ETHICAL DILEMMA PAPER
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Ethical Dilemma Paper
Juliana Steers
Johns Hopkins University
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Dilemma
Kayla, a 7th grader, comes to see you about her discomfort with two boys from her math
class. Kayla explains that these boys are handing her nude pictures to pass to a boy who sits on
the other side of her. She has asked them to stop, and she refuses to pass the pictures, but they
always lean over her desk and pass them in such a way to make certain she sees them. Kayla tells
you she reported this to the teacher who told her “not to make a big deal out of it,” nor has the
teacher made any attempts to stop the practice. Kayla is looking for you to help.
Define Problem Emotionally and Intellectually
This ethical dilemma presents many components that need to be considered and defined
before an appropriate plan of action can be made. My first reaction to the problem is to feel
sympathy for Kayla and to want to help her once again feel comfortable in her class. Also, I want
to make sure that the boys realize this is inappropriate behavior and materials to bring into the
school. In addition, I feel disappointed and negative towards the teacher since Kayla says after
reporting the problem, the teacher dismissed her and took no action.
The facts of the situation are as follows: Kayla has been uncomfortable with the boys’
behavior in her classroom and has stopped participating by refusing to pass the nude pictures, the
boys have continued to show the nude pictures, and she has brought all of this to the attention of
her teacher and they have failed to take any action other than to tell Kayla to essentially get over
it. All of this information is coming from Kayla herself and my first inclination is to believe her.
However, it would be important to talk with the other parties involved, including the boys and
the teacher, to make sure that the whole story is being told. Depending on my previous
relationship with Kayla, I might be able to determine whether parts of the situation are being left
out in her favor or if I believe her full account. In any case, I would need to be open to hearing
other sides to the story and realizing that Kayla’s account is just that, her account.
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ASCA and ACA Ethical Codes and the Law
When considering this dilemma, the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors, the
ACA Code of Ethics, and the law should all be consulted and examined. I first looked to the law
when confronted with this dilemma because I was unsure whether this conduct is considered a
minor case of sexual harassment because it involves showing nude pictures to an unwilling
participant. I found that the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights’ definition of
sexual harassment includes “touching of a sexual nature; making sexual comments, jokes, or
gestures; writing graffiti or displaying or distributing sexually explicit drawings, pictures, or
written materials.” For this reason, I would define Kayla’s situation as one of minor harassment
as she is being forced to see sexually explicit pictures when she has made it clear she doesn’t
want to. However, I also realize that Kayla has not been physically harmed in this situation that
she has disclosed and that the material being displayed is not a sexually explicit representation of
her, which would in my opinion be a higher level of sexual harassment. In any case, I am
interested to see what the specific definition and how this law has been interpreted into policy at
a district or school level.
In addition to the law, there are several ASCA standards and ACA ethics that apply to
this dilemma. The ASCA standards A.1.a-A.1.e deal with the school counselor’s responsibilities
to students including being “concerned with the educational, academic, career, personal and
social needs” of every student as well as promoting the “welfare of individual students and
collaborat[ing] with them to develop an action plan for success.” These are important for this
situation because not only should a counselor take action against this uncomfortable situation for
Kayla, but I should also work with Kayla to make sure that her needs are being met. ASCA
standard A.2.c focusing on confidentiality is also important here. From the scenario it seems that
Kayla isn’t too concerned about keeping the situation confidential and rather cares most about
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fixing the situation. However, I would want to make sure to talk with Kayla about my plan of
action and to help her understand that I will likely have to talk with the boys, parents, and the
teacher about what she has shared.
ACA ethics also have some weight in this process as well. Section A.4.b. focuses on
personal values and how counselors avoid imposing their own values and beliefs onto a client or
situation. This seemed relevant here because I recognize my own feminist leanings might play a
role in my decision process. While I think that this situation would be equally as disturbing if the
genders were reversed, I want to make sure that in this situation I don’t align with Kayla at the
expense of being fair to the boys or teacher. In addition, Sections A.7.a. and A.7.b on
confidentiality and advocacy are also relevant to this dilemma. Before making plans to advocate
for Kayla in the school, I want to be sure to obtain her consent or talk to her about needing to
break that confidentiality.
Chronological and Developmental Levels
As Kayla and the other boys are in 7th grade, their developmental level needs to be
considered when planning a course of action with this situation. All three students are between
12 and 13 years old meaning they are somewhere between the Industry vs. Inferiority and
Identity vs. Role Confusion stages of Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development. Taking this
into consideration, I would want to remember that the boys are likely at the stage when they are
not only becoming interested in their sexuality but also concerned with how they appear to their
peers. It’s possible that this is not about being malicious toward Kayla, but instead about starting
to think sexually and testing their boundaries with peers, especially since Kayla is a girl. In
addition, Kayla may be operating from the Industry vs. Inferiority stage as it is fueled by a sense
of morality and doing the right thing. She may have a clear understanding that these nude images
are not considered appropriate or ‘right’ from previous messages she’s received. Kayla could
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also be farther along in her development and knows that this is not a situation she is comfortable
with and doesn’t care about fitting in with these peers. Hopefully the meeting with Kayla would
allow me a better understanding of where she fits developmentally and how that impacts my next
steps.
Setting, Parental/Guardian Rights, and Minors’ Rights
All of the students involved in this dilemma are in 7th grade, which means that parental
rights along with minors’ rights come into play within the school setting. I definitely think that
all parents involved should be made aware of the situation because it’s happening on school
grounds and they are sexually explicit pictures. Before talking with parents, I would want to talk
with the students first and communicate the importance of telling their parents to try to keep
some of their trust in tact. I would also give them the option of how to inform their parents. All
of the students might be hesitant to tell their parents: the boys because they know their behavior
is inappropriate and punishment at home might be waiting, and Kayla because she might feel
some embarrassment about the whole situation. However, I think in this situation, all 3 sets of
parents have a right to know what’s happening with their children.
Moral Principles
Kitchener’s basic moral principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice,
and loyalty are important to a counselor’s decision-making process. For this particular dilemma,
I think beneficence, justice, and loyalty are most relevant. More than just doing no harm,
beneficence is about actively doing good and providing help to the client or student. In this
situation when Kayla is specifically looking for some help and action, beneficence seems very
important. That’s not to say, of course, that while making the decision I shouldn’t also strive for
nonmaleficence, but I think in this situation, my focus should be on making steps to actively
improve the situation. Justice is also an important principle to consider here because one of my
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core beliefs about a school is that it should strive to create a safe and comfortable learning
environment for all students. At this moment, Kayla’s academic performance is being threatened
in this class because of her discomfort. It’s also reasonable to believe that Kayla’s trust in the
teacher has also been compromised. Loyalty is also important in this counseling situation
because after I make it clear to Kayla that I want to help rectify the situation, I need to stick to
my word and do all I can. This is especially important given the teacher’s lack of action.
Potential Courses of Action and Consequences
Pros
Cons
1. Do nothing.
Potential Course of Action
I see no benefits to doing nothing
in this situation.
2. Meet with boys separately to
discuss their behavior and
explain why it’s inappropriate
and unacceptable. At those
meetings, I would also tell the
boys that I would need to inform
their parents about the situation.
Lastly, I would meet with the
teacher and hopefully find out
more about their involvement, or
lack thereof, in the situation and
determine whether more
professional development needs
to take place.
This potential course of action
would allow me to meet with and
hear from the boys. It’s possible
that this behavior is stemming
from something more serious,
and if not, the boys still need to
understand that it’s not tolerated
at school. I will also talk to the
boys about having to tell their
parents about their classroom
behavior. I do think this case can
be classified as harassment and
parents need to be involved.
Lastly, meeting with the teacher
is also very important to make
sure they are fully informed and
creating a safe and comfortable
environment for all students.
Doing nothing in this situation
would first and foremost
negatively impact the
relationship between Kayla and
me. She would no longer trust me
with any problems that may
come up. In addition, there’s no
reason to expect the boys will
stop their behavior in class,
which might ultimately begin to
affect her academic performance.
It would also be neglectful to not
have a conversation with the
teacher to make sure that they are
providing appropriate support for
all their students.
Depending on the school’s
policies and classifications of
harassment, this course of action
might be a little lax. The school
or district might have very strict
rules about sexually explicit
images or very clearly delineate
this situation as sexual
harassment. This would probably
mean that the first course of
action would be to inform the
principal or supervisor and then
go from there.
ETHICAL DILEMMA PAPER
3. Immediately report situation to
principal.
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The pros and cons of this course
of action again depends on the
culture of the school as well their
definition and policy toward
harassment. Immediately
reporting the situation to the
principal would ensure that I was
giving full disclosure to the
principal and that further action
would be taken. Hopefully after
reporting the situation to the
principal, all of the other actions
of option 2 would be made,
though that’s not guaranteed
here.
One con of this scenario is that,
again depending on the school
environment, I might essentially
be handing the whole situation
over to the principal for
disciplinary action only. This
might be detrimental for several
reasons: I might not yet have the
full story since I have only talked
with Kayla, the boys might need
counseling for a larger issue
rather than only punishment, and
the teacher in question might be
punished before their
participation has been confirmed.
Evaluate Selected Action
For this situation and my assumption about the school environment, I would pick option
2. From my understanding of Title IX and the implementation of harassment policies at public
schools, it seems that while it is usually written there is no tolerance for harassment, there is
often not a clear course of action other than to not leave it unattended. It’s possible that whatever
school Kayla is attending has a very strict and explicit policy about this, but for this scenario, I’m
going to assume that it’s more ambiguous and there isn’t a strict policy set into place. For these
reasons, Option 1 isn’t adequate as it continues to ignore the situation and Kayla’s discomfort.
Option 3 doesn’t allow me time or space to address the situation with the boys before getting a
higher authority, the principal, involved immediately, which doesn’t seem necessary as Kayla is
in no physical danger.
Option 2 has implications for several parties: Kayla, the boys, and the teacher. I believe
that meeting with the boys one-on-one will have the desired effect of understanding further their
rationale for bringing the inappropriate material to school and making sure they don’t continue to
do so. In addition, these meetings would allow me to talk to the boys about telling their parents
about the situation. I would tell them that their parents need to be informed, but give them some
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control over how they were told and whether they would like to do it themselves. One
consequence to consider from this scenario is that the boys might retaliate against Kayla telling
two adults about the situation. It seems that confidentiality is not as big of a concern to Kayla,
but once the boys receive punishment, they may either continue to bother her in class or act out
in another way to show their frustration. When this plan is put into action, these possible
outcomes can be watched.
After applying the test of justice, test of publicity, and the test of universality, I still feel
comfortable with Option 2. Justice examines my sense of fairness and I believe that I would act
the same if the situation included other individuals. I would also feel comfortable about my
course of action if it was reported in the press as I think that I have followed the law and
counselor ethical codes. Lastly, if another counselor consulted me about this situation, I would
recommend the same course of action to them.
Consult
Before implementing my chosen course of action, I would definitely need to consult a
colleague to make sure I’m on track with my decision process. This is especially true in this
situation since a counseling colleague at the school might have a better sense of the culture and
the clear or ambiguous and policies around harassment. I would consult the supervisor of our
counseling office, as she has been with the school and in the field for a long time.
She agrees that the incident does classify as minor harassment and that my course of
action is on the right track. Going directly to the principal might not get to possible roots of the
problem and it might get caught up into bureaucracy rather than finding a quick and fitting
solution. She recommends meeting with the two boys as soon as possible and then talking with
their parents. Then, she agrees that talking with the teacher is imperative. She points out that it
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would also be important to fill the principal in at this point, particularly to address the situation
with the teacher, but also to keep them comprised of the other steps I’m taking.
Implement Course of Action
After taking all of these steps, I now have a clear course of action to implement. Step 1
would be to comfort Kayla and ensure that the matter will be addressed. Secondly, I would call
the boys individually into my office that day to discuss their behavior and find out if there’s
more to the story. As long as nothing drastically changes in the story, I would also talk to them
about telling their parents and give them the option of sharing that themselves. Third, I would set
up meetings with the students’ parents, either through phone or in-person in the hopes of keeping
them fully informed and aware of their child’s actions. Next, I would talk with the teacher and
get their side of the incident and let them know that I would be informing the principal and
further action might be taken. Talking with the principal would be the next step. Depending on
the principal’s thoughts and how they would like to proceed, my part in this dilemma would
either end here or continue in more difficult decisions. If my part ends there, I would follow-up
in the next few days with Kayla and the teacher to see how the boys were responding in class.
This is important to make sure that they are not still bringing the material to school but also that
they are not continuing to bother Kayla. At the very least, the teacher should now not ignore the
situation. Hopefully after this plan of action the class is back to a safe learning environment for
all students.