Reflections on Consequentialism and "One-Caring"

Our discussion in class Tuesday night reminded me of two specific teachers I had in high school, and cast them both in a different light to me.

My 10th grade chemistry class remains the one class in my entire scholastic career that gave me the most trouble. While facts didn’t give me much trouble, I never understood how to balance chemical equations. This activity being the fundamental part of chemistry that it is, I consistently performed low on tests, and only really made it through labs with the aid of my partner. By the end of the year, I fully expected an F and had already accepted the fact that I was going to be taking the course again. Chemistry was an unusual beast for me. I was an A and B student, something my teacher was well aware of, and the supreme feeling of failure I had over this class was something unfamiliar to me. When I finally received my grade, I was surprised to find that I had received a D. It was still a low score, and a disappointment, but it saved me from having to languish through the course again. I understood why my teacher had done what he did, but I didn’t understand the philosophical principle behind it until now. I’m certain that he considered the outcome of giving me an F, and the potential discouragement and academic problems that would accompany it, and bumped me up a letter grade for the greater good that it would serve. I never thought that my teacher had done this out of any more than simple charity, but now I’m fairly certain he was being compelled by a consequentialist point of view. It gives me a refined sense of gratitude for the favor.

The concept of the one-caring instructor brought to mind my 9th grade English teacher. Unlike many of the teachers I had before (or since, really), this teacher was particularly interested in my personal development in the class. I wrote a lot in my spare time between classes, and my teacher expressed genuine interest in what I was working on. This by itself didn’t surprise me, but eventually my teacher allowed me to opt out of entire class assignments and discussions to pursue whatever independent project I was working on. This gesture not only gave me more confidence in my writing, but also really showed me that my teacher genuinely cared about my development and believed in my ability to work through the course material on my own terms. The incident was one of the primary driving forces behind my eventual desire to pursue teaching. I saw reflected in my teacher an image of the role an educator could play in supporting and encouraging students in their search for their ideal selves.