Ethical Deontological Ethics Case Study

Susie works as an 8th grade science teacher in a title one school in San Antonio. She teaches co-teach classes which means she works with the students who are intellectually below average and need the extra assistance and extra push. With her, she has another certified teacher, Jenny, who aids her in the classroom. My mom, aside from her co-teacher, has a teaching partner that works in the same department as her, and they coordinate lesson plans and teaching principles. Dennis, her teaching partner, is a diligent worker and helps with preparing power points for him and my mom to utilize. My mom however, has struggled with the lack of assistance in her classroom ever since Jenny became her co-teacher in 2013. Jenny is Dennis’ wife. The ethical

According to Kant and his fundamental principle of the categorical imperative, an action can only be good if its maxim, the principle behind it, is duty to the moral law (216). For Susie, this would mean evaluating who is being effected by the school allowing a couple to work in the same department when it’s known that district policy says otherwise. She has a duty to the students to give them the best learning environment possible. So when conversing with a higher power, she is not acting with a motive to further her personal agenda, instead she is acting in adherence to what is right and what she knows is a rule meant to be

Mill also defines happiness as pleasure and the absence of pain (229). Every decision we make should be made in consideration of which choice will increase the total amount of happiness. For Susie, there are two major ways to go about dealing with the ethical issue she faces using Mill’s theory. When looking at both plans of actions, she must look at the pros and cons of each choice, to determine which would give her the most pleasure and the greatest absence of pain. Susie’s first possibility could be to talk someone of greater authority in the district about the fault in her campuses compliance to their policies and have Jenny removed and relocated to a new position within the school. The benefits to this would be that the concern would be addressed, Susie gets the relief she was hoping for, and Jenny would still continue her job in the same school. On the other hand, Susie could be seen as “the rat” and she could lose the relationship she has with both Jenny and Dennis. If Susie were to not chose this first option, her other possibility could be to not say anything to the district and instead talk to Jenny and Dennis directly about the personal issues she is having with their work ethic. The pros to this option could be that Susie maintains a professional