Ethics Check Questions
The following scenario requires that you apply the Ethics Check Questions to determine what
action, if any, you should take and who you should speak with about this. Create a document in MS
Word format (.doc or .docx) and propose, in 1,000 to 1,500 words, a resolution to the following
situation:
A verbal argument between a substitute teacher in the next class and a student has escalated to the
point of disrupting your class. You watch as the substitute teacher attempts to prevent the student
from leaving the classroom by holding him by the shoulders. The student retaliates by pushing the
teacher. It appears to you that the substitute teacher strikes the student during the altercation. You do
not know if it was intentional or accidental.
You are asked to take over the class while the substitute teacher goes to the principal to report the
incident.
The student has since disappeared. The other students are upset and want to talk about the incident.
Some students tell you that the student was rude and belligerent, which led the substitute teacher to
say he had better things to do than “babysit a group of rude teenagers”. The student in question had
responded, “Well, you don’t have to babysit me, ” and had attempted to leave the room.
You are faced with one immediate and one imminent decision:
1. You are unsure as to whether you should engage in further conversation with the students
about this incident.
2. You know the principal is going to ask you what you saw. You are unsure about what to say
about the apparently physical altercation.
What are you going to do?
