The project of which this paper is a part consists of three steps. The first step (an American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference 2000 paper subtitled "Clearing the Terrain") provided a critical overview of current debates on moral development and education, focusing on the relationship between empirical and theoretical…

This document explores the way in which courage, as a central virtue, and friendship, as a valued human state, have a significant place within the view of the education of character. Education of character is determined to bridge the gap between moral judgment and moral action. This paper has five sections. First, the need for character education…

Patricia Bizzell argues that inquiry into ethics and English studies is paralyzed by the view that "the imposition of ideological agendas...[is]...morally questionable," yet "our moral sensibility motivates us to promote particular ethic positions." The field is caught in this dilemma because its postmodern skepticism forces it…

The author cites Dewey to indicate that moral instruction is of central concern to public educators, but that attempts by Christian fundamentalists to restrict this teaching to doctrinaire formulas should be resisted. Originally presented as a speech at the 1980 Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Philosophy of Education Society. (SJL)

This paper observes that Americans, although they broadly and vocally resist informational censorship in the schools even for children, waffle in their efforts to eliminate the powerful and sometimes offensive cultural artifacts of popular "teen culture" from school curriculums. Potent economic and political forces, however, conspire to…

This researcher examined the development of social (moral) reasoning as a result of student exposure to the social, experiential atmosphere of a school community with intensive education. A group of 250 students in grades nine through twelve were given the Defining Issues Test which examined social reasoning on six moral judgment stories. The…

Four models for interpreting values education strategies are provided. Six examples form curriculum projects are analyzed in light of three of these conceptual models. The first model categorizes values approaches by whether they describe, analyze, or advocate a particular value position. The second model categorizes values approaches by whether…

Arguing that there is still no single, noncontroversial foundation on which the world's present multi-structure of ethics can be built, this paper examines a scientific ethics approach. It is postulated that in North American culture, the approach to instruction in ethics for youth is haphazard at best. Society does not provide an adequate means…

This address begins by reviewing the long heritage in Utah (132 years) of teachers gathering together for the purpose of improving their service to students. But there is danger of the system hardening and becoming more important than the services it was created to deliver, and it is within the frame of these historical choices that the address…

Recent controversies over textbooks illustrate objections held by Evangelicals to "secular humanism" in the schools. Educators automatically tend to assume that all religious objections to curricula are clear-cut attempts at censorship. This confrontational attitude on the part of educators can lead to alienation of minority religious…

Instructors and students of literature should look to George McDonald Fraser's "Flashman: From the Flashman Papers, 1839-1842" for a clever critique of 19th-century notions of character, virtue, and moral teleology. Written to criticize Thomas Hughes's famous 19th-century novel, "Tom Brown's School Days," Fraser's 20th-century…

This paper presents four teaching strategies, grounded in pedagogical theory, to encourage an active, challenging, creative, and meaningful experience for journalism and mass communication students grappling with moral issues, and developing higher order thinking in ethical decision-making processes. Strategies emphasizing critical thinking and…

This paper discusses the need for Ethics instruction in college business curricula and presents study results in determining the issues to include in such instruction. Ratings of potential ethical issues were obtained from three cohorts (business faculty, business practitioners, and business students) using the Ethical Issues Rating Scale…

This study investigated the strategies that teachers apply to moral dilemmas they encounter in their professional conduct. The case study explored the moral dilemmas as identified by 33 teachers from one particular lower-secondary school near Helsinki (Finland). In personal interviews the teachers were asked to identify the difficult moral…

This paper reviews the current empirical literature on counselor ethics, suggesting that it offers little guidance in understanding why unethical behavior occurs or how to remedy such behavior. The research literature is classified according to four basic areas of concern: (1) documenting the incidence of unethical practice; (2) identifying the…