Name of student: Daniel Diaz
Student Number: 830136797
Course and Group #: BC306 Ethics and Leadership
Professor: Neha Shivhare
Assignment Deadline: 4 may
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"Scenario C: The School Name Change*
You are a school board member for an urban school district. Most of the African American high
school students in the district attend Thomas Jefferson, making it the only high school where
minority students outnumber whites. Leaders—both black and white—from the neighborhood
surrounding Jefferson High have requested that the district change the name of the school. They
point out that the only black-majority high school in the district is named after someone who
owned hundreds of slaves, had at least one child with a slave, and expressed racist views.
However, some minority students and alumni defend the Jefferson name, noting that the school
has a long, proud history and is nationally known for its marching band and debate team. You
realize that renaming buildings that honor racist historical figures is a national trend. Yet, at the
same time, you recognize that Thomas Jefferson holds a special place in American history. He
was a primary author of the Declaration of Independence, a founding father, and is enshrined on
Mt. Rushmore. Tonight, the board will vote to accept or reject the neighborhood proposal. If
accepted, the process of selecting a new name would begin. Possible replacements include
abolitionists, local historical figures, Barack Obama, or the name of the neighborhood where the
school is located. Will you vote for or against the proposal to change the name of Jefferson high
school?" (Johnson, 2021)
"*Inspired by actual events."
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A vote for the proposal to change the name of Jefferson high school?
Cultural Identity
Is key for Ethical Leadership shape the identity of the community in which the is growing up, because
is in its community the place where the personality is nurturing by concepts of love-hate, good-bad,
right and wrong. This is called Cultural Identity and is influenced by beliefs, traditions, symbols,
customs and values that provides to individuals belonging to a community a sense of belonging and
fellowship with their peers the knowledge and acceptance of one's own cultural identity allows facing
those of others from tolerance and understanding, without feeling that the way of doing things of others
is a threat to one's own. Cultural identity is part of who you are and your own history. It constitutes an
important legacy that migrants carry with them and contribute to the society that gathers them, as much
as the latter offers them a new one. In the end, like all identities, the cultural one is porous, mobile, not
necessarily strict (Raffino, 2020)
However, cultural identity is not a fixed but dynamic concept, as it is constantly evolving, continually
feeding and transforming itself from external influence and the new historical realities of the people in
question. It should also be remembered that cultural identity, although it is generally linked to a
particular geographic territory or nation, may persist in groups or communities outside their country,
such as refugees, migrants, displaced persons or exiles (Significados, 2019).
Social Intuitionist Model:
Investigators continue to disagree as to whether logic or intuition plays the more important role in
moral decision making. However, nearly all researchers now adopt a dual process approach, agreeing
that both logic and emotion are essential to making good ethical choices (Johnson, 2021). As part of
this development in identity, it is essential to have the appropriate reference from educational influence,
that School, popularly considered as "the second home", will influence how people make and follow
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through on ethical decisions as the first step to making better choices; taking a systematic approach as
the second (Johnson, 2021). This logic is supported by Jonathan Haidt an American social
psychologist, Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University Stern School of Business:
Moral dumbfounding purportedly occurs when a person makes a moral judgment in a particular
situation, admits to being unable to adequately defend that judgment or decision with reasons
and arguments, but still remains obstinately and steadfastly committed to that initial judgment
(Haidt, 2001, 2007, as cited in: Stanley, Yin, & Sinnott-Armstrong, 2019).
Moral as the core of Ethics and Leadership
It is morality that defines identity, since it is the limits that personality finds and acts on. This is the
essence for rules and norms coexistence in the conduct of the people and part of social consciousness.
Marxism-Leninism, in its interpretation of morality and its demands, are based on concrete historical
conditions (Lenin, 1946). It helps with this analysis, to have a communist point of view, as morality is
the only way to the destruction of the old world, exploitation and misery.
The Foursquare Protocol
With this theoretical support about Cultural Identity, moral dumbfounding and the moral concept, it is
safe to proceed with Stephen Goldman’s protocol method to vote for the proposal to change the name
of Thomas Jefferson high school
– Protocol Element 1: Close description of the situation;
I am a school board member for an urban school district. Most of the African American high school
students in the district attend Thomas Jefferson, making it the only high school where minority students
outnumber whites. Leaders—both black and white—from the neighborhood surrounding Jefferson
High have requested that the district change the name of the school
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– Protocol Element 2: Gathering accumulated experiences in similar situations;
A real situation happens on the last January 2021 in the United States, with the San Francisco Board of
Education voted to rename 44 of its schools named after prominent figures, in an attempt to purge the
district of homages to what it said were controversial people with ties to racism, sexism or slavery
(Pietsch, 2021)
The commission had decided that schools named after figures who fit the following criteria would be
renamed: “engaged in the subjugation and enslavement of human beings; or who oppressed women,
inhibiting societal progress; or whose actions led to genocide; or who otherwise significantly
diminished the opportunities of those amongst us to the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness” in voice of Gabriela Lopez, the board president (Engle, 2021)
This change has an estimated cost of $10,000 per school, making a total of $440,000 American Dollars.
– Protocol Element 3: Recognize the significant distinctions between the current problem
and past ones;
A similar situation happened in 2020, in the Nova Scotia Province in Canada, the Halifax Regional
Centre for Education (HRCE) expressed that Sir John A. Macdonald High School in Upper Tantallon
will be renamed Bay View High School, while Tallahassee Community School in Eastern Passage will
be renamed Horizon Elementary School (Hodgins, 2021).
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Rename Sir John A. Macdonald High School began last November, after a years-long discourse on
the topic.
In words of Grace Alberts, student council co-president (April, 2021) "By having our name, we're
upholding values that our school does not support. In changing this name we're able to better support
our minority groups at the school, specifically indigenous people who've had to experience
generational trauma from the effects of Sir John A, Macdonald, and to move toward truth and
reconciliation" (Hodgins, 2021).
Tallahasee Community School renamed
HRCE announced that Tallahassee Community School in Eastern Passage will be renamed Horizon
Elementary School. “In a report put together by the Tallahassee Community School renaming
committee, they said that concerns were raised in the spring of 2020 that the name Tallahassee has
connections to slavery and anti-Black racism, as it was named after a Confederate state ship from the
American Civil War” (April, 2021).
In words of Michelle Myers, Chair of the Tallahassee Community School Advisory Council (April,
2021) “We are proud of the research we conducted in relation to the origins and history of our school
name. It has been a deep learning experience for us all. By renaming our school, we are eliminating a
barrier that can be interpreted as racist and solidifying our commitment to being part of the solution to
build an equitable society.”
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– Protocol Element 4: Situating yourself to decide.
My decision is to vote in favor of changing the name of Thomas Jefferson High School, as there is
enough evidence theoretical and practical that support the idea of inclusion and ethical performance as
the only way to grow in a society based on “Respect” (Fig 1).
Fig. 1 Respect flow (Salazar, 2019)
The great Mexican leader Benito Juárez taught on June 15, 1867 (Pola, 1905):
Entre los individuos como en las naciones, el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz.
(Among individuals and nations alike, respect for the rights of other people is what constitutes peace)
In top of all this analysis, it is clear that for make ethical choices, decision-making guidelines help.
Taking a systematic approach encourages teams and individuals to carefully define the problem, gather
information, apply ethical standards and values, identify and evaluate alternative courses of action, and
follow through on their choices (Johnson, 2021)
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Works Cited
April, A. (2021, April 1). Two Halifax-area schools to change names after controversy . Retrieved from CTV
News: https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/two-halifax-area-schools-to-change-names-after-controversy1.5371118
Engle, J. (2021, February 2). Should We Rename Schools Named for Historical Figures With Ties to Racism,
Sexism or Slavery? Retrieved from The New: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/02/learning/shouldwe-rename-schools-named-for-historical-figures-with-ties-to-racism-sexism-or-slavery.html
Hodgins, M. (2021, April 1). Two Halifax-area schools getting new names . Retrieved from Halifax Today:
https://www.halifaxtoday.ca/local-news/two-halifax-area-schools-getting-new-names-3595717
Johnson, C. (2021). Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership. London: Sage.
Lenin, V. (1946). Filosofía en Español. Retrieved from Diccionario Filosófico Marxista:
https://www.filosofia.org/enc/ros/mora.htm
Pietsch, B. (2021, January 27). San Francisco Scraps 44 School Names, Citing Reckoning With Racism . Retrieved
from The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/27/us/san-francisco-schools-lincolnfeinstein.html
Pola, A. (1905). Discursos y manifiestos de Benito Juárez. Recopilación de Ángel Pola volumen 2. Nueva York:
Public Library: A Pola.
Raffino, M. E. (2020, Septiembre 20). Identidad Cultural. Retrieved from Concepto de:
https://concepto.de/identidad-cultural/
Salazar, A. (2019, March 22). Respect: What is it, types, examples, learn and teach respect . Retrieved from
Cognifit Cognitive Test and Brain Training: https://blog.cognifit.com/respect/
Significados. (2019, Agosto 21). Significados. Retrieved from Identidad Cultural:
https://www.significados.com/identidad-cultural/
Stanley, M., Yin, S., & Sinnott-Armstrong, W. (2019, March). A reason-based explanation for moral
dumbfounding. Judgment and Decision Making, Vol 14 No 2, 120-129.
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