The Oxford Dictionary defines ‘ethics’ as “moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity”.

As an educator, I feel it is very important to use teachable moments to teach students the importance of having a set of morals and principles.

I remembered it was our Science class and we were learning about density. I had brought a pail of water and 2 cans of soda – a regular coke and a diet coke. We were learning how to make hypotheses on the outcomes.

I wanted each student to come up with their own hypothesis; one that reflected their own beliefs and was not influenced by their peers’. I asked students to guess what would happen to the two soda cans if I placed them in water.

I assured students there were no right or wrong answers, just “Take a Stand” on what they think would happen. I went around class and gathered students’ hypothesis. When it was the students’ turn, I got each student to stand up, and say what they thought their guesses were.

At the end of our exercise, I asked the class if they knew what I meant by “Taking a Stand”. One student replied, “Taking a stand” meant, “having a belief and sticking to it”.

I seized the opportunity to turn it into a teachable moment. I told the class, taking a stand is especially important when they are growing up. There will be many influences around them. Some will be positive and some will not be as positive. If students have a set of personal beliefs, they will be less likely to fall gullible to anything that comes their way, and it can definitely guide students to make sound decisions in the future.

It is up to them, and not their peers, to decide for themselves, and what they should believe in.

“Stand up for something, if not you will fall for anything”.