Individual Freedom and the Public Interest This case presents the issue of the dilemma that may arise when individual freedom and the public interest conflict. While personal liberty is an important consideration in this or any case, so is the ethical responsibility inherent in being a teacher. The teacher must be responsible to not bring harm to students which means upholding moral principles. As pointed out in the chapter, people cannot be denied freedom to perform actions affecting only their own welfare, but they are accountable for actions that do harm others.
Thus in this case there are ethical and moral issues. The teacher is ethically responsibly to conduct herself in a manner that does not harm students. She is also responsible for the moral determination of what would bring harm and what would not. To resolve a situation such as this, individual case features must be considered. For example, while the teacher must not harm the student, each sit
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