**10.2. Traditional, conservative approaches to solving moral dilemmas**

**Dilemma 7—The seventh dilemma** was about a students who made fun of a classmate who mispronounced words when he spoke.

The counselor said, "The dilemma was whether to punish the student for upsetting his classmate or to ignore the episode."

In this case, the school counselor decided to punish the offending student and to speak to him about the mistake he made in hurting the other student's feelings. Although the school counselor did not discuss the episode in class, he explained the mistake to the student and punished him appropriately for his actions.

**Dilemma 8—The eighth dilemma** was about a girl who cheated on an exam. The proctor (who is also the school counselor) saw that the student was using extraneous material during the exam. The dilemma was whether to approach the student during the exam and tell her that she was cheating or to discuss it with her privately after the exam.

The counselor said, "During the exam, I saw the girl using additional pages while she was writing […] and only after I was certain that she was cheating did I approach her and ask her to give me the pages."

**Dilemma 13—The 13th dilemma** is about a social event held in the home of one of the students. The event was considered problematic because a few of the students who regularly misbehave were likely to destroy property in the home of the hosts. The dilemma was whether the counselor should intervene and prevent the event from taking place out of concern that the problematic students would destroy the home of the host or to leave it up to the host to

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The teacher (who is also the school counselor) said, "In this class there are a number of students who are considered to be trouble makers and who are likely to destroy personal belong-

Here the counselor decided to intervene and to forbid the students from having the event and did not allow the student to host the event. He spoke to them directly and gave them strict

**Dilemma 15—The 15th dilemma** is about a girl who took a history matriculation exam. Her father is a history teacher in the school. During the exam, the father walked into the class and gave her the answers to the questions. The dilemma was whether the school counselor should report this event to his supervisors and jeopardize the man's future and his income or to act as if nothing unusual had happened, allowing such immoral behavior to repeat itself in the future and making it impossible to guarantee that exams would be given fairly and honestly. The school counselor said, "The history teacher entered the classroom and handed her the

In this case, the school counselor decided not to report the episode, taking a traditional

The main goal of the research was to examine the ways school counselors coped with social

In this study, we asked 15 school counselors to describe the dilemmas they encountered in

From an analysis of the dilemmas that we examined, we observed two different approaches: one expressed a more open, democratic approach to solving dilemmas and the other a more

Handling dilemmas in the more open, democratic way was characterized by an individualized, therapeutic approach to meet the needs of the students with close follow-up by the school counselor. This approach included many creative solutions to problems they encountered. The counselors emphasized the internalization by the students of their unacceptable behavior, met with the students, and raised the dilemmas for discussion in class by presenting

approach, protecting his own personal interests above the interests of the community.

and moral dilemmas in secondary schools for students with learning disabilities.

handle the behavior of the students.

**11. Discussion and conclusions**

closed conservative approach.

parallel examples [7].

their work and tell us how they handled them.

instructions forbidding the event from taking place.

questions so she could copy the answers on her own exam sheet."

ings in the home of the hosts."

The proctor, who was the school counselor, involved the exam coordinator who, on the proctor's word, rejected the exam.

**Dilemma 9—The ninth dilemma** was about a student who had saved a sum of money to participate in a class trip. Before the trip, the student's father needed the money and requested it from him. As a result, the student could not participate in the trip. The dilemma was whether to cancel his participation because his father had taken the money that he had paid or to try to find alternative sources of funding so that the student could come on the trip.

The school counselor said, "The student's father needed the money suddenly and that is why he asked his son to give him all of the money he had saved and not to go on the trip."

The school counselor said that the student should take the money that he had already paid for the trip back, give it to his father, and not participate in the trip. In this case, the seriousness of the harm that this caused the student (who had learning disabilities) was not taken into consideration. The school counselor did not attempt to find an alternative solution or to allow the student to come on the trip and to remain integrated in the class.

**Dilemma 10—The tenth dilemma** was about a group of students who decided to surprise the teacher and make him a party for his birthday. The students had not consulted the teacher about the preparations for the party. The dilemma was whether or not to continue with the plans for the party respecting what the class had organized or to stop the party plans because the teacher was strongly opposed.

The school counselor said, "The response of the teacher was very strong claiming that the plans were made without his knowledge, and was in conflict with the everyday work that should be carried out in a high school […]. The teacher expressed serious concern and asked that the party be canceled."

The response of the teacher was very strong and showed that he was unwilling to digress from the format of the curriculum. The teacher asked the students to cancel the party, but the counselor supported a more modest event.

**Dilemma 12— The 12th dilemma** was about two girlfriends, when one of them is very dependent on the other so much so that the stronger one exploits her and asks her for personal favors. The dilemma was whether to intervene to stop the exploitation or to ignore the situation and hope that the girl would find a way to end the dependence on her friend.

The counselor said, "One is following the other, when the second exploits her for personal purposes."

In this case, the school counselor intervened. He met with one of the girls privately and afterward met with them together. He explained more desirable ways of behaving toward friends and threatened both of them with severe punishment if the situation did not change.

**Dilemma 13—The 13th dilemma** is about a social event held in the home of one of the students. The event was considered problematic because a few of the students who regularly misbehave were likely to destroy property in the home of the hosts. The dilemma was whether the counselor should intervene and prevent the event from taking place out of concern that the problematic students would destroy the home of the host or to leave it up to the host to handle the behavior of the students.

The teacher (who is also the school counselor) said, "In this class there are a number of students who are considered to be trouble makers and who are likely to destroy personal belongings in the home of the hosts."

Here the counselor decided to intervene and to forbid the students from having the event and did not allow the student to host the event. He spoke to them directly and gave them strict instructions forbidding the event from taking place.

**Dilemma 15—The 15th dilemma** is about a girl who took a history matriculation exam. Her father is a history teacher in the school. During the exam, the father walked into the class and gave her the answers to the questions. The dilemma was whether the school counselor should report this event to his supervisors and jeopardize the man's future and his income or to act as if nothing unusual had happened, allowing such immoral behavior to repeat itself in the future and making it impossible to guarantee that exams would be given fairly and honestly.

The school counselor said, "The history teacher entered the classroom and handed her the questions so she could copy the answers on her own exam sheet."

In this case, the school counselor decided not to report the episode, taking a traditional approach, protecting his own personal interests above the interests of the community.
