Kant On Cheating

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Under what circumstances would it be acceptable for a teacher not to report cheating?

As we have learned there are more considerations than a yes or no when it comes to cheating, reporting and ethics. Teachers and students are impacted by cheating. Cheating gives advantage to some and not to others; cheating disrupts the learning process. Teachers have moral obligations to self, to faculty, to parents and to students and not living up to this obligation creates challenges and is morally wrong. I will investigate two theories under what, if any, circumstances would it be acceptable for a teacher not to report cheating through analyzing two points of view. The first from Kant’s deontological ethics perspective and then from a virtue ethics …show more content…

The student who cheated may have had good intentions but with stress and death of a family member put that ahead of being morally right.
There is no ambiguity, everyone follows the rules. No questions asked. While school policies dictate how cheating is managed through the faculty this moral obligation is upheld by all teachers and is the moral responsibility of students as well. The responsibility is to uphold a culture of integrity. Cheating is wrong, under no circumstances even with good intention, would this be acceptable.
If we challenge that could cheating only certain circumstances be wrong? Applying principles of prima facie, defined as not being absolute (Rowan). The potential consequences of the teacher losing his job, the student getting expelled, other students relationships being impacted, how each would deal with the moral consequences in the future are all to be considered. The teacher could let the student away with the cheating knowing that his job may be on the line – that is a lot to ask, but letting the student get away with is also could put the student at a disadvantage later on. A lot of ambiguity with this …show more content…

The teacher needs to consider all the potential options from an individual moral perspective. Consideration is taken for how others would react or feel as a result of an action showing good moral traits of empathy and compassion.
There are three considerations where the teacher considered empathy; in the consideration of the parent’s death and the stress on the student, the fact the student came to discuss class and built a level of personal rapport and the level of embarrassment the student would feel if confronted for cheating. Consideration needs to be evaluated on whether or not to approach the student, interrupt them or have them reported. The traits he exhibited show he is virtuous and cares about his students.
Being morally good the teacher would also consider the result of any action taken. What he should do and what he actually does are two different things when analyzing virtues. A few questions we can ask are could not reporting the student could create stress for the teacher later on? What if another student saw the cheating and recognized the teacher saw as well? Would the student who cheated think they could get away with it again? Any action the teacher did not take could have long term impact and put others in jeopardy and a bad

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