Code of Ethics Would Help Guide Students
* As a parent of a student at the North Hollywood High School Highly Gifted Magnet, and a middle-school teacher, I would like to respond to the article by Steve Hymon (“School Needs Policy to Curb Cheating,” May 28).
A code of ethics is indeed necessary to help the students at the magnet be guided toward integrity, honesty and ethical conduct.
The School Leadership Council reaffirmed its desire to adopt such a code, but acknowledged that further study would be needed to produce one that would adhere to court rulings and state law regarding due process and teachers’ rights to determine final grades in a class. Such a code will help students understand right and wrong in complex situations, to learn when cooperation is acceptable and when individual work is the responsibility of students.
Education in the 1990s has blurred those lines, as students are encouraged to work cooperatively in preparation for collaboration in the world of work.
Learning this kind of personal responsibility should not create a stigma that follows students forever or interferes with their ability to succeed in college and beyond. It is no crime to insist that a code of ethics be fair and enforceable and that the consequences for unethical or dishonest acts be appropriate to the situation.
That is why I have volunteered to participate in the process that will create such a code--a positive statement of high standards for conduct to which the students at the North Hollywood High School Highly Gifted Magnet are expected to adhere.
MAUREEN SLOAN
West Hills
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