Question As a teacher I am concerned about the aftermath of the killings at Virginia Tech. Many have said that we teachers should be responsible for monitoring the content of our students' writing assignments, and that we should notify the authorities if we identify any particular student as repeatedly making statements that are disturbing, violent, or indicating mental illness. How would a philosopher approach this topic? What are the ethical issues involved in monitoring students' thoughts via their personal writing, which is handed in for course credit?

Accepted:
September 18, 2007

Comments

This is a hard thing to have to think about, and since all of us on this panel are teachers, we all have to come to terms with the issues. Let me just offer some thoughts on how I think I would handle things if this sort of case arose.

There are some obvious conflicting values here. The privacy of the student is one, and public safety is another. If I got a piece of writing or witnessed behavior that I found disturbing, the first thing I would do is seek advice from someone better qualified than me. In the past, on a few occasions, I have called staff in the counseling office and described what I was concerned about without telling the counselor anything that would identify the student. I should add that none of these have been cases where public safety was an issue, but I think the advice still goes. A trained counselor is likely to be better than me at judging the level of threat and advising me on how I might approach the student. Also, if I was worried that the student might harm him/herself or others, I would seek the advice of the campus legal office, once again trying to protect the student's identity unless and until it became clear that other concerns trumped that issue.

In general, what I'm suggesting is that it's possible to balance the competing interests and get guidance -- including guidance about one's legal responsibilities -- without simply exposing the student's identity. My experience, both in talking with counselors and with legalprofessionals on my campus has been very encouraging. Both offices haveshown a proper concern for the student's privacy, balanced with a sensitivity to the other issues. That's why I would feel quite comfortable revealing the student's name if I were told that this was what was called for. But the sort of case you're concerned about is one where I would not simply fall back on my skills as a philosopher, such as they may be. Other sorts of training and other kinds of judgment are relevant, and the better part of wisdom would be to seek good advice from people with the right sorts of experience and authority.