Reflection Paper3

Paradigms are a set of forms that all contain a particular element that serves as a pattern. A paradigm shift is when a person’s opinion on a matter changes with new information. I have had many paradigm shifts but the one most prominent to me was the topic of human euthanasia. I wasn’t exactly for Dr. Kevorkian’s idea that people should be allowed to kill themselves. I thought anyone could go to him and say I want to die and it would happen. When I found out that he wasn’t doing that but rather it was for patients that were gravely ill and suffering tremendously. I was completely for his idea of human euthanasia when I heard his argument on how letting the patients die how they chose with dignity is so much better than being taken off life support and letting them starve to death. What also changed my mind was how he also fought the argument that he was playing “God” by countering saying that when I doctor gives you a pill they doing the exact same thing, they are changing what “God” had planned for that person. Once I found out more about Dr. Kevorkian’s human euthanasia I completely changed my mind and found that even I would do that if I was in such great pain and would rather choose how I die instead of being starved to death. At least I know I would be dying how I choose and would have some sort of dignity instead of dying so helplessly. I think it is important for teachers to experience paradigm shifts because you have to be open to different opinions in order to maintain a classroom. Students come up with many different ideas and as a teacher we have to be open to all thoughts and suggestions. Teachers have to be willing to change their minds; they cannot always have everything the same way without any compromise. If a teacher is not susceptible to change the classroom could become unruly and students would revolt in anger. That is the worst situation to have in a classroom because the other students would feel uncomfortable and scared; it is the worst thing I think a teacher could do. Having paradigm shifts for teachers, I think, is a good thing because you should always hear both sides of things before you make an opinion. It is the same thing when two students are caught in the wrong, both sides have to be looked at and all the facts known in order to make a decision.