Tests of Moral Courage

For this case, the needs of the individual and the community were of equal right but in conflict with each other. In addition, the individual was a minority making it more difficult to understand the issues. Specifically, the individual, a black minority disability student, was denied full attendance in a full inclusion classroom due to the disruptiveness of behaviors related to the disability. The student suffered from a learning disability and resulting behaviors that disrupted the classroom, which decreased the ability for all students to learn. While there is a legal mandate that demands equal education in a least restrictive manner to all students, this includes regular students as well. In this case the student was within his moral and legal rights to be taught in the regular classroom, since in most respects he was able to keep up, but on the other hand the classroom was also legally protected from any influence that would result in an unequal education. To add to the difficulty, the minority status of the student resulted in

. . .
takes courage to blow the whistle (p. 80) and act according to one's values and pointed out that four paradigms related to right versus right dilemmas involved in applying moral principles include: truth versus loyalty, individual versus community, short term versus long term, and justice versus mercy (p. 89). For this case the individual versus the community is the paradigm used to understand the dilemma and apply moral principles. This paradigm is appropriate since it both the individual and the community (classroom students) are being considered and both are in the right; both have the moral, ethical, and legal right to an equal education. Three-Resolution Principle Kidder presented resolution principles to deal with right versus right dilemmas: the ends-based, rule-based, and care-based principles. For this situation, the ends-based principle demands that the actions serve the greatest good for the greatest number. This principle was used in this case. It was decided that despite consequences to the student and the parent, the whole classroom was suffering from the student's inclusion and this needed to be changed. Beyond this, the decision was well thought out with the help of decision-making steps. Josephson Inst
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Kidder Kidder, , Dilemma Professionals, Institute Ethics, Paradigms Kidder, Ethical Updates, Principle Kidder, moral courage, student removed, student removed classroom, versus community, individual versus, student classroom, versus dilemma, equal education, involved applying, removed classroom, individual versus community, NY HarperCollins, Josephson Institute, versus community short, versus dilemmas, act moral courage, community short term,
Approximate Word count = 1608
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Tests of Moral Courage