Ethics

It's been over a week since I last volunteered at Sao Mai, I can only hope I don't forget everything that I wanted to say. There is often a misconception between ethics and feelings. They are two different things and it is often said that feelings often deviate from ethics. Furthermore, religion is does not share the same ideas as ethics although religion can set higher standards of ethics and values. Ethics and morals are crucial because I believe that they truly define a person. If a person doesn't have any ethics, then I'd rather not waste my time or his associating.

I understand that in a room with about fifteen toddlers, it's hard to give all the attention that they need. But a problem that I see is favoritism in the classroom. I've been in the classroom when one of the teacher's twelve-years- old daughter visited the class. I do not think that that teacher would appreciate someone who was caring for her daughter to favor another child over her. They have a tendency to do this when the child is a faster learner because this makes it easier on the teachers. In this case, I've seen that the teacher kind of give up hope on some particular child and would try and spend more time on one child for a longer period. In another case, I've also seen her feed one child more when the child is happy and can scoop his own food out of the bowl. Also, last week we got a new student in our class. I noticed that he is always crying and I think that being away from his parents and loud noises causes him frustration. Today, I saw him crying with his hands over his ears and before that he was sneakily trying to get his bag and kind of escape the room because he was observant and watching the teacher and only moving when she was not looking. The point of this is to bring up the fact that I do not know for sure if it is that the teachers purposefully ignore some of the needs of the children or innocently unaware of the kids behavior and their reaction toward them. Overall, I just believe that attention should be fair and addressed accordingly.

I believe that cultural differences also play a significant role in ethics. Like I have said before, I don't believe that creating fear in a child is the best way to teach them. In my family, neither my brother nor I have ever been hit. The other day one of the younger teacher was about to discipline a child by slapping the child’s hand but I looked at her and smiled at her and she didn’t hit the child. I think that there is another way to teach and discipline a child. I do think that it is ethically wrong to hit a child but I do understand that culture and society is different in Vietnam and that I am no longer in the United States. Thus each culture has a different way of teaching and raising children because this is not only reflective in the classroom but also in the home. I do condemn hitting a child, but I also have an open mind to understand why teachers resort to hitting. Part of service learning is to understand how they organization works. There’s a reason behind everything, especially an organization like Sao Mai which is so structured. An important part of this is to remember that we are there to learn, and part of that is understanding the operations of the organization and the ethics of both the teachers and organizations while also keeping in mind of what is right and what is wrong.