Chapters 6 & 7

Democracy, Professionalism, and Teaching with Integrity:

How do you deal, as a teacher, with the idea that what you feel and think due to your training as a teacher mean nothing if the school board decides it? This is a tough question to answer. On one hand, no one likes to have the methods questioned, particularly if they are tried and true. On the other hand, as teachers (particularly in the public schools) we are employees of the state, our salaries are paid by taxpayer's dollars. The elected officials are in control of how we teach often times. Is this right? Should teachers be able to decide for themselves what the teach or how they teach? Certainly there should be a standard set, but by whom? Possibly a national organization of educators, containing scholars of the craft, people who have researched how and what to teach. Through this I am confident that students will get the best education they can possibly get. Unfortunately, decisions come down through initiatives by people high up in the political structure (i.e. the president) and oftentimes become deteriorated and perverted into a race for the best test scores. While test scores do indeed seem the best way to determine if a student has learned the material. It must be noted that students do not always perform on the tests in a way which reflects what they know. I know plenty of people who consider themselves bad test takers. I consider myself a fairly good test taker, and more notably an excellent bullshitter (hopefully you do not take this into consideration when grading my test and or paper). I have taken courses with these so-called 'bad' test-takers. Oftentimes they know the material as well as I do, if not better. Consistently though, I will score better than them. I think this has to do with an intimidation factor. I ask them how they feel about the test prior to taking it and they are always worried, whereas I am often excited by the prospect to prove what I have learned. There is no reason to think this does not apply to younger students as well. It seems that standardized test create a need to learn just enough information to pass the test without fully comprehending the material.

OK, that was a bit of a tangent. The idea is this, when confronted with a situation in which your integrity is challenged, how do you deal with it? The book suggests four options, you can accommodate the expectation's of your employer. You can find productive ways to continue to press one's case. You can work around the policy in an imaginative way. Or you can simply resign. I agree with these, they cover pretty much every possibility of what you can do.

Conclusions and Postscript:

They suggest that consequentialist and nonconsequentialist views are imperfect or rather incomplete. Additionally they suggest that the two different types of thought need to be combined.

The postcript was witty, and at times hilarious. I definitely actually lol'd a few times. w00t!