It’s Time to Adopt “Code of Ethics”

 

We sometimes have hard times judging what actions are don’ts and what are dos when we do not have a code of ethics or a code of conduct. We often criticize the actions of others as unethical or immoral. However, there is no way to discern what specific actions are unethical or how to discipline those actions. Each person can easily justify his or her unethical action as not illegal, since virtually the only guideline is to abide by written rules and regulations. In such cases minor violations of rules, such as illegal parking, can be more penalized than unethical actions, such as shirking or excessive perk consumptions. As a result, we can be easily confused for we tend to agree that the penalty should be reversed in such a case.

 

All the participants of the university (faculty members, staff, students, and administrators) are co-producers of education. Participants and their interactions are at the center of much of what defines quality education. Faculty members and administrators share responsibility for ensuring instructional quality through continuous improvement and innovation. Students are also responsible for taking an active role in improving the educational quality of the university. In fact, the participants are all part of a learning community playing out interacting roles in the educational process.

 

Recently many institutions, including business enterprises, have adopted a code of ethics to provide guidelines for their constituents in performing their daily actions. Samsung Electronics, for example, set the following ethical standards for their employees: maintaining honor and responsibility; self-discipline, creativity and a challenging spirit; a sense of responsibility; maintaining a clean (anti-corruption) organization; respect for intellectual property rights; safeguarding of documentation and management of information; maintenance of healthy relations with colleagues; maintenance of a healthy corporate culture; and wise management of affairs related to political activities.

 

Just like in business enterprises and other institutions, we believe that ethical behavior is paramount to the production of quality education. We need to develop a code of ethics to indicate the importance of proper behavior of administrators, faculty, staff and students in their professional and personal actions. We need to foster ethical behavior through disciplinary systems to manage inappropriate behavior, and through honorary codes. The code of ethics for administrators can include, for example, due process of major decision-making, ethical guidelines for resource allocation, procedures to follow when electing the president of the university and the deans of colleges and schools, and so forth. The code of ethics for faculty can include, for example, faculty qualifications, maintenance of knowledge and expertise, contributions to practice, discipline-based contributions and faculty-student interactions. While entry qualifications are important, faculty members must be involved in continuous development throughout their careers to stay current. Faculty members should have in-depth knowledge in their teaching areas. They must have a deep understanding of theoretical, empirical, and practical knowledge of the subject matter they teach. In addition to providing quality lectures to their students, faculty members are required to make contributions in three major areas: learning and pedagogical research, contributions to practice and discipline-based intellectual contributions. If any of the faculty members fall short of the standards, there must be some sort of penalty. In extreme cases, they must be expelled from the university. On the other hand, if some of them are outstanding, there must be some sort of honorary or reward system.

 

The major role of the university staff is to provide support activities to faculty members and students. Faculty members and students should receive personalized services from the staff for research and course materials. Staff should provide personalized guidance to students in planning and implementing academic programs in choosing and pursing career paths.

 

Individual students must interact with faculty and other students with integrity, pay appropriate attention and dedication when they study, contribute to the learning of other students and exercise due diligence to perform academic standards. Individual students are also expected to abide by rules and regulations concerning student activities in their college life. For example, they must know they may be kicked out of the school if they cheat in examinations or term papers. They also should acknowledge that they can be separated from the school if they do not meet the academic standards and retention practices.

 

In sum, it is about time to adopt a code of ethics to eliminate any chaos that we might have with respect to action norms as participants in the production of quality education of the university. Let’s set action norms for each participant so that we can assure delivery of quality education to the learning community. We need to foster ethical behavior by setting disciplinary systems to manage inappropriate behavior, as well as a reward system to commend honorary or outstanding achievements.

 

 [#265, 266 Editorial]

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