Guillermina Ethical Dilemmas

Guillermina is a 12-year-old student who has recently been placed in an accelerated seventh-grade program. In this program, Guillermina feels intellectually challenged and can engage with content that challenges her, and this is a positive change from her previous material which was too elementary. Guillermina explained to her school social worker that her classmates have been constantly asking her about Mexican culture, purposefully giving her a nickname that she does not want, and her neighborhood friends have been treating her differently. This situation is considered an ethical dilemma because Guillermina feels as if her cultural and individual differences are not being valued, and therefore, she does not feel comfortable sitting in class. This situation pertains to the fifth general principle of
Application of Ethical Concepts The National Association for the Education of Young Children’s (NAEYC) code of ethics can be applied to Guillermina’s dilemma. This code of ethics recognizes that administrators interact with children, families, program personnel, governing boards and sponsoring agencies, funders, regulatory agencies, their community, and the profession (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2011). Ms. Young, Guillermina’s school social worker, whom she confides in, takes an administrative approach, as she is tasked with understanding the many layers of this ethical dilemma. For instance, Ms. Young must consider how Guillermina is feeling, when/if she should discuss this problem with Guillermina’s family, how Guillermina’s teacher and peers are eliciting an unconscious racial bias, and how the school’s overall sense of community is contributing to the