Just when you thought you had seen or heard enough about the largest scandal in your lifetime, another scam emerged. This incident involved Wells Fargo bank employees who created thousands of fake customer accounts in order to meet their sales quota. Despite all the public shame and in some cases imprisonments, I am beginning to think that something such as ethics cannot be taught.
While researching this topic, it appears Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model can be used in teaching ethics. Based on this theory, students of different learning styles learned best when they are actively engaged and responsible for their own learning. They reflect, apply and relate it to their own context. In reading the recent blog from one of the PIDP cohort members on “Academic Controversy” (Richardson, 2016), I have learnt some instructional techniques on how to address ethical issues in the classroom.
Further research also suggests that universities, such as University of Waterloo and Simon Fraser University, have even extended their own definition of experiential learning, requiring students to take what they have learned from the classrooms to the real world of work settings (UofWaterloo, 2016). If so, what happened with all the work done at schools, where the importance of values were reiterated, applied and discussed in the classrooms? Can schools do more in fostering moral values such as self-discipline, responsibility for others, and honesty to make an impact on the student’s moral lives?
According to a recent poll from Harvard Graduate School of Education showed “70 percent of public school parents want schools to teach ‘strict standards of right and wrong,’ and 85 percent want schools to teach values.” (Ackerly, 2016). While I believe that our education curriculum should provide a more inclusive perspective, I am somewhat skeptical about this approach. This is because some things, such as moral values and integrity cannot be taught at the institution alone. Families, government, media and communities also play a significant role especially in any child’s educational development. Additionally character education is far more complicated than teaching math, science or accounting. If so, are our educators fully equipped with the relevant skills and knowledge to handle such a responsibility?
References
Ackerly, R. (2016, December 29). Should Schools Teach Values or is that the Parents’
Responsibility? Retrieved from The Genius in Children:
http://geniusinchildren.org/2013/09/17/should-schools-teach-values-or-is-that-the-parents-
responsibility/
Richardson, A. (2016, December 17). Academic Controversy. Retrieved from
LearningandTeaching2015:
https://learningandteaching2015.wordpress.com/2016/12/17/academic-controversy/
University of Waterloo. (2016, December 29). Experiential Learning. Retrieved from
UWaterlooCentreForTeachingExcellence: https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-
excellence/resources/integrative-learning/experiential-learning