Category Archives: Ethics Assignment

These posts will be added to our Student Work menu item. This category should be used for submitting posts for our Unit #11 Assignment.

Ethics Assignment

Personally, I was happy to be on the pro-side of returning to in-person learning.  I have never been a big fan of remote learning.   For me traveling to and from school breaks up the monotony of everyday living.   It provides me with an opportunity to make new friends.   I enjoy those few minutes before class starts, which give you the opportunity to strike up random conversation with the person next to you.   Every semester I always end up meeting someone who needs help with classwork, and we usually end up creating a study group which meets before or after class to go over any points which need further clarification, or helping a classmate by proofreading their work, exchanging ideas and opinions to help take the project we’re working on to the next level.  I miss all that and I can’t wait to go back.

It was great to have an educator like Mrs. Buckley present during the debate.  It gave us an opportunity to hear an educator’s point of view and hear first-hand how remote learning has affected her as an educator.  It only reaffirmed my desire to go back to in-person learning.   One of the points my team members made is the fact that vaccines are more readily available in more places and without appointment.  This means we can take the necessary measures to make returning to in-person learning as safe as possible.   As was pointed out by Talisha, not everyone learns at the same pace.  Some people are more self-disciplined and work well independently.  Some have a better support system.  Perhaps, a parent or a sibling who can supplement the remote learning experience.  Others do not.  There is also the fact that prolonged school closures are likely to have a negative impact on children’s learning which may put them behind academically and may take years to get them back on track.

Remote learning has been challenging for me as an adult so I can only imagine how much more challenging it must be for kids in elementary, intermediate, and high school levels.  Even more so for children who have learning and emotional impairments.  Schools provide kids with more than just the tools to learn reading, writing and math.  They are a place where children can learn social and emotional skills, get physical activity,  access to medical assistance and coping resources.   Children dealing with toxic and abusive home environments lose the ability to escape these situations.   As pointed out by Professor Buckler, it’s difficult to determine whether there is a clinical neglect situation when you’re looking at these children via a camera.  When children are in school, educators can pull them aside, ask questions, build trust so that eventually, that child may feel comfortable enough to let them know that something is wrong.

I understand that there are risks with in-person learning and I don’t take those lightly.  However, many people have been infected with Covid-19 while working from home and participating in remote learning.  Most of us go out to the supermarket, laundromats, hairdressers, barbers, department stores, etc.   The risk of exposure isn’t eliminated just because we’re doing remote learning.  You can be infected with the virus anywhere.    During the holidays, my entire family was exposed and infected with Covid-19 because my sister got Covid.  She doesn’t know where or how she was infected.  She was working from home.  The only places she was visiting were the supermarket and the laundromat.  We can only assume either one of those places was where she became infected.   Interestingly enough, everyone, my parents, my brother, his wife, my sister’s husband, her daughter, they all tested positive and developed manageable symptoms.  Yet, I tested negative and had no symptoms.

I traveled to South America during Thanksgiving.  I had surgery during the pandemic.  I visited restaurants and family members during the pandemic.  I also tested regularly and always came back negative.   What I have made sure to do is to limit the circle of people that I visit.  I always wear a mask.  I carry hand sanitizer, and anti-bacterial wipes in my handbag always and use them regularly.  So far that’s worked for me.

As was repeatedly stated by Professor Buckley and fellow classmates, there is no right or wrong answer.   In the end, it’s a personal choice.  You can choose to do everything you need to do to minimize the risk of infection and return to in-person learning or continue to do so remotely.  Since the vaccine is not yet available for children under 16, and it is not expected to become available for them until next year, I suspect that schools will continue to offer remote and/or hybrid learning options to accommodate those of us who prefer to wait a little longer before returning to in-person learning.

Ethics Debate Reflection

Robert Calaf

April 28th, 2021

BUS311 – 1801

Prof. Brielle Buckler

Having been assigned to the team arguing for “students returning to in-person learning”, I had an opportunity to go more in-depth on this position besides the on the surface points of the issue I was hearing from friends and family. After the conclusion of the live debate, I found myself even more convinced that this is the right decision. Prior to the debate, I honestly did not find myself strongly supporting enough of either side to the point that I could not be easily swayed. What the debate brought to the surface for me that there is no black and white answer to this, there is no way to completely mitigate risk or potential impact to either side of the argument. Instead, this has become a conversation on whether the impact should be on the students or the teachers/staff and if a side should be impacted; how severe is the impact versus what mitigation tools are available. Based on the points my team has made and the research put together, I confidently believe that there are more ways to control risk to the teachers/staff then the educational impact to the kids and the secondary effects. This is because of the current availability of vaccines to society; an example is anyone 16 & up currently in NY able to get a vaccine without an appointment. Also with our continued increase in knowledge of the virus and how it transmits we can translate those lessons learned into protective measures in schools. What we can’t do, is allow our next generation of students and leaders to suffer because of a reduced quality of education. While there is a benefit in introducing them to technology and perhaps learning styles that may very well become the norm of future education; it is my opinion that our current educational platforms are not up to the task yet. There simply is just no substitute for human-to-human education. Especially when it comes to children that are most in need such as special needs children who require specialized services. The longer those children go without that additional help, the longer they are behind their peers in the educational curve. There are many children that also look to our schools as a beacon of stability in their lives, as a safe place, where people always look out for them. Those kids may come from a home in which abuse takes place or has a high degree of instability. Without access to their school via in-person learning, those at home issues will all but surely have an increased impact on their educational future. The last part for me that solidified my opinion were remarks from Professor Buckler and Mrs. Buckler. They expressed a desire not only as educators but also mentors to their students; that they wanted to return to the classroom. I believe that is where the magic of teaching takes place. Not only in simply learning the material being taught, but forming social bonds, growing more comfortable being out in front of others and leaving the class having grown a little bit more into who you will be in the workforce. There is something lost when a conversation is had over a laptop camera, humans are social creatures by nature; it is my profound hope that the next generation is not adversely affected over the long term. Only time will tell.

 

 

Remote Learning Vs In Person Learning

Talisha Smith

Business 311-1801

Professor Brielle Buckler


Being a stay at home Mother during the day I was unaffected by remote learning. I actually enjoy it better then in person learning. Its convenient for me and it allows me to be at home with my children. I am able to monitor them and I am able to keep them safe.  For my class debate I was chosen to argue that remote learning was best for our children’s future. My points were

  • It lessened bullying ( if children are being supervised like they are supposed to by their parents)
  • It stops the spread of germs that cause the common cold,flu and covid 19
  • we do not know the affects the vaccine will have on school age children since they have not been on the list for it
  • It creates independence for children to learn and study on their own
  • They will learn technology and how to use a computer which helps in the future

After hearing the other sides debate and argument I do agree with the points that they made such as

  • Children need to engage with other children
  •  Its easier for teachers to engage with students
  • Its easier for students to grasp the work being taught
  • Children need to have activities such as gym and playground time

I don’t think that it is any right or wrong answer, I believe it depends on each families situation. If people are lucky enough to stay home and be on top of their kids education they should go for it and the people who have to go to work its understandable that their children go to school. I think whatever works for the family should be done.

 

 

Ethics Assignment

There were a lot of great ideas and thoughts that were shared during the ethics debate that we had.  I had already had my own thoughts on this topic and also had done research on it a little like a couple weeks ago. I also enjoyed listening to the experience and thoughts of the professors mother because that also helped me to understand more of the whole situation. After the debate I pretty much just though that its a very complicated problem that was presented and there really isn’t any right or wrong answer as a couple of students stated during the debate, because you cant just make a blanket statement about what should be done by every parent, student, and teacher, because everyone’s situation is different.  At the end of the day I think that the option of both should be there because some parents may prefer their children stay home where its supposed to be more safe, and they can watch and help their children and make sure that they are learning well, whereas that may not be an option for other parents and they may want to send their children back to school so that they would receive the best education possible because they cant 100% be there at home. Its really just for whatever will get the child the best education possible, and for them to develop the skills necessary to succeed later on in life, because it is true that the earlier you develop certain skills, such as social, etc, the better you will be later on. During the debate it was brought up that maybe there can be some kind of mix of both online and in person learning and i think that might be a great idea because then you can get possibly the best of both worlds. Children need to develop their social skills early on in life and school is a huge part of that and if children aren’t going to school and meeting and interacting with new kids and adults and making new friends and having a good time, they can become more shy and that could hurt them in the long run. One thing that I thought were good things about online learning was that children are getting much more familiar with technology such as computers and are able to use them at very young ages now, which could really help them out later in life especially as the world gets more and more technologically advanced. Another positive that was brought up by Jaylen was that better teachers are available to all kids since with online learning the location barriers that would have previously prevented teachers from teaching in certain areas due to location are no longer there because it can just be over the computer from anywhere. In conclusion I think that a mix of both and the choice is most important, I think parents, teachers, and even kids, should decide for themselves what they would like to do, and the options should be available for whatever they want because teaching these kids is most important and we should be doing whatever we can in order to give these kids the best education they possibly can while keeping everyone safe and comfortable.