Issues in education - Commentary

The word honesty denotes truthfulness, integrity – positive, admirable values. Should honesty always be a guiding principle in our lives? A student, several years ago, in responding to the essay topic: Honesty is the best policy  opined that honesty is not always the best policy. She illustrated her answer with the example of examinations. According to her, a person will find herself/himself in situations when she/he has to cheat. If passing an examination well meant that a person would get into the best schools, and getting into the best schools would determine that person's successful future, (a belief in her culture) then it would be all right to cheat. She did not examine the consequences that a person could likely face if caught. The potential benefit of cheating, to her, it would seem, far exceeded the costs. The nature of the environments in which we work We are working in environments in which governments and businesses have been trying to cement what is often ...

I am hearing the resounding "yes" of most of you who are reading this article. "Of course we are professionals!" But, what exactly makes you a professional? I can still hear you. Your responses are many and varied. Some of your responses are coherent. You know exactly why you are a professional. Some of your responses are incoherent. You believe that you are a professional but you are finding it difficult to articulate your reasons for your belief. A number of scholars in many fields - Education, Business,  Government, among others - for example, Donald Schon and M. Noordegraaf who have engaged with the study of professionalism, have suggested, among other things, that there are some key components of professionalism. These components are as follows: There is a knowledge component. That is, the area in which one claims to be a professional has some specific knowledge associated with it. Having gained the knowledge associated with our areas of interest, kno...

The word honesty denotes truthfulness, integrity – positive, admirable values. Should this value always be a guiding principle in our lives? A student, several years ago, in responding to the essay topic: Honesty is the best policy , opined that honesty is not always the best policy. She illustrated her answer with the example of examinations. According to her, one will find herself/himself in situations when one has to cheat. If passing an examination well meant that one would get into the best schools, and getting into the best schools would determine one’s successful future, then it would be all right to cheat. She did not examine the consequences that one would likely face if caught. The potential benefit of cheating, to her, far exceeded the costs. I was reminded of this incident recently when a prominent high school that has been going through a rebuilding phase was in the news, not for the improvements it had made within the environment of the school, not for the successe...