Human interactions are guided by their morality or the ethical values that human beings hold close to their hearts. Societies have different sets of morals and values that drive them, which every community member is expected to conform to (Ciulla, 2014). Most of the time, different societal settings have other ethical requirements for their members. For instance, the ethical requirements among a group of friends might be different from the larger school institution's ethical requirements. I was recently caught between adherence to the moral code we share with my friends and the school's moral code. The Situation
In a recent test in one of our classes, the instructor stated that no form of cheating in the test would be condoned. The instructor also encouraged us to practice morality following the school philosophies and report anybody who would be caught cheating in the trial. As we sat in the exam room, I saw one of my friends using their phone to google answers to the test. The instructor could not see my friend, but I could see that they were cheating. When my friend realized that I had seen what they were doing, she signaled me to stay quiet about it. My friend knew that I would not alert the teacher because a morality code bounds us as friends. We believe that friends do not tell on each other. Soon afterward, the instructor reminded us to be on the lookout and re[port anyone who would be cheating.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The Choices
One of the choices I had was to report my friend to the teacher because the school has a strict non-cheating policy. The teacher had also kept reminding us to report anyone who was cheating. On the other hand, I had the option of staying loyal to my friend and maintaining the moral standards we have for each other as friends. If I took the first choice, I would be defying our code as friends. If I took the second option, I would be violating the code of ethics outlined in the school policies.
The Decision
I decided to stick by the code of ethics that rules our friendship. I have been in sticky situations in the past, and my friends have always stuck by me. Therefore, I decided that our friendship was much more important than a moment of virtue and self-chastity.
The Theory
One of the theories I applied in this issue is the moral rules of Emile Durkheim. According to Durkheim, the center place of morality is a central morality that commands its moral precepts. Through the central moral authority, an individual feels external pressure to conform to a specific ethical code (Riley, 2014). In my case, I was pushed by my friend's signal to conform to our moral code as friends. Durkheim states that obligation is one of the basic rules of morality. I felt obligated to protect my friend instead of exposing her to the teacher.
The second theory that I applied in the scenario is Zygmunt Bauman's definition of modernity ethics. The scholar discussed that modernity ethics discusses that the self is guided by a universal code of ethics used as a norm for social domination (BEST, 2016). In theory, institutions such as schools are pushed by a universal code of ethics to keep their students in a law-abiding form. For instance, our school has a policy against cheating in academics, and it governs all students to abide by the school's guidelines. I chose not to conform to the school's overall ethical policies about not cheating in exams and conformed to our friendship ethics.
References
Best, Z. B. S. (2016). Voice and the generalized other in the ethical writings of Zygmunt Bauman. In Beyond Bauman (pp. 58-76). Routledge.
Ciulla, J. B. (Ed.). (2014). Ethics, the heart of leadership . ABC-CLIO.
Riley, A. (2014). The social thought of Emile Durkheim. Sage Publications.
