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A teaching team from the middle school of Discovery Day School, a K–8 school in rural New England, is committed to serving the needs of each of its students. It is with those best interests of the students in mind that one member of the teaching team, Jill Vega, found herself in an ethical dilemma.
Vega’s colleague Nancy Smart, a new and energetic young teacher, has designed a cross-curricular experiential learning trip to extend classroom learning in the field by providing valuable experiences that will bring current and future lesson plans to life inside the classroom. The team has done its homework about the logistics and costs of bringing nearly 50 middle school students to New York City.
Unfortunately Smart has just joined the school this year and this trip was not budgeted last spring when financial decisions were made for the school year. The school’s leaders have been enthusiastic about the trip, but left it to the teaching team to plan for raising the money. Since the team is considering proposing an individual financial commitment from parents for the trip — along with fund-raising by parents, faculty, and students — Vega feels conflicted about being involved with the project. Although she’s eager for all students to have the opportunity to travel to New York City, she’s also sensitive to the additional financial cost being placed on families.
While many of the students who attend Discovery Day can easily afford this trip, not all of them can. Vega knows that the costs will be a burden for a few households, even if they would be too proud to say so. Additionally, these are the very households where both parents work and would have less time to devote to fund-raising. As the team’s planning process unfolds, Vega privately struggles with the conflict between meeting the needs of each student versus meeting the needs of most students, an individual-versus-community dilemma. Vega would hate to prevent the majority of students from a positive learning experience in New York City. On the other hand, she feels that if each student is expected to learn from the school’s curriculum, then the trip should unfold so that it’s available to everybody.
Resolution
Motivated by the guiding principles of fairness and compassion, Vega proposes that before getting much further in its planning, the team should reach out to parents and get their feedback about the costs of the trip, and the need to fund-raise. She underscores the real possibility that some parents will not speak up even if the trip poses a financial burden, and urges her colleagues to explore the willingness of all parents to pitch in so that all students can attend the trip — even if that means some parents contribute more hours and effort than others. Teachers present the idea during a parent–teacher conference in which they outline the costs in dollars and time for the planned fund-raising efforts.
All parents are enthusiastic about the trip, and are happy to help fund-raise so that everyone can attend. A committee of parents devises a plan that simply raises and pools all the money, never singling anyone out. In the end, the collaboration of parents in providing the trip for everybody makes the learning experience even more meaningful for all.