student or teacher. These daring people also don’t have a realistic grasp on the consequences related to their actions or the consequences are just not an issue.
Yes i agree with your post. You shared a lot of my similiar opinions on the matter. As we both have talked about, in our discussions is a breach on morality. Sexual assaulting or committing harm to someone is unethical in every way. When student want to cause physical harm to another individual they should punished more than what the university can offer. They should have to deal with authorities in higher level such as the police. Police know how to deal with all of these types of people. As we are all aware of the Casey Anthony story, this is in mind is a perfect example of what I am talking about. On the other hand when we discuss what in our minds professors worst act of morality is, dealing with young women in a inapporpriate way. These ways can deal from a sexual come on to a relationship with the student. We all know we have seen the movies, but it has become more and more evident in these larger university’s. These professors that act in these ways clearly have an percussive style of acting towards these girls. This i do believe is legal but completely unethical. Students and teachers who act in this way should be expelled and fired.
Essay Topic Question
What, in your considered view, is the most serious breach of morality that can be committed by a) a student and b) a faculty member? Why is this case?
After reviewing each theory I discovered that the theory that most represented me as a person and/or an individual was the Utilitarian Moral Theory. My morals and values helps guide the manner in which I conduct myself and my life. Utilitarian’s believe that what matters in life is what you do as an individual to produce the greatest good for yourself while still maintaining respect for others. The act of utilitarianism states that “we should look at the consequences of each individual action in attempts to determine its moral worth (Hinman, 2003, pg. 143).” Personally I believe that everything you do has a consequence and without consequences where would we be. I definitely feel that the world would be chaotic and a lot less meaningful place if everyone had the ability to do whatever they wanted without regard for anyone else. The principle of Utilitarism centers life around creating pleasure and happiness. In my own words I translate this into working hard to achieve my goals, which in return rewards me with the greatest happiness.
Based on my personal believes the most serious breach of morality that can be committed by a student is cheating their way through school. What I mean by this is when students go through their whole academic programs cheating on exams, homework assignments, term papers, etc. I personally have come across many individuals in my life time who have always gotten by from cheating. They have never completed an assignment in school without cheating whether by getting the answers from other people, copying other people’s papers and/or buying term papers. I feel that this is the most serious breach of morality because the person who they are hurting is themselves. They are cheating themselves out of an education which could be very vital to their success. If you depend on others to always carry you in life what happens when you are in a situation in your professional career when the person is faced with a challenge or ethical situation; what will they do, say or handle the situation.
From a student’s perspective, the most serious breach of morality that can be committed by a teacher is passing a student who did not earn a passing grade. Many times I think that we as humans do things without consciously thinking about it. On several occasions I have heard fellow students state that the teacher passed them because they did not want to have them in their class another year and/or because they did not want to deal with them. I feel that this is very inappropriate because such as action does not give the student a chance to excel to his/her full potential. Students in the category are being given a free ride without working as hard as other which is not fair. As individuals and professionals we are all held to a certain ethical and moral standards which are important to follow in order to accomplish the greatest good for all.
Reference:
Hinman, L. M. (2003). Ethics: A pluralistic approach to moral theory. 3rd Ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. (Chapter 5: The ethical consequences: Utilitarianism)
Giving Grades (Assignment 2)
“Teacher’s pet.” “The Favorite.” We’ve all heard these sayings before and there are some teachers and professors that have students that live up to the definitions. I think, ethically, the worst thing a teacher can do is to give away a grade. To take part in this injustice makes a bad name for the instructor, doesn’t allow the student involved to grow, and is just completely unfair to the rest of the students in the classroom. It also plays a major part in what kind of character the teacher and student have.
Virtue ethics by Aristotle says we need to achieve happiness, but we also need to take into account the character we build within the community (Hinman). What kind of character does a professor build when he gives away grades to the students he likes best; for himself or the student involved? Students may hear through the grapevine that all you have to do to pass the class is be the instructor’s best friend. We can even question a professor who may give bad grades. My question, in turn, is why even teach? What are you teaching a student whom only has to suck-up to pass? Are they learning anything about the topic being taught? Each teacher may have a different reasoning for teaching, but each one should involve students growing and progressing throughout their year spent with the teacher. Students aren’t given the opportunity to learn and accomplish, none the less progress.
Students may love the fact that they can write a paper in about 20 minutes, turn it in, and then in order to get an ‘A’ bring the professor a hot cup of coffee before class the day the paper is due. The truth, of the matter is what is the student really learning from this? They can’t possibly think they are really earning an ‘A’ when they aren’t doing work to the best of their capabilities. They learn to be nice, and do the least amount possible, which builds a character not fit for work ethics. Hinman states, “Ultimately, moral education, aims at forming rightly-ordered desires, that is, teaching people to desire what is genuinely good for them.” A professor who lets a student pass their class because they like them is committing a grave injustice to that student who will desire what’s good for them, but will go about the wrong ways of trying to achieve it. When going out into their workforce, they will try to achieve a promotion or special job in all the wrong ways, and hopefully aren’t put at a disadvantage from not obtaining useful information from the class they so easily breezed through.
What about those students who spend endless hours on projects and assignments? What is a given grade teaching them? These students see others making it by just because the teacher likes them and then these students are willing to do the same just to be in the same situation. Pretty soon a professor has an entire classroom full of kids whom are his friends and just giving them all good grades. What’s the point of even teaching? Why not just turn everyday into a social event? What kind of character do these kids develop once out of the classroom? Because while some teachers may give grades, others force students to earn grades and these students are put at a disadvantage in these classrooms.
In conclusion, a given grade does not benefit anyone involved. Not only does it not teach one good work ethics, but it doesn’t allow these students to develop good character. They won’t learn what’s best for them when working for their achievements. I honestly believe there is nothing worse a teacher can do than to give a grade.
I feel that students should not want a teacher to give them a grade. The student should want to work hard for their grade. If students let the teachers give them a grade because it will not help them to succeed. It does not help the student to learn it only give the students a way out. This will not help the students to become prepared for the real world. I believe that it is morally wrong for a teacher to give a student a grade. The student should not allow the teacher to give them any grade. Once the teacher gives a student a grade the teacher may want something in return. I would want to work hard for my grade because I will know that I earned the grade. I will benefit the most by earning my grade. The reason that I would want to earn the grade is because I can apply the material learned to the real world. I could also use the information in other classes. The information could be a great learning experience. It like you missed out on information that you could have taken the chance to learn. Learning is important and students have to take it more seriously. The professor already has their degree and took the time to learn the material. The students have a time to learn and take charge of their behavior. I want to enjoy my learning experience. Learning is a great way to becoming successful. The more time students take out to study and learn the least likely they are to develop Alzheimer’s. A student can increase their brain cells by learning. I feel that you have a great point about the teacher giving certain students grades. It is not right that other students have to work hard for their grade. The student given the grade gets off easy but in the long run will regret it. Once the student realizes that they should have study it will be too late. I want to work hard in every area in my life. I do not want anyone saying that they gave me anything.
Nicole Smith (assignment number 2)
What, in your considered view, is the most serious breach of morality that can be committed by a) a student and b) a faculty member? Why is this the case?
I would have to say that I fall in the Great Happiness category. I believe that it is important to do the right thing for yourself. I would have to admit that I am one of the happiest people out of all of my friends. I am always motivating, encouraging, and always in a great mood. I believe that, “The morally right and good thing to do is to produce the greatest happiness for the greatest number.” Although I am not a vegetarian, I still believe in great happiness within myself. I am a very caring person. I love to help others, and my friends and family mean everything in the entire world to me. I think that I have been living my life to the fullest extent that I can. Wherever I go I always walk around with a smile on my face. I think that I am a hardworking person, and if I am determined to take on a task I will achieve it.
I believe that the most serious breach morality or the worst thing that any student can do is lie. Ever since I was a little child I have been taught that the worst thing any person can do is lie. When you lie not only do your friends and family loose respect for you, your elders loose respect for you as well. Each time you lie you dig yourself a deeper and deeper hole. You have to keep making up new lies, to cover the lies that you have already told. Eventually, you end up telling the lie you made to begin with, because it’s usually to hard to hold it in. Usually after the lie get out, it is hard for anyone to trust you. Typically your friends don’t believe you, and it takes awhile to gain back trust from your friends and family. In the end, it is never worth the lie.
I think that the most serious breach of morality that is committed by a faculty member is not respecting the student’s difficulties and needs. Most of the classes in college are very large and every student is on different levels. I have always had trouble with test taking. Throughout my life, I have always been the last one to in my classes to complete tests. Most subjects in school come a lot more difficult to me then my other peers. It is very frustrating to me that I spend several hours studying for a test when my classmate can just study for an hour and get a better grade on the test than me. I think that teachers should be aware that students have many types of disabilities, and be patient when they have those students in there class. This is what I believe is the most serious breach of morality.
Nicole Smith
I could not agree with more with everything you said in your essay. I can definitely agree that a student lying and a professor not taking into account each student and their different needs are serious breaches of morality. I think they also fall into the category of virtue ethics as well as the happiness for the greatest number of people.
If you think about it; what kind of character does a professor have that doesn’t care about each one of their students? A professor should want to help everyone progress. This somewhat goes back to what I was saying about professors having favorites; they shouldn’t pick and choose who they help; they should help everyone, no matter how difficult.
I also, couldn’t agree more with what you said about a student lying. You’re right when you say their family and elders look down on them, it’s because they are creating a bad character for themselves. A lie is just a downward spiral. You either forget the story you’re telling or you start to believe the lie you made up in the first place. I think that most people just get more upset when they found out someone lied, than if they had told them the truth in the first place.
After reading this I could see how my values can also somewhat fall into the happiness for the greatest number of people category. I think in order to make everyone happy it takes a good character to do so.
Morality is defined as concern with the distinction between good and evil or right and wrong. Morality is something that is learned innately and is also shaped by a particular individual’s societal structure. The university system has long been perceived as a symbol of moral righteousness. However, everyone that attends this institution does not always follow it morals codes. Morality breaches occur daily, some small and some large. Some breaches carry great consequences and some come with little to no consequences, however both are equally as wrong. Serious breaches of morality often adversely affect the person and others around them so greatly that when caught the consequences must be great enough to deter the behavior from happening again. The university system is comprised of both students and faculty members, both of which are capable of serious morality breaches.
College students have long been perceived as individuals who lack moral fiber, so it is no surprise that they are capable of serious breaches of moral code. In my opinion the most serious breach of moral code for a student is plagiarism. Plagiarism is defined as the use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work. When students plagiarize they take advantage of the sweat and hard work of others. Under most circumstances it takes a few minutes to plagiarize another person’s work, but hours to mold and create your own thoughts about a topic or a piece of literature. When students plagiarize not only are they being unfair to those that have presented the same information in the past honestly, they are also hindering their ability to learn and grow as a student and as a person. Assignments are given for a purpose, although it may seem trivial at the time there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.
Although breaches of moral code are surprising when performed by faculty members of a university system they are not unheard of. All members of a certain society have rules that they must abide by and when those rules are broken there moral behavior is questioned. I believe the most serious breach of moral code that a teacher can partake in is a student/teacher relationship. It is not the love of two individuals that is morally wrong but the favoritism that can come from this relationship. There are a lot of ethical questions that are raised when this happens. Like is that person exempt from exams, tests and assignments? I have heard many rumors of such things which can cause a drastic change in class rankings and class averages. Not only are you being unfair to the students in that particular class you are being unfair to all the students in a certain degree program where scholarships are often given out based on GPA percentile rank. It is the responsibility of the professor to be fair to all students and accurately present grades based on the skill level of individual students coursework and not other extracurricular activities.
No one is exempt from the laws of moral code when making a decision it is important to be fair to yourself but also be fair to others around you. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Eliot Jerome,
I agree that plagiarism is the biggest breach of morality a student can commit. Copying someone word for word or just submitting someone else’s paper seems so easy to the person who is doing it. It is absolutely the easiest way out a student can take. Many times a person does not even know that their work has plagiarized. Most often, a paper or assignment is stolen from the internet. It is a shame that in our high tech world we live in everything around us makes it so much easier to cheat. We can all call, text, e-mail, or video chat our answers or work to each other.
Most often, people say that plagiarizing is a breach of morality for both the person committing the act and for the person letting it happen. It is not right for a person to disregard the hard work they put into an assignment, but in the end it was their decision to give up their hard earned grade so easily. It does take only a second to copy someone’s work which is only a small fraction of the actual amount of time it took the original author to complete. Just stamping your own name on something should be punished when caught or else no one will learn from this unfortunate circumstance.
It is very true that plagiarizing ruins what a person gets out of an assignment. The student could have learned something very pertinent for their future, but instead, took the easy way out. To have honor for yourself and your work it is always important to collect your own thoughts and ideas and portray them in the most honest way possible.
The most serious breach of morality for a student and faculty member would be to allow a student to cheat on an exam. The faculty member would allow a student to cheat and not report it to the Office of student Conduct. A faculty should feel that it is in the best interest of the student to report any misconduct. Cheating on exam will not help the student to become successful. It will only hinder the student in completing his or her degree. The faculty should report it because if he or she allows it to continue the student could become use to cheating. The student may just feel that he or she is doing the right thing and they may not even realize what they are doing is wrong. How can a student learn how to do the right thing if they were never taught? The student could feel that for them to receive a good grade cheating is the only way. Every student is different they believe in different ways. Some students may take things more serious then others. Other may feel that if they do one thing that is wrong they could be punished. It depends on how some students were raised or believe as an adult on whether they choose to do the right thing. If a student Christian the morals this individual student has should be different. This student should believe that cheating is wrong. Cheating could send this particular student to hell. This student should always want to do the right thing. They should also want to be a high achiever. They should want to work hard to maintain their GPA. Nothing should be able to stand in their way. They should believe that studying, putting in hard work, and with Gods help that they can make an excellent grade on their test. A Christian should have faith and believe that they can do anything with the help of God. If a student put forth the time to study then they should not have to cheat. A student should spend the time that is needed to completely know the information. If they study and still do not know the information on the test then ask the professor for help. The professor should be willing to help a student that what to receive a good grade on an exam. The student should try other ways to study. The student should find out what is the best way to study for any professor exam. A student should be willing to learn new study habits. A faculty that chooses to report the cheating is not wrong because it could help the student in the long run. The faculty is look out for what is in the best interest of the student. They want student succeed by learning and using the information learned in everyday life. If students cheat they have not learned the information and are unsuccessful in everyday life. The key to success is do not cheat use the brain that God gave all of us.
New Girl,
I’m completely in agreement with you that one of the worst things a teacher of faculty member can do is aid or help a student by cheating. What kind of example would that be setting or portray if a faculty member is helping a student by cheating his/her way through college. Once that person enters the real world and realizes that they know nothing their education is just something on a piece of paper that says they passed some classes and yet you learned nothing. A student that attends a university like UCF should take pride in their work and be proud that they have worked hard to get there. I know if I cheated my way through college with the help of someone else I will never feel like my time there was well spent. In this situation the teacher or faculty member who is helping the student cheat is at fault because they are ultimately hurting the student instead of helping them the right way by actually teaching the student. Becoming a faculty member at University requires the person to uphold a certain respect and value for the school and the excellence it strives for. Imagine if this faculty member is caught, how would that look for the school? All the effort towards excellence have now been shadowed by this morally degrading situation. Once I graduate from a University I would like to be proud of what I have accomplished in my time there. I also would like to be proud to be an alumni of the school I attended and know that even when I’m long gone that they will be upholding the same moral values that they did when I attended there.
I think the most serious breach of morality in regard to academic and personal integrity that can be committed by a student is taking someone else’s work and claiming it as there own. I believe this breach of morality falls under ethical egoism where someone thinks the morally right thing to do is to act on one’s own self-interest and thinks that everyone else ought to do the same. To me, someone who cheats in this regard could be for different reasons. However, you never really know where someone is coming from or what state of mind they are in. I agree that this is absolutely morally wrong in every regard, but I think that sometimes there may be different reasons behind why someone would use someone else’s works. I bet the most popular reason is just be lazy and not feeling like doing the work. However, I am sure there are also those people that honestly don’t realize they are doing it, they just don’t understand how to quote properly. However, for the majority of people that take someone else’s work and claim it as there own, I think they are either desperate to complete the assignment, don’t understand how to do the assignment, so use someone else’s answers or just plain don’t feel like doing the work. Whatever the reason behind it, its academically and personally unacceptable and I think that to be fair everyone should be accountable to do there own work. I mean what kind of world we would live in if everyone was an ethical egoism! I think that Orlando community, not UCF, but Orlando in general falls under ethical egoism and I think the reason is because it’s a transit area. It seems like it lacks a sense of utilitarianism or brotherhood because of the fact that the people come and go and everyone is out for themselves and acting cut throat. I didn’t grow up here I am from a small town in Connecticut, but I have been here since I was 18 and have worked in the legal field and I can say that most people are competitive and cut throat. Especially in the employment field of law there is no real sense of loyalty from the employers or the employees. You don’t start a job thinking you’ll retire from there; you start a job thinking I wonder how long I’ll work there. Most people think I will work here until another firm offers you something better. From an academically stand point, taking someone else’s work and claiming it as your own is wrong to because not only are you falsely saying you did the work, but for the person from whom you took the work from and actually spent all the time and effort gets cheated because they are not rewarded the cheater is. In regard to personal integrity, I think that its natural for everyone to be selfish at times and sometimes you have to be to take care of yourself you can’t always be giving. However, I think personally and academic integrity should not be looked at from an ethical egoism point of view.
Molly,
I agree whole heartedly. Claiming someone’s ideas as your own is the most serious claim against morality that a student can claim, and it also demoralizes their identity by not using their minds. This is egoism, I do agree. To me, however, it does not matter what state of mind someone is in, or what situation they are in. Plagiarizing is selfish and egotistic. If you are egotistic, you can even turn that into a useful tool. Think of the person you are becoming when you cheat, plagiarize, or are dishonest. If you want to be selfish, try to be the most moral person in the universe, so at least your egoism is benefiting others, even if it is selfish at heart. Ignorance is not an excuse, we are taught how to cite in high school, so we know how to do that in a paper and not plagiarize. Everyone should be held accountable as to what they submit on an assignment, paper, exam, or project, no matter what the circumstances are, I agree. I also see how circumstances come along that may serve as an excuse for not submitting full effort, but they do for everyone. No one is above being moral, no matter what happened to them, and no matter how hard it is to do their work truthfully. Your comment about the Orlando area is interesting and has some merit. I, too, believe that the community is teaching us not to live together, but as single people on their own, and that has contributed to ethical egoism. The fact that many people come in and out of Orlando, and few people see this place as a home, may be the main reason people are out for themselves. They don’t see people as valuable because who knows how long they will even know them? The sad thing is that people are becoming selfish at heart. People are out for themselves and don’t see others as people, but resources to get what they want. If people lived out of their self worth and duty, maybe it would be different, maybe their would be less egoism and there would be more lenience toward deontology.
Molly Lomonaco,
I totally agree with you when a student can by accident turn in the wrong paper that is not quoted correctly or maybe you have multiple copies of it on your computer because you have been working on it for weeks. No I am not saying that plagiarism or cheating is ok to do, but yes it can happen and not everyone knows how to quote correctly or they might have missed it when typing up a paper. I completely understand because it has happen to me and I have written plenty of papers and would never cheat or plagiarism anyone else work on purpose. Taking someone’s complete paper and turning it in with your own name on it knowing that you did not write that paper is not expectable. I do understand though that no matter what there still are consequences for everything and so that is why I am doing these assignments.
Morality is something inside of you that nobody can see or feel besides yourself. It is the pang inside your stomach when you know someone or yourself had done something terribly wrong. People do things wrong because they are lazy, others just don’t care. When these things come to the attention of a higher up force, there are always consequences to the actions at hand.
Something atrocious that teachers can do to students is not let them think on there own. Many professors and teachers are very passionate about a certain subject, and feel strongly on whichever side they are on. This affects the learning process because the students are partial to a certain side of an issue because the teacher thinks highly of it. The correct way to teach about controversial subjects are to evaluate the issue at hand. Speak and go over this topic. Next, you should see that every student understands the issue. Now it is time to go over the pro’s and con’s to each side of the issue. While doing all of this the professor must continuously ask the students if they are comfortable and understand. I think that persuasion to important subject are a huge flaw in the system. Students need to be able to really feel for hot topics and not be persuaded by a one sided professor.
A student that is childish and attention needed can be a very harmful presence to the classroom at a younger age. This student will affect the minds of many others with his shenanigans and practical jokes. Although maybe funny at the time, these students are getting in the way of the learning process which all students need to become successful hardworking individuals. This is why I feel that being a class clown is the worst thing a student can do to a classroom. I feel very strongly about this topic and feel that if there is a student negatively affecting the learning process of students he should be suspended indefinitely, or brought to an institution.
I would have to say that fall under the utilitarianism category of ethics. This is because I always try to treat people with respect and decency. If I see a random person and they drop something I will pick it up, I always hold doors for people. I try to continue to do random acts of kindness which makes me feel good. Everyone is good at something, the key is to find out what you are good at and continue to do it. I like to treat people with respect because thats how I was raised. I can always talk my way in or out of a situation, and am happy most of the time. If you continue to act the way that you are suppose to, your life will be very joyful with many pleasures involved. Life is a bunch of ups and downs, they key is to have more ups than downs.
Ricky,
I could not agree with you more. I do think a lot of the times teacher try to manipulate a student mind by emposing there ideas on the students. The best thing about college is that you can receive information and then formulate your own ideas. I hate it when a teacher will act as if their opinion is the correct analyzation of a particular topic. When The teacher does that they stop the students from wondering why and now when that student is faced with that topic they will have someone else opinion rather than their own. This would stem from the egoism view because that teacher has the belief that there own opinion is the truth and others should think the same thing and is legitmate because they are considered professionals in that field.
I also agree with what you said about students who tend to be disruptive in class. That is a pet peave of mine. You have a class that you are sort of interested in and there is someone in class that is usually laughing or talking loudly and usually throws off the learning atmosphere in the class. This creates a competition between student and professor where the student feel as if he/she deserves more attention then other. This can irate other people in the classroom that are trying to learn. Then in turn other students might start to participate in the disruptive activity and causing the class to be looked at as a joke. Or you could have that student who become irrated and wants to do physical harm to that student creating a lack of control in the classroom.
The most serious breach of morality by a student would be taking someone’s ideas and considering them your own. One’s mind makes them unique, and by taking a piece of their mind, you are stealing that from them. You are stealing someone’s self worth and uniqueness, in a sense, by taking their ideas, work, studying, knowledge, etc., for credit on an assignment or test. This is how people find their self worth and find their identity, by working hard and forming ideas. If someone does not have that, what do they have? Your own personal worth should be found in your integrity, not in passing an assignment or test. As far as faculty members go, they can also be found immoral, even in their authority. The most serious breach of morality they can exhibit would be to not acknowledge someone’s ideas, hard work, and, thus, their identity and self worth. Faculty members are put in a position of authority because they are a leader, they are trustworthy, and to lead younger people to be the same type of person. It is their duty to be an example to students. When a professor accuses someone of cheating because they needed a pen, or does not acknowledge a grading error on an important exam, they are not exhibiting these attributes that got them where they are. In order to exalt worthiness of being a faculty member, they must remember how they got there. Most likely, another faculty member had a huge role in guiding, leading, or helping them in some way when they were a student. The same is asked of them. Students need these types of people to act morally, so that they can be an example to students. This idea is most relevant to the deontology theory, where people act on duty, and people treat others as valuable. This is the theory I most identify with, because people are where they are for a reason. Most people deserve where they are, and they must act according to what position they are in, and owe it to others to act in the role that they are in. Everyone has a duty in society because they are unique and have something to offer the world. If everyone recognized their gifts and talents, and offered them to the community, it would be a lot easier to function as a society because everyone is different. The world has taught us to consider only ourselves, and not people as a whole. This is detrimental to the idea that we must live out of the duties we are given, dictated by our gifts, talents, and goals. Think of it this way: if you help yourself, you are helping one person, but if you act out of selflessness, in a response to these unique attributes that you have, you are going to help multiple people, and be a role model to them to do the same. Whether you are a student or faculty member, considering someone else valuable and treating them that way is a testament to who you are.