EDLD 5388 Week 5 Discussion Post

In the words of that great American prophet James Morrison, "This is the end..." Well, EDLD 5388 is almost over and I can't say that I'm sad.

Observation
“Honesty is the best policy”, have you ever heard this adage? I’ve read it in books, seen it said in movies, heard my friends, family, and even parents say it. It sound great! Saying only that which is true and honest. I’ve heard people say things like, “When you only tell the truth you don’t have to remember what you say.” All of these little wisdom nuggets are great, accepting one little wrinkle-dinkle: People do NOT respect honesty. Sure, honesty is great so long as the person that you are delivering the honesty subscribes to the same opinions as you. However, when you share your honesty with someone that might just disagree with you and your honest opinion then all bets are off.

Reflection
I’ve seen this for a number of years. When people share their true opinions they can get vilified, terrified, and crucified (sorry, just had to use three ied’s). Even when a person asks you a question and you look them in the eye and tell them the honest truth it can blow up in your face. I know that this moral dilemma brings up a tad bit of discussion but it has just stuck in my craw (sorry for using another colloquialism here) for a while now. Honesty should be good always. I can’t really understand when being un-honest is good. I hear folks say, “Well, I was trying to protect their feelings…” which is pedantic and placating, and it NEVER serves to protect feelings. When the truth comes out, and it ALWAYS comes out, the feelings of the person that you were trying to “protect” will be severely damaged.

Translation
Just tell the truth. We are all working at public schools, funded by public dollars, and serving the children of the public. Therefore, don’t make everything under the sun a closed-door affair. Don’t keep people in the dark. What separates our military from those of the other countries of the world is that we let everybody, general down to private, in on the plan of attack. Maybe everyone is not in on every decision but there keeping vitals hidden is ridiculous. When one teacher has a problem with another the principal needs to ask the accuser to talk to the target face-to-face. If the accuser is not willing to do so, the principal needs to inform them that he or she will talk with the target about the incident. If the accuser balks then the two parties need to be brought in together to settle differences. If the accuser still balks then the principal should say, “I’m sorry, then at this point what you are saying is gossip and I cannot be a part of it.” This will take a bit of maturity and strength of will on the part of the principal but in the end everyone says that they want a strong leader full of moral resolve, right?

Application
Yeah, I’ve already answered the application part of this.