Personal Intergrity Issues




	ESE502 : The Class : Discipline : Integrity

Personal Integrity Issues

Technique: Deal with these as socialization issues rather than transgressions.

As noted in the developmental charting of ages and stages (see PEPSI model), there are various ages when students are more likely to have trouble with person integrity. For instance there are times when a certain amount of exaggeration is normal. There is a developmental phase when “not getting caught” seems more important than keeping a rule about telling the truth. Most children go through a stage of “taking things”. In some cultures and families, “things” are held in common and using another’s possessions is unquestioned. Further, as noted in the chart that follows, Kohlberg (1981) discovered that understanding right and wrong is developmental. For these reasons, deal with errant behavior by:

Giving the student the benefit of the doubt with first offenses.
Working as a class to develop guidelines for integrity, explaining reasoning involved in the expectations
Teaching alternative ways and accepted means to get needs met
Providing consequences which instruct rather than shame offenders
Focusing on self control and building of community and relationship
Using restitution as the guiding principle in providing consequences

Examples:

	ISSUE	RESTITUTION
Lying	Breaks down trust and damages relationships Demeaning to self, hurts personal esteem Damages personal esteem (empowerment)	Apologize and state the truth Journal reflection about perceived need to lie

Stealing	Deprives others of treasured things Destroys trust, builds dissension May cause grieving for another	Restore object, share own May need to agree to keeping temptations low

Cheating	Steals ideas from others, keeps self ignorant Destroys trust, ruins group cooperation Fails to gain important life skills for self	Admit learning problems Identify missing skills and Agree to tutoring and help

Plagiarism	Fails to give credit to those who worked for it Cheats self of reasoning, thinking and reflecting	Reword material and submit Learn ways to ask for help

Instances which are repetitive and pervasive probably will need to be handled as legal matters. It is important not to mortify a student, but it is also important to weigh that principle with the importance of helping a youthful offender to recognize the danger of behavior. It is also important to protect others from intentional abuse.

Strategy Behavioristic Cognitive Humanistic Physiological Psychodynamic

Program Behaviorism Essentialism Existentialism Perennialism Progressivism

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E-mail J'Anne Ellsworth at Janne.Ellsworth@nau.edu