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By Lilio A. Paoliello Jr.
In Philosophy, ethics can signify what is good for an individual and for society. Through this lens, we establish a natural sense of duty in
relationships, and in society.
For a while now, I’ve been participating in numerous discussions on the implementation of a new subject in school called “Ethics and
Citizenship.” This
new subject would work with students to give them basic notions of life in society, incorporating Philosophy, which is no longer a part of the basic
school curriculum today. The subject would aim to help young people coexist better both in and outside of school.
This subject exists in many schools, but the problems continue, as they are rooted deeper, within the very foundation of education. Ethics and citizenship, from my perspective, is not simply a subject in school, with a fixed hour dedicated to them, and a Professor responsible for giving tests and grades. Rather, this should be the basis of all of education. Not to mention, the foundation of all human relationships.
To express these ideas better, I turned to my dictionary, my best friend at times of uncertainty.
*Ethics* – Part of Philosophy responsible for investigating principles which motivate, distort, discipline, or orient, human behavior, reflecting especially on the essence of norms and values present in society.
*Citizenship* – The condition of a person, as a member of the state, with rights that allow for participation in political life.
The first definition holds two key words: investigation and essence. I remember a film that I saw a while ago called *Teachers*. The story dealt with a young man who couldn’t find work after graduating from High School. Therefore, he sued the school claiming that the education he had received, was responsible for his unemployment. This made me think about the role of teachers. The teacher was played by the actor Nick Nolte, who decided to investigate, along with his students, what exactly was going on in the classrooms of this public school. He found a bit of everything. One teacher dressed up as historical characters to teach History. Another napped behind a newspaper while students took a test. One of the students asks Mr. Nolte to film the hallways, showing what goes on when the teachers aren’t looking. At that point, you see the teacher who suggested making the film smoking in the hallway.
Leaving the movie theater, I thought about the essence of what’s expressed on screen. A teacher, so liberal and modern, that he’s willing to collaborate to reorganize the school, even though it involves some not so good behavior. Is he being less ethical than those who let the school and its students sink into failure? Those who don’t want to see that they’ve got the future of society in their hands? “Do what I say, even though I don’t.”
The search for rights and duties of a citizen should be the very classroom, though it’s often not. The other day I saw an unfortunate scene. I was asked to be a coordinator for a class titled “Ethics and Citizenship.” During this particular class, the students watched a Cuban film, which illustrated an incredibly different society from our own, and introduced a discussion on ethics in Cuba. Through a typical Cuban family, one could see the bureaucratic day-to-day lived by those under Fidel. After the film, I though the teacher would start a debate in which students had to declare whether they were “for” or “against” the Cuban regime, discussing the consequences of a population, comparing and contrasting this with the Brazilian experience. Yet, none of this happened. Instead he launched into a political speech, talking favorably of the Cuban regime. After this, he promptly handed back their practice “Vestibular” (comparable to SAT). I think we all felt frustrated, the students and I. The teacher who taught Etics wasn’t so ethical.
I also remember reading an interview in Veja with Dr. Dr. Ben-Hur Ferraz Neto, a specialist in liver transplants. In the interview, he affirmed that the best health plan would be for operating rooms to be a black box. In these conditions of total non-transparency, just imagine how many fatal errors could be committed without anyone taking responsibility for them.
I think this could be a solution for the classroom, even though it seems completely unethical at first glance. In an educational institution people come together. Students and teachers, full of their own personal problems and anxieties, repeat themselves in a day-to-day dance. The black box is obviously a symbol. A box in which one can keep or record everything that has been done, everything that has been said in that environment.
In the same way that businesses don’t use a black box, no school would use it to clear up situations. And yet it could be helpful in certain situations of conflict, or as proof of crucial educational questions that may greatly influence the lives of children and young people studying in this environment.
I’ve taught at certain religious schools, which used a small transmission device, linked to the principal’s office to police students and teachers. Today
I hink that I could have participated in a better way. These school recordings should have given way to discussions about ethics that would contribute to creating better citizens, aware of their rights and duties. A reflection on whether their actions were good for those in class and for the society in which they live…