Ethics paper

Ethics
Before reading the Code of Ethics of the Education Profession in Florida, I wasn’t quite aware exactly why the State Board of Education needed these written codes. The Code of Ethics states that teachers must not violate the Code of Ethics and that they may be subject to revocation or suspension to their educators certificate or other penalties as provided by law. The Code of Ethics is basically broken down into three major parts, which involve an obligation to the student, an obligation to the public and lastly an obligation to the profession of education. This seems to be some serious stuff to not mess with, and as one of my professor likes to say these obligation are written to make the “big dogs” in education satisfied. Although I do believe there is a purpose for these areas. I also think that the Code of Ethics deals with how a teacher should simply carry themselves in their own teaching enviroment including their duty and knowing commitment that they signed up for. “By virtue of their leadership capacity, teachers are traditionally held to a high moral standard in the community”, this shows high importance of teachers knowledge and understanding of the way you should act and the morals they should bring along with them. Since the late 1960’s Florida teachers has always served under a Code of Ethics for Educators, which was quite similar to the Code of Ethics now by the National Education Association. That Code of Ethics wasn’t enforced until 1982 when the State Board then revised the code recommended by the Education Standards Commission. Now the most current Code of Ethics of the Education Profession in Florida stated that any Florida educator who violated any of the principles is subject to straight penalty. In the whole scheme of things this does bring up the topic of whether teachers can truly have their own private life aside from school life. Issues regarding the Code of Ethics can appear through many classrooms lesson plans and activities and it’s important for teachers and faculty to remind themselves of the codes. One example that is likely to occur in the teaching enviroment is noticing that a child in the classroom may be being abused or neglected and whether or not a teacher should have it reported or try and figure out the issues by themselves. It is mandatory to report any case of child abuse, even if it is just suspected or reported by someone else. This was something I was never fully aware of how to handle a certain situation like child abuse. There are even such obligations as the teacher “shall not intentionally expose a student to unnecessary embarrassment or disparagement.” There was once as teacher in one of my volunteering semesters where a teacher took a cell phone of a child and actually read the texts aloud to the whole class. I also remember when I was in elementary school when a teacher read aloud a note passed along from student to student. If I had to guess I would say this fell under that code of unnecessary embarrassment. This can further lead to parent issues which causes more of a ruckus than I would even know I’m sure. Once a certificate has been permanently revoked it takes a number or years for teachers to reapply for their certificate. This code isn’t necessarily to scare new teachers or make them not want to teach, but it sure was a tad bit of an eye opener for me as a future teacher.