The Emporer's Club

"The Emporer's Club" is an interesting movie from an ethical standpoint. The teacher Mr. Hundert commits a few different acts which could bring up a few ethical debates. When he hits the baseball through the car window and runs away, he wasn't necessarily being completely ethical. I feel the ethical thing would have been to own up to breaking the window. Of course, that is not to say that I have not broken a window and not told anyone about it. In fact, twice I have done this. Once playing baseball in the synagogue parking lot behind my house my cousin missed the ball when I threw it to her and it crashed through the window, and we ran into the house. Once at baseball practice I threw a pebble at a window and it cracked, a lot. Ok, so I understand why Mr. Hundert ran after hitting the ball threw the car window, but I don't think it was ethical to do so.
During the Mr. Julius Caesar competition Mr. Hundert recognizes that Sedgewick Bell is cheating. Now, I think it can be easily agreed that cheating is not normally ethical, in fact it is almost always unethical. Though, I can understand that Sedgewick was under a lot of pressure being the son of a senator who certain seemed to be fairly hard-nosed and no nonesense. Sedgewick's response to why he was cheating though, lessens my sympathy for him. He simply responds "why not" when asked why he cheated. In response to Sedgewick's cheating, Mr. Hundert alerts the headmaster to it. The headmaster tells Mr. Hundert to allow it due to the Senator being in attendance, and not wanting to lose the money I'm sure he has put into the school. To combat these actions Mr. Hundert then asks a question he knows Sedgewick will not know but that Deepak Mehta will know. Delibrately changing the question from what was supposed to be the next question. This entire scene poses many questions of ethics. Was Sedgewick cheating ethical? Was the headmaster telling Mr. Hundert to ignore Sedgewick's cheating ethical? Was Mr. Hundert changing the question to guarantee the honest competitor would win ethical? I personally believe that Mr. Hundert made a quick ethically sound decision to change the question to ensure Deepak winning, because Deepak was competing ethically and not cheating as Sedgewick was, which is unethical. While not necessarily ethical, life does not hinge entirely on money and power, the headmaster insisting that Mr. Hundert ignore the cheanting was understandable due to his fear of losing the money, or I'm sure his position as headmaster if Senator Bell chose to take such issue with the school.
There is also a scene with Sedgewick and the librarian. Sedgewick is trying to persue the librarian to let him take out a book which is not normally allowed to be checked out. Mr. Hundert walks in on them, and convinces the librarian to allow Sedgewick to check out the book. This gives Sedgewick an advantage over other students because they were not allowed to check the book out, and would have to take turns reading it in the library. While this is probably a mostly harmless act, it is not ethical.
To decide the competitors in the Mr. Julius Caesar competition there is a series of essays. One of such essays Mr. Hundert initially gives Sedgewick an A- for his performance. After much thinking and rereading of Sedgewick's essay he changes his grade to an A+. This grade change prevents Martin Blythe from being able to compete, the one thing he had been hoping to do, to follow in his father's footsteps (his father had been a previous Mr. Julius Casar winner). This change poses a dilema. Was it ethical? I think it can be, if after rereading the essay Mr. Hundert truly felt that Sedgewick deserved an A+. Contrastingly, if Mr. Hundert changed the grade because he desperately wanted Segewick to do well, because he knew he could, though he did not apply himself regularly, well, it is still complicated. I feel this is the hardest question to answer. Is it unethical to push a student to succeed and do his best when he normally underachieves? What if it hinders another student in not allowing him to compete when he truly deserved the honor? This one, I honestly don't know and it all hinges on whether or not Sedgewick truly deserved that A+. If he did, then there is no question. Though I wonder why he did not read Martin's essay over and over again, to make sure that he received the grade he deserved. Which makes me believe Sedgewick's essay was deserving of an A-. And while Mr. Hundert was helping a student achieve something he might have not thought he could achieve. He stomped on Martin Blythes hopes and dreams to do so.