2/25/10

PHI 206 Ethics Journal Entry 2: Utilitarianism

My learn and serve lacement is a u!lic reschool classroom" #n my ac$et% this classroom &as la!eled 'Inclusion%( indicatin) that there &ere students &ith disa!ilities in the classroom" *ecause I am a +uture teacher% I &anted to $no& more a!out s ecial needs students and o!serve ho& disa!ilities a++ect the child and the rest o+ the classroom" ,o I as$ed the student teacher at the end o+ the day &hich students had disa!ilities" ,he told me that at this a)e children are usually not yet dia)nosed% !ut even i+ they are% she is not -uali+ied to reveal to me &hich children have &hich disa!ilities" .his is an ille)al violation o+ con+identiality" In a Utilitarian vie&% should the student teacher have revealed to me &hich students in his/her classroom have &hich disa!ilities/ I+ the teacher did reveal this in+ormation% then I &ould !e a!le to clearly o!serve and learn a!out ho& disa!ilities a++ect the classroom and the teachin) ro+ession" .his &ould allo& me to !ecome a more $no&led)ea!le and e0 erienced +uture teacher% &hich &ill ositively a++ect my +uture students" *ut I &ill have o ortunities later +or su++icient trainin) in the area o+ student disa!ilities" .he student teacher shouldn1t have !ro$en the la& no& and ris$ed )ettin) into le)al trou!le/ I+ she &ere +ound out% it may have caused ne)ative ha iness in many di++erent areas" ,he could receive le)al unishment and her chances o+ )ettin) a teachin) 2o! &ould ro!a!ly have )otten lo&er% and they are lo& enou)h already in these times" It &ould have also caused her em!arrassment" 3urthermore% i+ a arent had +ound out that his/her child1s condition had !een revealed to a stran)er% he/she &ould li$ely have +elt em!arrassed or an)ry at &hat is erceived as a violation o+ rivacy" #n the other hand% ho& li$ely is it that the teacher &ould !e +ound out/ I don1t thin$ it is li$ely enou)h to &orry a!out" 4lso% the teacher% &hen she consciously reserves con+idential in+ormation% mi)ht there!y !e encoura)ed to see a child1s disa!ility as a shame+ul thin)" .his may lead to une-ual treatment o+ these children on a re)ular !asis" 5ell% may!e it is unli$ely that the teacher &ill !e +ound out" *ut it is still not &orth the ossi!le conse-uences to ris$ it" .he teacher may also )et into a ha!it o+ revealin) this in+ormation% and the ris$ &ill +urther increase" .hirdly% she &ill also +eel uncom+orta!le and +ear+ul a!out !ein) +ound out" In res onse to the claim that she &ill !e encoura)ed to see a child1s disa!ility as a shame+ul thin)% this is ro!a!ly out&ei)hed !y the trainin) she received in her classes to treat students e-ually" #verrall% the choice &ith the )reatest amount o+ resultin) ha iness and least amount o+ unha iness is to 6#. reveal the disa!ilities o+ the s ecial needs students" Most o+ the unha iness avoided is due to the +act that !rea$in) the la& re)ardin) this issue incurs a lot o+ unha iness" .he unha iness that may occur i+ the in+ormation is not revealed is only a small disadvanta)e +or me and a minimally ossi!le disadvanta)e +or the student teacher1s current and +uture students"