In an attempt to clarify the confusion about the teaching of morality in the classroom, the author discusses the distinction between the concepts of morality and convention. Young children can distinguish between rules and moral principles, and successful moral discussion is more likely to occur in classrooms employing cooperative goal structures.…

In fall 1990, 25 Los Angeles elementary and middle schools piloted a multifaceted character-education program that diminished discipline referrals and improved student achievement. (MLH)

One first-grade teacher integrated character education into the existing curriculum. She used a job chart to teach responsibility and teamwork, and helped the class develop a constitution. Her framework was based on the Character Counts! Coalition's crucial character traits: respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, fairness, caring, and…

Recognizing racism involves acknowledging beliefs, attitudes, and symbols legitimized by those with cultural/political power and socialized in successive generations. By modifying curriculum and instruction and addressing expressions of racism, schools can help students move beyond tolerance to acceptance, understanding, and celebration of racial…

Ethical teaching dilemmas generally fit four patterns: individual versus community, truth versus loyalty, short-term versus long-term, and justice versus mercy. Research discloses five core shared values: compassion, honesty, fairness, responsibility, and respect. When choosing among end-, rule-, and care-based resolution approaches, teachers'…

Staff at a Louisville, Kentucky, school have created a caring community of learners whose members feel valued, personally interconnected, and committed to everyone's growth and learning. Child Development Project schools emphasize warm, supportive, and stable relationships; constructive learning; intrinsic motivation; a challenging curriculum; and…

This article offers guidelines drawn from the last 200 years of ethical theory to aid educators in discerning between "uncontroversial" questions to which they can assume the correct answer is known and legitimately "controversial" questions requiring great care to be fair to the various points of view. (Author/DCS)

Schools must provide opportunities for students to discover what is most worth knowing, as they prepare to be citizens, good workers, good private individuals. Formal curriculum is one vehicle for teaching Tao (universal path to becoming a good person). Hidden curriculum can also convey profound teachings, if a spirit of fairness predominates,…

Summarizes major trends in character education in U.S. classrooms, beginning with an early twentieth-century "Children's Morality Code," and progressing through 1950s moral and values education, three past decades of drug and sex education programs, and current efforts to develop valid program evaluation methods. The next step is…

Concern over the moral condition of American society is spawning a new character-education movement requiring teachers to create a moral community, practice moral discipline, foster classroom democracy, teach values through the curriculum, stress cooperative learning and conflict resolution, and foster caring beyond the classroom. (MLH)

Soviet educators are first of all "upbringers" whose prime task is the formation and maintenance of the socialist outlook. They base their teaching on dialectical materialism, assume there are law-like principles of teaching and learning, and are inexhaustibly optimistic. (Author)

After creating developmentally appropriate curricula to satisfy students' needs and encourage genius, educators must design schools according to democratic principles. Educators must make education free and universally accessible, equalize opportunities and resources, abolish family wealth's influence, respect students' diverse abilities and…

Howard Gardner reflects on how students who learn in different ways might grapple with deep epistemological questions. Gardner advocates teaching disciplines that present our culture's image of what is true, beautiful, and ethical. His understanding pathway should appeal to children possessing a strong existential intelligence. (MLH)