Professionally Speaking

Ethical dilemma case study 1

Initiated

"What camp?", I ask hesitantly.

"It's the Grade 9 three-day orientation. It will be a great way for you to get to know the students," my principal declares. "Yeah, it'll be your initiation into the school," quips the other vice-principal, David.

"Sure." My stomach is already starting to knot.

I've only been in the vice-principal role for two weeks. Now I'm leaving with 300 Grade 9 students, 40 senior student counsellors, 20 teachers and an organizational plan that befits a small military operation. The entourage consists of 10 school buses travelling in convoy. I clutch the large-size bottle of headache tablets that David presented to me for the trip.

I've been told that these senior student counsellors are "the best of the best." They have been recommended by their teachers and have been selected from twice as many student applicants. The lead teacher, Paulette, has everything carefully planned. She seems to be in control of bus groups, cabin groups, activity groups, group rotations, meal plans, spirit builders and even rainy-day activities.

Day one is no problem. There are no injuries. The students seem to be having fun.

The second day it is raining. When evening arrives we remind the student counsellors of their responsibilities. All students are to be in their cabins for the night. Anything unusual is to be reported to staff members. The clouds roll in again as darkness falls. While preparing for my rounds at three in the morning, I hear voices off in distance. I make a quick call to Paulette on my special hand-held radio, and then I'm off to investigate.

I see a string of Grade 9 girls being marched down the road ahead and placed in a circle in the middle of a field. At the lead are the senior counsellors. Then I hear the heavy feet of Grade 9 boys running down the hill. I watch as the senior students chase them into the field. The counsellors are running commando style, wearing night-vision goggles. The light from my flashlight reveals that the Grade 9 students are covered with shaving cream, toilet tissue and toothpaste.

Approaching a senior counsellor, I naively ask, "What's going on?"

"Don't worry, sir. We promise no one will get hurt. They're all having fun. It's a tradition." The senior counsellors appear to be proud of their leadership in this event. I am shocked.

Torrential rain, thunder and lightning begin just as we reach the camp. Paulette and I begin to check the cabins to ensure that all students have returned. While we're doing this, the electrical power fails. Luckily, we have flashlights. We continue to check the cabins, groping our way around the property. I'm sure that some students are lost in the woods. We desperately try to account for every single student and soon realize that not all of the students are in the cabins that they were originally assigned.

After an hour, Paulette and I conclude that two Grade 9 boys are still missing. We frantically organize the other teachers to search the woods around the cabins. We scramble in the dark and the mud, repeatedly calling out the names of the two students. Mercifully, we locate both students after about 10 minutes. (Every one of those minutes, however, felt like an hour.) They were hiding in the trees for shelter, afraid to return to their cabins in the storm.

I am relieved beyond words that all the students are accounted for. No one is hurt, though some are trembling, a few are crying and others are angry. Now I feel my rage beginning to swell. I cannot believe that these senior students could be so irresponsible. They have broken all the rules. They were informed of our expectations of them. We had meetings and discussions. They convinced us that they were ready and responsible.

In the morning I phone the school principal. The principal phones the superintendent and the school council chair. The Grade 9 students phone home. Our interviews with the Grade 9 students reveal that they were doused with shaving cream and toothpaste, decorated with markers, toilet tissue and nail polish, marched outside in the night and made to sing songs and read poems. One boy was taped to a tree.

Some of the Grade 9 students begin to develop colds. Some are upset that the counsellors seem angry with them. Others are in disbelief that the counsellors they trusted during the day turned on them at night. A number of Grade 9 students from a variety of ethno-cultural backgrounds claim they were singled out and treated worse than other students.

When interviewed, the counsellors reveal that they themselves were all initiated in Grade 9. They say that the initiation activity has gone on for at least the last 25 years. Several senior students tell stories about their parents, who were involved in initiation rites years ago. They insist that the Grade 9 students expect this initiation tradition of them.

Back at the school the parents of the Grade 9 students are demanding a full investigation and the resignation of the school administrators who allowed this to take place. One set of parents goes so far as to demand that charges be laid against those who endangered their children. They characterize the incident as nothing less than assault.

I can't believe the parents are taking things so far. I reluctantly consult with police officers to get their opinion on whether or not charges are warranted. Parents of the senior counsellors, on the other hand, are worried about potential consequences. They assert that their children meant no harm to the Grade 9s, and several remind us that they went through the same thing themselves. Fearful of repercussions, as their children are about to apply to university, parents encourage the school administration to take a calm, reasoned approach.

Some teachers add to the confusion. I overheard one group commenting, "It's just a minor hazing. It's always been done. It's just for fun. No one gets hurt. Remember, those senior kids are the best."

I am just one month into my vice-principal role. What have I got myself into? I feel like I am the one being initiated.

Reflecting on Ethical Practice

1. Identify the ethical responsibilities the educators (principal, teachers, vice-principal and superintendent) have toward the learners in this case.
2. What ethical principles or norms should a school possess?
3. Explore issues that are related to the culture of this school (power, privilege, tradition, silence, etc.).
4. Design a plan for developing ethical leadership for the students and the teachers in the school.
5. Explore the strategies the administrative team and faculty might employ to maintain trusting relationships with parents and deal responsibly and ethically with the situation.

Case Commentaries

This case reminds me of the John Dewey quote, "What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all of its children." In this case parents of the ninth graders are "demanding a full investigation" and parents of the senior counsellors "are worried about potential consequences" for their children. As I think about this, I wonder if there is a way for all the parents to be concerned for all the children. Is there a way that the administrators at the school could arrange for a conversation in which all the parents discuss the moral implications of this experience for both the seniors and the ninth graders? I imagine this conversation to be a space where, as Dewey suggests, all parents are concerned about the consequences for all students.

Kay Johnston, Professor of Educational Studies and Women's Studies, Colgate University

In this initiation process for vice-principals, it would appear essential to introduce steps that encourage the integration of new school administrators, ensuring, for instance, that the incumbent administrative team provides them with adequate accompaniment and support. This would certainly foster the development of strong and effective leadership among young principals.

Stéphane Thibodeau, Professor, Department of Education, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

Is it possible, I wonder, to create spaces where people can come together in genuine dialogue to tell their stories and be attended to in order to restory the landscape of school and allow new stories of school to flourish? I am not sure that strategies that work toward "presenting the facts" will create spaces for everyone's story to be told, heard, valued and inquired into, and in that way, allow the restorying that is necessary in the landscape.

As the administrative team looks for strategies to move forward, to hear the stories of the community that might lead to the change they are seeking, they need to allow for the possibility of composing a restoried story of school that picks up on what happened before and allows each person to be a part of, and locate her/himself in the new story. Restorying cannot be imposed. One story cannot merely replace the other, but we need to work to create spaces for dialogue where all participants' stories are told.

Jean Clandinin, Professor and Director, Centre for Research for Teacher Education and Development, University of Alberta