Ethics issues for administrators power point session #7.fa.2018.bb

Diversity: Multiculturalism and
Religion

Our 3 Words To Define A Good Teacher…

•What defines a good teacher?
•How do we know a good teacher when
we see one?
•How will we respond when we notice a
good teacher?
•How will we respond when we notice a
poor teacher?

Do our teachers know the standards for
which they will be judged?
Are the standards being consistently
applied? (inter-rater reliability)
Are decisions made with reasonable
evidence available on a systemic basis?
Is your judgment a rational connection
to a legitimate purpose?

Robert Marzano’s
research suggests that
as effective teachers
we do!

Percentile Entering Percentile Leaving
Average School/
Average Teacher
50th 50th
Highly Ineffective School/
Highly Ineffective Teacher
50th 3rd
Highly Effective School/
Highly Ineffective Teacher
50th 37th
Highly Ineffective School/
Highly Effective Teacher
50th 63rd
Highly Effective Teacher 50th 96th
Average Teacher 50th 78th

Diagnostic versus prescriptive
Collaborative and reflective
How are teachers demonstrating their skill?
Observe other teachers so that we can
learn from each other!
Self directed professional inquiry
Professional growth

Ends-based Thinking
• The end result of treating people reasonably are
better than the end result of treating people
unreasonably. What are the consequences of
being reasonable versus unreasonable?
Care-based Thinking
• Treat people reasonably because it is our moral
responsibility to do so.
• People are free and rational moral agents…let’s
act that way!

Formative/Summative assessments for
students…do our students know what is
expected of them? Is this important? Can
we just say this is a function of application,
or synthesis, or some level of higher
cognition?
2 students with 2 different biology
teachers…do they have a consistent
experience? Is it OK if they don’t?

How many assessments does it take for a
student to be evaluated fairly?
What if a chemistry student earned a 98%
on the final comprehensive, summative
exam, yet has not turned in all of her work.
What should her grade be? What types of
behaviors should help determine a grade?

A. an exact objective rating.
B. a subjective rating that allows for
professional judgment.
C. something in between.
Grading is:

A. …consistent (within your
learning team or with other
students in your classes)?
B. …accurate (aligned essential
learnings)?
C. …meaningful & supportive of
learning?

 2 students…both have same GPA….
 1 A- as a 9th grader
 All As through 1 quarter of senior year.
 GPA = 3.9967033
But wait….
 Student A takes a summer math class…and gets an A
while student B works a summer job.
 Student A = 3.9968421
 Student B = 3.9967033
 Who is the Valedictorian?
 Who gets the Valedictorian scholarship at Drake
University?

Name Lab Grades
(20%)
Tests
(60%)
Miscellaneous
(20%)
Final
Grade
Attitude Participation
Eddy 100 0 80 50
(late)
98 99 98 0 0 57 F
Norm 100 100 100 100 64 68 66 100 100 79 C
“A Tale of Two Students”

Name Lab Grades
(20%)
Tests
(60%)
Miscellaneous
(20%)
Final
Grade
Eddy 85 0 80 50
(late)
98 99 98 0 0 57 F
Norm 100 100 100 100 64 68 66 100 100 79 C

Name Lab Grades
(20%)
Tests
(60%)
Miscellaneous
(20%)
Final
Grade
Eddy 85 0 80 50
(late)
98 99 98 0 0 69 F
Norm 100 100 100 100 64 68 66 100 100 80 B

 What if unreasonable treatment did no harm and
reasonable treatment produced no good?
 Teacher capriciously assigns a grade.
 Suppose, also, that nothing turned on the grade.
 Student already admitted to their college of choice
and will earn an A in the course.
 Toss the paper down the steps and assign the
grade based upon the step it landed on.

I understand how EVERYone’s perspective
is important in our treatment of each other.
I have an understanding how I/we can
reconcile this with my own/our school’s
perspective.

Is there a principled difference between
the Corn Story and the Genesis account
of creation of man that permits the first
to be included in textbooks but not the
second?

 Does it make any difference that the
creationist wanted their story told in a
science book, while the People of the
Corn want theirs told in a history book?
Is there a difference between “scientific
truth” and “historical truth”.

If we include the Corn Story in the
textbook (because the culture of groups
should be treated with a care-based
attitude), how do we reconcile our
treatment of the Southern Baptists and
their Genesis story?

Is this about truth or is this about
tolerance and understanding
(acceptance?) What question are we
being asked to answer?

Alienation and self-identity
• Are our students culturally alienated?
• Do our students feel like this is their school and
do they have a sense of belonging?
An issue of truth…and who controls it
• Secular, white, European-oriented, male elites
• Who owns the truth?

Dialogue
• Free and open debate about issues-there may be
many truths (J. S. Mill)
One and the many (E Pluribus Unum or E
Pluribus Pluribus)
• One shared culture versus a respect for all cultures
equally

• Understand and evaluate their beliefs in terms of
their historical or cultural context
• Skeptical about binary oppositions (there is no
right or wrong)
• Life has no truth-no action is preferable to another

We may differ in our views, in our religions,
in our ethnicity, in our gender, in our history
BUT we are still PERSONS
Our PERSONHOOD is the basis for our
dignity and rights

 Are our differences more basic than our
sameness?
 What is a person? Who’s definition is paramount?
 Can we truly describe what a person is to
everyone all the time?
 We may be imposing some cultural bias onto
others…
• Freedom and equality favors European culture, or men,
or heterosexuals (it is these same folks that owned
slaves, that didn’t allow women to vote, that
discriminated against gays and lesbians)
• Nazism
• Economics: Pleasure maximizers suits the capitalists

 It may not be about personhood because of the
cultural biases
 It is not about WHAT we are but our
PERCEPTIONS of WHAT DEFINES who we are
 If it is not about PERSONHOOD, is it about
TRUTH?

The Wisdom of Obi Wan Kenobi
Theme for English B by Langston Hughes
Women vs. men
European Americans vs. African
Americans vs. Hispanic Americans
Jews vs. Christianity vs. Muslims
There are no whole truths…truths are only
partial and at the mercy of one’s own
perspective
Who owns the truth?

Women vs. men
European Americans vs. African
Americans vs. Hispanic Americans
Jews vs. Christianity vs. Muslims
There are no whole truths…truths are only
partial and at the mercy of one’s own
perspective
Who owns the truth?

Kent Nerburn:
Neither Wolf nor Dog
The Wolf at Twilight
The Girl Who Sang to the Buffalo

King Leopold’s Ghost
When the Emperor Was Divine
Hidden Figures
Hillbilly Elegy

What is our responsibility with regard to
students attending our schools who cannot
speak English?

 “Culture is to humans as water is to fish.” —Wade Nobles
 “Culture is organized within an identifiable community or
group. This includes the ways that community use
language, interact with one another, take turns to talk,
relate to time and space, and approach learning.” —
Villegas & Lucas, Educating Culturally Responsive
Teachers: A Coherent Approach (2002)
 “Culture is a ‘learned behavior,’ passed down through
family, community, and heritage. Heritage comes in two
parts: complexities and intangibles.” —Hollie, Culturally
and Linguistically Responsive Teaching and Learning:
Classroom Practices for Student Success (2011)

We stated earlier that religion and politics
were private matters for this very reason.
These are not just facts about people…
not possessions that can be changed at
will
To fail to respect diversity is to reject who
people are and thus deny them their worth
Is there anything worse?

It is error alone, that stands in
need of government to support
it; truth can and will do better
without…it.
-Reverend John Leland
(Baptist minister in favor of separation of church and state)
Obama, B. (2006). The audacity of hope: Thoughts on reclaiming the american
dream. Crown publishing group. pp. 217-218.

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
-Ghandi

 Schools were to “Americanize” immigrants
 “Congress may make no law effecting an
establishment of religion nor prohibiting free
speech” (Establishment and Free Exercise
Clauses in the Bill of Rights)
• And yet schools had bible recitations and Lord’s Prayer
required in many states until the late 1960s.
• Catholics started their own school system
• American Indians driven west and confined to
reservations
• Executive Order 9066 February 19, 1942 (Japanese
Internment)
 Most minorities and immigrant populations have
found America repressive and exploitive

 The People of the Corn
 Is there a principled difference between the Corn Story and the
Genesis account of creation of man that permits the first to be
included in textbooks but not the second?
 Does it make any difference that the creationist wanted their story
told in a science book, while the People of the Corn want theirs
told in a history book? Is there a difference between “scientific
truth” and “historical truth”.
 If you would approve of including the Corn Story because the
culture of groups should be treated with a care-based attitude,
shouldn’t you show similar care/respect to Southern Baptists?
 Is this about truth or is this about tolerance and understanding?
Who owns the truth? What question are we being asked to
answer?

Creation and evolution
• These may be parts of our religious beliefs
• Teaching one over the other may be a
contradiction to a religious belief and so a
rejection of who the students are
• What is the third thing? Is this about biology or
identity?
Contributions to national history
• Important affirmations to personal worth related to
culture

What if evolution is true?
What if our contributions to national history
are not positive or great?
Should we affirm our worth according to
the accomplishments or failings of long
dead members of our culture?

Some creationists do not believe the literal
interpretation of the Bible and believe in
evolution BUT there is purpose and design
vs. chance and natural selection
BUT
Who says we must start with the
Creationism point of view?

Every culture owns its own truth
All cultures are valuable.
One culture cannot criticize another culture
because there is no general Truth
Difference Rules!

Personhood is primary
Person’s choice and moral view is
paramount
• Some moral views are not OK, i.e. racism should
not be tolerated!

“When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow
well, you don’t blame the lettuce.
You look for reasons it is not doing well. It
may need fertilizer, or more water, or less
sun. You never blame the lettuce.
Yet if we have problems with our friends or
our family, we blame the other person, But if
we know how to take care of them, they will
grow well – like the lettuce.
Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does
trying to persuade using reason and
arguments.
That is my experience.
No blame, no reasoning, nor argument, just
understanding.
If you understand, and you show that you
understand, you can love, and the situation
will change.”
--Thich Nhat Hahn, Peace Is Every Step

Everyone must be tolerant, AND we may
not seek to regulate views of a good life
OK if teach a just constitution to create
virtues of a democratic society
Not OK if we want a shared religion or a
common culture (beyond the political
culture of our constitution)

 We must teach tolerance even if we disapprove
 We must teach that we must be tolerant of
disapproval
 We respect the right to choose not necessarily the
choice
 Need not falsify or invent history to be
favorable…we are not rejecting the worth of them
as people
• Their worth is based upon the fact that they are a person
(moral agent) not on the achievements of their culture or
upon the truth of their religion

Is it OK for a culture of people to invent a
history to their own liking?

 Diversity contributes to the greatest
good for the greatest number
 Diversity makes life more interesting
 The pursuit of truth is important
• How do you get to the truth?
 Intellectual liberty, experimentation, debate,
experiential evidence
 We can never be sure we have the truth
 If you are sure of the truth why
argue?
 If there is no truth why argue?

…your religion is false, your culture is
worthless, and the achievements of your
people are insignificant.

There are two points that must be
balanced, both points have
been made by many different
philosophers:
1. talk about what is “right” and
“wrong” only makes sense
against the background of an
inherited tradition; but
2. traditions themselves can be
criticized. Hilary Putnam
Harvard University,
Philosopher

The concepts we acquire from our culture,
educational influence and structure
What is reasonable to believe according to
our interests and biases…we have a right
to our individual truths

Radical Pluralism (differences are fundamental)
 Principle for the affirmation and acceptance of diversity
 Everyone agrees on minimal common values, i.e. tolerance
and equal respect
 What about oppressive cultures and their “right”
to act how they want to act (Nazi Germany)?
Cultural Relativism (it all makes sense if you understand
the culture)
 is the principle that an individual human's beliefs and
activities make sense in terms of his or her own culture.
 Is slavery, our treatment of American Indians, sexually
degrading views, religious intolerance, etc. OK?

Ariana Iacono says her nose stud is spiritual.

Margarat Mead
“…every culture must be seen as a whole,
with its value system as an inextricable
component…cultural relativity demands
that every item of cultural behavior be
seen as relative to the culture of which it is
a part, and in that systematic setting every
item has positive or negative meaning and
value.”

This does NOT mean that “everything is
equal” that “anything goes” and that all
cultural practices are relative and
acceptable.
It DOES mean that BEFORE passing
judgment, we should approach cultural
groups on their own terms.
Goh, M. & Demerath, P. 2015. Culture in the relationship gap. Urban
Leadership Academy. University of Minnesota.

Validate the behavior…
Affirm the behavior…
Build relationships and understanding…
Bridge the gap…

Capacity for a sense of social justice
Capacity for forming a conception of their
own good
These are rooted in culture AND can be
changed given good reasons and
reflection

People are different
We should understand our own biases and
eliminate negative biases toward others
Impartial between conflicting interests,
views and values of different religions,
races, ethnic groups and genders
Can’t have preferences
• Like officials at a sporting event

Free Choice
“We claim and
enjoy complete
freedom”
Laws
Obedience to
the Enforceable
Self-imposed Law
Obedience to the Unenforceable
Tight/Tight
Loose/Loose
Tight/Loose

 Educational opportunities that allow for pursuit and
development of what is distinctive about them
• Religion, culture, what is good
 Educational opportunities for the public ethic
• Sense of tolerance (or acceptance) of difference and
respect for equal rights for others
 The creation of shared civic life that allows for a
sense of social justice
• Different from an attempt to view the culture of one group
as a normative for others
 Opportunities to learn from one another and learn
about one another

“This is the value of the teacher,
who looks at a face and says
there's something behind that and
I want to reach that person, I
want to influence that person, I
want to encourage that person, I
want to enrich, I want to call out
that person who is behind that
face, behind that color, behind
that language, behind that
tradition, behind that culture. I
believe you can do it. I know what
was done for me.”

“Do unto others as you would
want them do unto you.”
OR
“Do unto others as they would
have you do unto them.

We need to provide a window for
everyone to view other cultures AND
we need to have a mirror for all
cultures to reflect upon themselves

Ethics issues for administrators power point session #7.fa.2018.bb

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