Discussion Post: Play the Expert
Prior to beginning work on this discussion, review the following websites, and read the following required articles:
1) Ethical Decision Making.
2) The Difference Between Deductive and Inductive Reasoning.
3) ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors.
4) To Tell or Not to Tell: The Fine Line Between Minors' Privacy and Others' Right to Know.
Play the expert in the following scenario and apply ethical decision-making to your rationale and actions. Be mindful of section F in the "ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors" (p. 8):
When faced with an ethical dilemma, school counselors and school counseling program directors/supervisors use an ethical decision-making model such as Solutions to Ethical Problems in Schools (STEPS) (Stone, 2001):
• Define the problem emotionally and intellectually
• Apply the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors and the law
• Consider the students' chronological and developmental levels
• Consider the setting, parental rights and minors' rights
• Apply the ethical principles of beneficence, autonomy, nonmaleficence, loyalty and justice
• Determine potential courses of action and their consequences
• Evaluate the selected action
• Consult
• Implement the course of action
You are a school counselor at a rural high school. You have been counseling a student, and he confided in you that one of his friends has recently engaged in sexual relations with one of the teacher's daughters. (She is a friend of yours.) He does not divulge the name of the other student and refuses to talk any further about the issue.
Address the following:
• What ethical considerations must be considered in this situation?
• How does confidentiality affect your considerations and actions?
• What options might you have to address the situation?
• Ethically, since this is hearsay, are you legally obligated to address?
• Using appropriate citations and references, explain how the empirical research, theoretical models, and ethical standards presented in the assigned resources suggest the importance of applying ethical decision-making strategies to scenarios such as these.
Consider the following questions when you reply to your peers:
a) What suggestions do your peers make that are well supported?
b) Does your peer's explanation provide a complete and elaborate understanding of decision-making and learning environments?
c) What clarifications would you recommend?
d) As the expert, does your peer address the potential problems that you personally might face as a "new recruit"?
e) What suggestions do you recommend?
The response must include a reference list. Using one-inch margins, double-space, Times New Roman 12 pnt font and APA style of writing and citations.