Teacher's biases

The most common ethical problem that any teacher will face at some point in time is the bias-free assessment of students. Teachers are supposed to create a learning environment that fosters autonomy and guides students in their learning experience. An important part of their work is evaluation of students' knowledge and progress. Without such an assessment, one cannot determine if the learning is taking place. And this is one of the most problematic areas of the job. But what does a “to assess a student” mean? Teachers will apply a set of rules and predefined formulas to measure the amount of knowledge that has been successfully retained by students or perhaps they will check the understanding of a problem being considered. In multiple choice tests or “yes or no” questions as well as many other similar tests calling for a single correct answer, the assessment of students' work seems relatively uncomplicated. The gray area begins to surface when teachers have to use their own judgment in the assessment process and contaminate the very process with subjectivity that they are bound to produce. As much as people would like to eliminate injustices of this world and turn it into a better place, they will always have their own biases and prejudices, with which they will never be able to part. Teachers (fortunately or not) are human beings too and are no exception to this rule. Laws and regulations may control human behavior or modify it if necessary, but they will never make people like one another.One must remember that both students and teachers come to the classroom with their own sets of values, personalities, priorities, feelings, emotions, problems, experiences, knowledge, understanding, abilities, upbringing, likes and dislikes, moods, and hundreds of other elements, which when combined make up an individual as a whole.