Ethics are the body of principles or standards of  human conduct for an individual or a group. If something is ethical, it is seen by the majority of people as correct behavior. 

     There was a time when those standards were similar across the United States. That time is disappearing. Whether it’s due to the Internet or the teaching of tolerance, increasingly the body of what is seen as ethical is growing in size. Those who believe that all included is ethical, though, is not. As a society, we are becoming polarized regarding what is ethical.

     If teaching was tough before, this has made it nearly impossible! We teachers feel like we’re tiptoeing through a mine field each day, never knowing when the next angry parent will go off. And each angry parent thinks what he finds ethical should be the standard for all. No wonder so many public schools have stopped disciplining! 

     We have not, and it has cost us some business. We try not to mislead people; it’s part of our tour. We’re going to call out bad behavior. When a parent says our discipline caused embarrassment, we point out that the child was not embarrassed to misbehave. 

     When I taught our kids this leadership lesson this past Friday, I taught them a literature term: code hero. The code hero will not allow himself to do certain things or drop below certain standards. It’s his own code. We need more kids who say “no” to every whim that comes along. The most recent one I can think of was the Tik Tok challenge Deviouslicks, in which students record themselves stealing classroom and school bathroom items. One local school here lost a urinal, a mirror, a soap dispenser, and even a stall door. I remember another challenge that involved going into Wal-Mart and throwing a gallon milk against the egg display. These are mot just harmless pranks. This is morals severely messed up.

   I feel for parents nowadays. My students act very adversely to my disagreement with some of their morals. Parents have much more to worry about than I as far as maintaining the relationship with their children. Some hills you have to not die on.

   The good news is that “kindness” seems to be an ethical decision that perseveres. I see the acceptance of all beliefs as kindness. The kids still appreciate and understand kindness. Even when our politicians resort to name-calling and back-stabbing, our kids call it out and denounce it. I have seen more “choose kindness” shirts on my teens than ever in my teaching career. This gives me hope that the poem that says “Everything I Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten” is true: what ethics we’re taught a young age persevere!

-        Michelle