Ethics and Professionalism in Education as Tools for Social Reconstruction and Development

Abstract

Education plays a vital role in the development of every country. A country is a living organism with several parts that need to be developed. As a complex organism, the development of each of its diverse parts requires some level of specialized knowledge. It is this complexity and organic nature of our modern society that has given birth to the various areas of knowledge with diverse aspects of specialization. It is therefore the complexity of human nature with its multiplicity of needs that has created complexity of modern civil society. Civil society is dynamic and develops in tandem with the diversities of human needs. Nothing ever emerges in the society without the focus or aim to satisfy the need of an aspect of human nature. So, every society with all its complexity is a reflection of human nature, with its diverse needs. It follows then that human nature is the basic foundation of our modern world or civil society. This also reflects the foundation of human knowledge in all spheres. Every aspect of knowledge is intrinsically linked with man and is designed to cater for the various needs of his complex nature. Education is therefore founded on human nature. The development and reconstruction of any society or country is therefore anchored on the process of catering for the diverse needs of man’s complex nature. Society, education and morality have the same foundation, and that is human nature. Society cannot be separated from morality or education. Hence, in this paper, effort was made to establish the fact that ethics and professionalism in education are the basic tools that can bring about and inspire development and social reconstruction. The paper asserts that education is a conditio-sine-qua-non for the development of any country and that this can only be achieved with ethical values and professional best practices. The paper posits that development and social reconstruction can only take place in a society where every aspect of human knowledge has an inbuilt ethical mechanism and professional standard.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n14p15