Note: I’m unable to make our practicum meeting this Wednesday, so these are my summaries and personal reactions that would normally be presented in class discussion.
Ethical Leadership: ERIC digest, published June 1996. School leaders make moral decisions in the educational setting on a daily basis. Indeed, they have a responsibility to “create an ethical institution.” The authority of the school administrator itself is rooted in morality. Staff members are loathe to fully support a principal who doesn’t demonstrate integrity in their personal and professional lives. The ethical dilemmas that principals often face generally have to do with a decision between two competing interests within an educational system. Administrators, then, should possess a set of ethical standards that they routinely live out, and be willing to rely on them in times where an ethical decision must be made. Good educational leaders should also be willing to look at a variety of perspectives before moving with a given decision, including giving a fair hearing to ideas that may be in direct conflict with their own ideals. Rather than get caught in an either/or situations, principals should be willing to look for the third alternative that creates a win-win situation for both parties. Virtues that good leaders must possess include:
- Honesty
- Courage
- Restraint
- Stewardship
Ethical leadership, then, is not just a skill set, but involves “basic human integrity”. It is practiced on a day-to-day and year-by-year basis.
Ethics Morals Values: Pinning down principles can make living by them easier. The Oregonian, March 2006. This article wasn’t specifically intended for educational leaders, but instead hits on the ideas that connect leaders of all institutions. It’s interesting that the Oregonian–perhaps not unexpectedly–begins the article with an fallacious either-or argument. Which rule do you live your life by: Do not lie, or strive to be honest? They reason that if you select “do not lie”, your ethics are somehow rooted in religion or other shame-based upbringing. If you choose “be honest”, you have a more advanced set of personal ethics. Thankfully, though, they allow the reader some wiggle room by acknowledging that it’s a sticky question, and one not easily or assuredly answered.
The article seems to spend a great deal of time discussing the crossroads of religions and values. Violence rooted in religious conviction, for example. Or the implications that religion necessarily breeds intolerance (although there is ample sociological evidence to support that idea.) My biggest criticism of this article is that it fails to adequately discuss the importance of ethics in our lives. Instead, it only attempts to explain why we Educators need to maintain a personal and professional distance between themselves and their students
- Maintain integrity in their relationships with other educators
- Maintain integrity within the educational system itself
I’m not completely sure why Lewis & Clark has selected this article for required reading about ethics in school administration. It seemed to be more bogged down in the effects of religion on our moral and ethical dilemmas than it does the actual process of resolving them.
OAR 584-020-0035: The Ethical Educator. The summary of this state law is:
- Maintain a professional and personal distance between the educator and students
- Maintain integrity with working with other professionals
- Maintain ethical practices within the educational realm itself.
The Corporate Mystic: How to Recognize a Corporate Mystic. Some ideas I gathered from this chapter:
- Corporate mystics have a passion for the truth. An obsession, even.
- Fairness and integrity go hand in hand. Reduce one, and the other goes down with it.
- Self learning: I believe that this is the heart of leadership in education.
- Contribution: I try to live by the values of moderation, conservation, and contribution. I’m not surprised this is on the list.
- Spirituality: This book references Steven Covey quite a bit, and I’m not surprised. I valued the spiritual importance he placed in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
- Distant vision and close focus: One of the things I appreciate about our own district leadership is that they are keeping an eye on the future without neglecting our needs of today.
- Balance: You can either work harder or work smarter.
