Character Education

There is a growing consensus in society on the need for schools and colleges to address the issue of moral education, despite argument over the philosophy and psychology that should guide it and the practice that should characterize it. This compilation is reflective of the cognitive developmental approach associated primarily with Lawrence Kohlberg and his colleagues, and includes recent theoretical writing on moral education. Some topics addressed are the ethic of care; accounts of moral education programs in the classroom and on the athletic field; and discussions of democratic governance in schools.

The Death of Character is a broad historical, sociological, and cultural inquiry into the moral life and moral education of young Americans based upon a huge empirical study of the children themselves. The children's thoughts and concerns -- expressed here in their own words -- shed a whole new light on what we can expect from moral education. Targeting new theories of education and the prominence of psychology over moral instruction, Hunter analyzes the making of a new cultural narcissism.

This book proposes an approach to values education centered on an analysis of the relationship between thinking and valuing. It also focuses on strategies for nurturing the capacity for sustained, disciplined, and informed reflection on the issues of moral decision and religious belief. It contends that there is an urgent need for education at the present time to effect a return to the traditional ideals of intellectual and moral virtue. Sandin's central tenet is that the methods of disciplinary and interdisciplinary scholarship are applicable--and indispensable--to the formation of responsible moral judgments.

In recent years there has been an increase in the number of calls for moral education to receive greater public attention. In our pluralist society, however, it is difficult to find agreement on what exactly moral education requires. Paying particular attention to the teacher's role, this book highlights the justification for, and methods of, creating a classroom community of ethical inquiry.

Since World War II the regulation of conduct in the United States has become problematic. This condition has been recognized by ordinary citizens in the soaring crime rates, illegitimate births, neglect of the public good and increase in special and individual interests, preference for fame, fortune and power, gross immoral acts by public figures, and fascination of the media and the audience with spectacles of evil. The troubled control of social behavior in the nation is suggested by the fact that our society has no commonly accepted set of standards that can guide our actions. Heslep penetrates the bazaar of competing normative principles that Americans subscribe to in search of those logical and feasible standards of behavior that will conquer our nation's moral crisis. He then constructs an idea of character education for Americans, applying it to recent policy recommendations and to cases of individuals with moral education needs.

The conscience of today's college students is guided by the personal moral values that underlie this generations' concept of justice. The Daveys present two dozen scenarios involving moral questions, ranging from race, poverty, crime, drugs, sex, religion, educational funding, and constitutional rights.