“A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world.” – Albert Camus
Another year of schooling is about to start – at all levels – primary, secondary, and tertiary. I’ve been in school for most of my life (now, there’s a sad thought!) and over the course of my schooling, I’ve had so many different types of teachers. I’ve had the ones that go about their jobs like they truly love what they’re doing, and the ones that seem to go through the day like teaching is a burden.
But no matter what their teaching attitudes or stance might’ve been, I’ve learnt a lot from our teachers. Teachers teach more than just the subjects on the curriculum like Science or Math – and while they mightn’t realise it, they teach ethics as well. Their behaviour impacts their students strongly. And of course, it’s always best to lead by example, so we’re most likely to do as our teachers do, rather than as they say.
Much of my personal values and sense of ethics is a product of the influence of my school teachers. Of course, the major chunk consists of values directly instilled into me by my parents, but on some level, I have been influenced by my teachers.
My current value system is a hybrid of what I’ve been taught at home and whatever modifications my experiences have forced me to make.
And I realised how damaging it could’ve been if I had teachers whose values and sense of ethics were not that stellar. What if I had teachers that throw things and scream at their students, calling them names, belittling them?
If a student didn’t have a strong personal value system or positive role models, they could easily accept that sort of behaviour as being okay, or acceptable. And they might carry over that type of behaviour to the way they handle their patients when they become doctors.
Our teachers have great powers; they have the most interaction with us, especially during our young, impressionable years, when we’re still forming our opinions of the things around us and deciding how we want to fit into society.
More emphasis should probably be placed, when training teachers, about their role in moulding the values of their students. They have to be made to appreciate that values can only be transmitted in action – not just words.
Things like the importance of confidentiality and the importance of privacy could be emphasised by the teachers so that when the students leave the school system, they’ll be able to function like adults who are capable of respecting their peers.
Now in medical school, we’re having classes on ethics and professionalism. They’re trying to teach us to be the type of doctors we would like to take care of us – empathetic, kind, caring doctors. But is it too late? For many, those early formative years are when our characters get moulded. If that solid foundation wasn’t built all those years ago, can these classes now make a difference? For the sake of our healthcare, I certainly hope that they can.
Our teachers can hold great sway over how we might turn out at the end of our tenure at school; they could be the difference between whether we become successful professionals, or whether we go about our jobs in a very unprofessional manner. We need a solid foundation in professionalism, and our teachers can give us that, hopefully by their actions and not just their words.
