Professional Ethics in the Classroom

A few days ago, The New York Times ran an interesting editorial by Stanley Fish.  Fish is a well known professor and former university administrator who currently serves as the Davidson-Kahn professor of law at Florida International University.

The editorial discussed a House Bill from the state of Missouri that has received little national attention.  Called the Emily Brooker Intellectual Diversity Act, the bill, if passed, would address public advocacy in the classrooms of public universities in Missouri.

The case generated from an incident where a student was required by her professor to write a letter supporting gay adoption as a class assignment.  The student refused.  After a series of complaints and legal remedies, the case received the attention of the state legislature and the bill was proposed.

The issue of professional behavior in the classroom is an important one.  Faculty have a code of ethics that should be carefully and faithfully upheld.  The classroom should not be the forum for a professor to promote a particular point of view or position.  Advocacy is not endemic to teaching and learning.  Students have the right to be treated with respect and to be taught the facts, the various theories and all positions on an issue.

Our role as teachers is to help our students learn how to think, not to tell them what to think.  Our role is to develop in our students the ability to analyze and critique, to make important judgments about important issues.  Our role is to raise important questions and help students discern the right answers… the right answers for them.

Many colleges and universities have specific codes of ethics for their faculty.  These usually address basic responsibilities concerning meeting classes as scheduled, holding office hours, etc.  They also address obvious issues like appropriate behavior with students.  But issues like advocacy and promoting personal ideas and agendas can be more subtly yet equally inappropriate.

Being a college professor is a noble profession.  We have an extraordinary privilege to educate the next generation.  But we have an awesome responsibility as well.  We should take this responsibility very seriously.

(As always, your comments and questions are welcome.)