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Honesty and Integrity Thinking

A good teacher should carry out honesty and integrity in working on the job.

There is no more fundamental ethical value than HONESTY. We associate honesty with people of honor and we admire and trust those who are honest. Honesty in communications is about intent to convey the truth as best we know it and to avoid communicating in a way likely to mislead or deceive.

There are three dimensions:
1.) Truthfulness — truthfulness means not intentionally misrepresenting a fact (lying). Intent is the crucial distinction between truthfulness and truth itself. Being wrong is not the same thing as being a liar, although honest mistakes can still damage trust.
2.) Sincerity/non-deception — a sincere person does not act, say half-truths, or stay silent with the intention of creating beliefs or leaving impressions that are untrue or misleading.
3.) Frankness — In relationships involving trust, honesty may also require us to volunteer information that another person needs to know.

Honesty in conduct prohibits stealing, cheating, fraud and trickery. Cheating is not only dishonest but takes advantage of those who are not cheating. It’s a violation of trust and fairness. Not all lies are unethical, even though all lies are dishonest. Occasionally dishonesty is ethically justifiable, such as when the police lie in undercover operations or when one lies to criminals or terrorists to save lives. But occasions for ethically sanctioned lying are rare – even saving a life.

Integrity: There are no differences in the way an ethical person makes decisions from situation to situation – no difference in the way they act at work and at home, in public and alone. The person of integrity takes time for self-reflection so that the events, crises and the necessities of the day do not determine the course of their moral life. They stay in control.

The four enemies of integrity are:
• Self-interest — Things we want
• Self-protection — Things we don’t want
• Self-deception — A refusal to see a situation clearly
• Self-righteousness — An end-justifies-the-means attitude

These 2 values have major influences on the child’s behavior and with others and it helps give broad guidelines for each situation.

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