ETHICS
Analyze ethical issues in personal, professional, and civic life and produce reasoned evaluations of competing value systems and ethical claims.
The artifact below is a midterm. Although it in itself does not reflect the meeting of the Ethics ULO, the story surrounding the midterm will.
I was the teaching assistant for the Arapaho language class at the University of Wyoming. Due to weather and where the professor lived, the class was held at an unusual time. For the first 8 weeks of the fall semester, the class was scheduled for Fridays from two to six in the afternoon and followed by Saturdays from nine to noon.
The midterm exam was scheduled for the fourth Saturday of the term. I was going to be out of town the Friday before, with hopes of making it back to class for the last hour for an exam review. This was announced to the class a week prior.
There was a student with a learning disability who was eligible to take exams in the campus support center. Unfortunately, the exam was on a Saturday when the center is closed. This student waited until I was out of town, the day before the exam, to text me that she had decided to take the exam in the support center.
I did return to class as expected for the last hour of class, but it was too late to coordinate something with the support center for the exam. After class ended, I asked to speak with this student. I understood her right to take the exam in the center, but I did not agree with her waiting to tell me at such a late time.
The student became very angry. I was accused of breaking the law by violating her rights guaranteed by the American Disabilities Act. I was accused of being callused towards the situation that caused her disability. I was accused of not being empathetic of her situation.
After the verbal beration, we left the classroom and went our separate ways. The midterm occurred as scheduled and the student took her exam in the support center a week after the rest of the class. I did bring the conversation we had to the director of the department, who in turn went to the Dean of Students. The conversation seemed to be leading to larger and larger consequences.
Here is where I will argue the meeting of the Ethics ULO.
I did ask myself afterward if it was appropriate to have that critical conversation with that student. Should I have ignored her behavior? If I ignore that behavior, will it empower her to repeat the behavior in other classes with other teachers? Should I have reported the situation to the department director? How did she perceive the conversation?
Previous to this confrontation, she and I had conversations about her disability and how it affected her other classes. From her mouth, she would say that if a professor did not provide her with extra study aids, she would threaten them with violating her ADA rights. Though I could empathize with her disability, it also seemed that she used that to her advantage to get extra attention from her teachers.
After self reflection on the above questions and recalling previous conversations with the student, I decided I took the right course. I was not denying her right to take the exam in the support center, but rather disagreeing with her last-minute decision.
I was the teaching assistant for the Arapaho language class at the University of Wyoming. Due to weather and where the professor lived, the class was held at an unusual time. For the first 8 weeks of the fall semester, the class was scheduled for Fridays from two to six in the afternoon and followed by Saturdays from nine to noon.
The midterm exam was scheduled for the fourth Saturday of the term. I was going to be out of town the Friday before, with hopes of making it back to class for the last hour for an exam review. This was announced to the class a week prior.
There was a student with a learning disability who was eligible to take exams in the campus support center. Unfortunately, the exam was on a Saturday when the center is closed. This student waited until I was out of town, the day before the exam, to text me that she had decided to take the exam in the support center.
I did return to class as expected for the last hour of class, but it was too late to coordinate something with the support center for the exam. After class ended, I asked to speak with this student. I understood her right to take the exam in the center, but I did not agree with her waiting to tell me at such a late time.
The student became very angry. I was accused of breaking the law by violating her rights guaranteed by the American Disabilities Act. I was accused of being callused towards the situation that caused her disability. I was accused of not being empathetic of her situation.
After the verbal beration, we left the classroom and went our separate ways. The midterm occurred as scheduled and the student took her exam in the support center a week after the rest of the class. I did bring the conversation we had to the director of the department, who in turn went to the Dean of Students. The conversation seemed to be leading to larger and larger consequences.
Here is where I will argue the meeting of the Ethics ULO.
I did ask myself afterward if it was appropriate to have that critical conversation with that student. Should I have ignored her behavior? If I ignore that behavior, will it empower her to repeat the behavior in other classes with other teachers? Should I have reported the situation to the department director? How did she perceive the conversation?
Previous to this confrontation, she and I had conversations about her disability and how it affected her other classes. From her mouth, she would say that if a professor did not provide her with extra study aids, she would threaten them with violating her ADA rights. Though I could empathize with her disability, it also seemed that she used that to her advantage to get extra attention from her teachers.
After self reflection on the above questions and recalling previous conversations with the student, I decided I took the right course. I was not denying her right to take the exam in the support center, but rather disagreeing with her last-minute decision.