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Critica Response to a Teaching Incident: The Challenges of Discussing Ethics in the Classroom
Submitted to Dr. Karyn Cooper
Submitted by Sandra Ciarallo
Upon reflection of my own personal educational experiences, I realize how fortunate I was to come into contact with particular teachers who were invaluable ethical role models in my life. These teachers taught beyond the knowledge of their subject; they taught the real lessons that mattered in life. As I matured, it became clear to me that these special individuals considered teaching their vocation rather than the duties of their "job". I say that these teachers were special, because unfortunately not all teachers are driven by an ambition to care and love their students. I strongly believe that the study of ethics should be integrated throughout the curriculum of all school levels from primary to post-secondary education. The disintegration of the family in the late twentieth century has created the need for schools to share the responsibility of providing children with "a moral equivalent of home" (J.R.Martin). But how are teachers to facilitate the discussion of ethics in the classroom? To address this question I would like to discuss my challenges and reflections of teaching a lesson in Bioethics during my first student teacher practicum.
During my first practice-teaching session, I had the opportunity to teach a Bioethics lesson to two grade 11 advanced Biology classes. This experience revealed many challenges to me, and upon reflection of my lesson, there are several improvements I would make to my lesson. One of the specific challenges I encountered involved how I could teach a lesson on ethics while not imposing my beliefs on students, and maintaining my students' ability to critically analyze for themselves.
In the words of Naomi Liebler, "Critical thinking is a quality as well as a process of thinking that privileges questions over answers. The ability to think critically requires first of all a curiosity to explore, a willingness for uncertainty and challenge, a fundamental dissatisfaction with pat, plugged-in responses. The only security that is truly useful in such a context is the security of knowing that it's OK to be uncertain". In addition, Paulo Freire said, "True dialogue cannot exist unless the dialoguers engage in critical thinking - thinking which discerns an indivisible solidarity between the world and men and admits of no dichotomy between them - thinking which perceives reality as process, as transformation, rather than as a static entity - thinking which does not separate itself from action, but constantly immerses itself in temporality without fear of the risks involved. Critical thinking contrasts with naive thinking ... only dialogue which requires critical thinking is also capable of generating critical thinking. Without dialogue there is no communication, and without communication there can be no true education".
The students in my grade eleven advanced classes had developed an understanding of genetics and inheritance, since they had recently completed this unit of study. Therefore, the bioethics lesson I would like to discuss revolved around the ethical issues generated by the recent technology in genetic screening and engineering. As an introduction to the lesson, I first explained the technical aspects of "The Human Genome Project", which is a worldwide effort to identify the location of every human gene. In addition, I explained the recent technology of genetic engineering, which can enable scientists to clone genetic replicas of individuals or to genetically alter individuals. After this brief technical introduction, the students then watched the video "After Darwin" for the remainder of the class time. This video exposed them to various outcomes of these advancements in technology (some of which have been currently realized, and some of which have been hypothesized for the future). Before showing the video I explained that their assignment was to write a short reflection paper in which they must develop their arguments logically to support their own opinions on the issues raised. As I presented this assignment I found it very difficult to be unbiased, and I believe that my expressions and tone probably demonstrated my own opinions unintentionally. Perhaps it would have been better to be more open about my opinions rather than trying to conceal them, since my indirect messages may have been more powerful than a simple acknowledgement that everyone has their own opinion, including myself. I believe that as a teacher it is important for me to express my own opinions, however, I must also consider that students may be easily influenced by my opinions, since they have a tendency to view me as an authority on all subjects. I think that I should have emphasized to them that there are times when every one of us needs to make our own decisions, and that often our opinions are based on our own unique experiences and values. Unfortunately, there was not enough class time to discuss the video afterward, and since I was operating under the schedule of my host teacher, I was not allowed to continue the lesson into the next class. I believe that not allowing time for discussion almost defeats the purpose of having a lesson on ethical issues. I believe that it is important for the students to appreciate the experiences of their peers and to understand how these unique experiences have contributed to their unique opinions. If ethics were discussed in the classroom in this fashion it may serve to break down some of the walls which separate us, and might encourage compassion as opposed to discrimination.
Students often lose sight of the fact that just because something is published (in a textbook, article, or videotape, et cetera) does not mean that it is absolute truth. In particular, there was a segment of the video that I found extremely controversial, which exposed students to the opinions of many research scientists about the implications and consequences of biotechnology. It is our obligation as teachers to point out when the rights of others are being infringed upon. The controversial issue that was discussed in the video involves the possible genetic differences between races, which may or may not be discovered in the future. To put it bluntly, I was very dissatisfied by the way I failed to handle this situation appropriately in my lesson. Although I did not receive any complaints from my host teacher or my students, I can plainly see how my lack of actions could have been misinterpreted. Although I had good intentions, I may have clearly sent the wrong message to students and thus I served my students and society unjustly. During this controversial segment of the video, one scientist completely trivializes the fears and consequences for racial minorities by saying that the enormous threat felt by minorities revolves around basic misunderstandings of genetics. Then a second scientist, Philippe Rushton, (author of Race Evolution and Behaviour), says:
"Certainly the depictions in Hollywood and the mass media are that Black people are just as intelligent as white people and just as intelligent as oriental people. . . and in as much as people believe this and have their expectations handled in this way, then they will be in for disappointment in terms of reality ...Black people go to a school, all of them believing that they are just as smart as Asians ...that they can do everything that an Asian can do, unless of course the terrible white man holds them back. I'm talking about real genetic differences; real behaviours. This is not doing black people a favour, because when they get into MIT or Harvard or wherever it is that they are promoted into, they will find that there is a terrible short-form... that in fact they are not writing grammatical sentences ...nobody has pointed out to them that they are not writing grammatical sentences, because nobody wanted to hurt their self-concepts... that is the way the liberal establishment has so defined the problem that it leads to these kinds of absurdities."
As a teacher, we need to perform a delicate balancing act in every lesson. (a) We want students to think critically, (b) but we need to enforce the rights of others, and be sensitive to the fact that students sometimes require us to interject , and (c) we are pressured to execute our curriculum in a timely manner. If I had the chance to perform this lesson again, I would have taken the extra day that I needed to properly address the issues presented in the controversial segment of the video. Yes, this would risk not executing my curriculum in a timely manner, but I would have to accept that. What I find difficult to accept, is that I am now unsure about how my students interpreted my lesson. What did they get out of it? Did I make a positive difference in their life or did I reinforce negative racial stereotypes, or lower the self-esteem of a Black student? I know as a teacher that this will certainly not be the first time that I will discover a lesson that I carried out poorly. In fact, I will be on the look-out for these poor lessons. I believe that teachers must swallow their pride so that they can approach other teachers for support and help so that through teamwork teachers can problem-solve strategies for their day-to-day challenges.