Christina Galvan

Phil 3318
Final Paper
Word count 1,358

Social Media and Educators

The Case

Mr. X is a new teacher in his first 90 days within a new school district. While in his short

period of employment, he has made numerous friends with his colleagues and other

staff members. Mr. X has invited all the colleagues and staff members to visit his social

media page. On his personal website, Mr. X has an array of personal information about

his personal life. A fellow colleague visits Mr. X’s page and becomes immediately

concerned by what Mr. X has posted. Mr. X states that he is attracted to young girls,

more specifically “the younger the better.”

Ethical Issues

There are several issues at hand. The largest and most pressing issue would be the

safety of the students. As teachers, the ethical standard is raised beyond an everyday

citizen. Teachers are role models to their students and the community as well. While

technology has become a bigger part of everyday life, as teachers use it in the class

rooms as a teaching aide, as well a for research and keeping in contact with colleagues

and parents. It has become indispensable to everyday life. With all aspects of a

teachers career, care must be taken. Teachers are somewhat actors, while putting their

best face forward everyday for their children, parents, and colleagues, they also have a

personal life as well. People in general tend to separate their work and private life.

Most people have social networks or blogs that they participate in on a daily basis. This
might be where their personal thoughts, hopes, and desires are displayed. But, as a

teacher, should these medias be private or public for all to see and if it is public what

should the content be. Are there restrictions? On a private page, should a teacher

accept a friend request or follow request of the current student body? Even though a

teacher may be on their own time, their actions are a reflection upon teachers as a

whole as well as the district they belong to. Educators are held to the highest standards

with the students being of the utmost importance. So much so that teachers are by law

mandated reporters of behalf of all minors, to ensure each child’s safety. The colleague

is now in an ethical dilemma in whether there is a need to repot Mr. X. If this knowledge

goes unreported and there is an issue down the line, the stakeholders are many

compared to the single person of Mr. X. With the stakeholders being, the students,

fellow teachers, the school/district, and the community.

Utilitarian Theory

If looking at the utilitarian approach, the consequent theory will be evaluated. This

consist of two main aspects, the good which takes into account what the action will

produce (i.e., happiness, pleasure, freedom, or rights). Then there is the “right”, which

is what should be done with the “good” (i.e., maximization or distributive criteria).

Through classical utilitarianism, the right action is the one that maximizes happiness for

all, with no one more important than another. Classical utilitarianism takes into account

those who are affected directly with a higher priority than those who are far removed.
Through this approach, we can take a look at the action of the statement made by Mr.

X. Now we don’t know if his social media is private or public, but colleagues and staff

members have access to it. So in either case there is a possibility that the district,

parents, and students may also come in contact with the content on the site. This would

effect the school, the community, teachers as a whole, and the student body. The

students, who's safety is of utmost importance is in jeopardy, whether its their actual

physical safety or their mental state and being unable to have piece of mind when they

feel objectified by an authority figure. The school and district will come under scrutiny

as well as all teachers. The community will be in an uproar which has a trickle down

effect. Just the action of Mr. X posting such a comment, whether on a private of public

site has minimal if any happiness or “good” that is gained. So, the right in this theory

would be to not have such a threat to overall happiness for the mere pleasure of one

person.

Client and Professional

Even though a student/teacher relationship is not necessarily a client/professional

relationship, they are closely aligned. This is seen in the ethics that comprise teacher

ethical standards, as they run parallel to those in the psychology field dealing with

patient/psychologist ethics. In the client and professional ethics, the client is seeking

guidance from the professional. The case that seems most similar is the paternalistic

relationship. There must be a level of trust, that the professional will have the clients

best interest at heart. Trust is inherent as the educator has a high level of education

and knowledge and has promised to be held to an extraordinary level of standards.

Another aspect that is similar to the client/professional relationship is in the agency

relationship. The agency is to provide autonomy for the client. In this case the teacher

is there to provide an autonomous atmosphere to maximize the learning process.

If the client/professional relationship is examined with Mr. X and his statement in mind, it

would be very possible that his students may not have trust or faith in Mr. X. A

student’s performance is likely to suffer if they feel that their teacher is not displaying

appropriate actions that reflects behavior typical of a sincere and caring teacher. The

same is true for lessening the autonomy of the student. A hostile environment would

impede a students rights and freedoms to fully be engaged in the learning process.

Even though at this point, only Mr. X’s colleague has knowledge of the statement.

knowledge of the statement. The potential of the community, students, and school

board learning about the information are high, as it is posted on social media.

Ethical Decision

Although there is not any concrete evidence that exists that Mr. X would act on his

preferences, the statement should have never been made. Teachers are held to a much

higher degree of social ethics and morals. Students are entrusted to teachers on a daily

basis. So, teachers are looked upon to set above par standards, as their students are

watching and listening every second. To break trust with students has an irreparable

effect. If Mr. X has tendencies to get involved with young girls, he is purposely violating

his position as a teacher and has become a predator. In the case

that there is an advance is made upon a student, the faith of the community and

students will be deeply damaged. This effects all teachers greatly, as the trust in every
teacher would be compromised. Students would always have lingering doubts about Mr.

X and his intentions. There may be favoritism within the class which also effects the

learning process and the students autonomy. The school board will come under attack

as well. There are too many stakeholders that may be negatively affected by Mr. X 's

social media post whether anything substantial actually takes place. Teachers are held

as influential role models and their actions, whether private or public have a far reaching

effect.

Above is the worst case scenarios. So on the other hand, Mr. X may just have a certain

preference or look and nothing may come it his particular taste. Mr. X may be an

exceptional teacher that uses his own personal and private social media for an outlet.

As long as he is able to express himself in some form, he is able to keep his wants and

desires at bay. Many people have sexual desires that are nothing more than a mere

desire and have no impact on their performance in their job or personal life. Teachers

are just regular people who have a life outside of their job. Their job does not define

who they are and are entitled to a private life, as long as they are living within the laws

of society. As long as no one is harmed, each person is entitled to live their life and post

on social media as they chose. Freedom of speech is a basic American right.