Ethical Direction

In an article titled Developing Ethical Direction, he author projects his belief that students need to be taught how to use their 'internal compass' when dealing with technology and appropriate ways to use technology. In my opinion, this is common sense. Many people, even teachers, probably take for granted just how much character development goes on in pre-school and kindergarten. As a teacher, if you have students that wash their hands after using the bathroom, put supplies away when they're done using them, and can walk in a straight line, you need to thank a kindergarten teacher. In addition to what the state requires, such as reading and writing, I am also faced with teaching what society requires. The first few days of school for a kindergarten teacher has often been described as herding cats, but in those first few days I prefer to think if the students as miniature drunks. Chances are, if I don't explain every single detail of how I need the students to line up, they won't know how to do it.

Why should we think that students will magically know and understand right from wrong when dealing with such complex ideas as why it might not be alright to download free music from the Internet, when these same students have to be taught that it's not OK to hit someone because they said they don't want to play with you at recess. Everyday life has many shades of gray, and the rules of the digital world are no different. Students are spending insane amounts of time on the computer these days, and parents are taking less of an active role in their children's lives. We can't assume that students just know what is right and wrong. Even thought it seems that the list of demands placed on teachers is ever growing, I think that inevitably, ethics of technology has just been added to that list.