Outlines 11 principles to guide schools as they plan their character education programs. These include a definition of character, developing the school as a caring community, a comprehensive and intentional approach to developing good character, and the relationship between character education and the academic curriculum. (MJP)

Defines moral education as the attempt to create individuals who are willing and able to treat each other as equals and feel compassion towards one another. Considers the contributions of psychotherapy concerning the potential of autonomous individual development to enact social change. (MJP)

Explores moral motivation grounded in the desire to maintain and express one's personal identity as a good person. Maintains that identity-based motivation, oriented towards the desirable rather than an instrumentalist approach, encourages a pluralistic and tolerant view of other norms. Discusses implications for moral education. (MJP)

Correlates 46 Dutch high school students' attitudes toward nuclear war, sexism, ethnocentrism, and authoritarianism with their moral judgment level. Finds political attitudes related to moral judgment level. Qualitative data was obtained from interviews with 19 of the 46 students further develops the relationships. (CH)

Analyzes responses from 65 preservice teachers in 6 Norwegian colleges addressing the question of the teacher as a moral role model. Reports differences in understanding role-modeling implications, with half of the respondents believing teachers should serve as moral leaders. Finds that future teachers are governed by implicit theories reflecting…

Presents the results of a Polish study that generally supports Lawrence Kohlberg's claim of cross-cultural universality. Kohlberg's theory postulates a universal model of moral development that reveals an underlying organization of thought rather than specific positions. The study included 291 men and women, 15-80 years of age. (MJP)

Durkheim's treatment of the nature of morality and of moral education is examined. Three elements in his moral theory, namely the spirit of discipline, attachment to social groups, and autonomy or self-determination, are examined in turn and discussed. (Editor)

Argues that virtues be taught in moral education as motivational concepts of a distinctively moral kind. Believes that this process will link mind, heart and will thereby bind together reason, emotion and action in concrete compartments of behavior. (Author/R K)

In this study of the relationship between moral behavior, level of moral development, and motivation, moral behavior was assessed in an experimental situation in which it was necessary to violate the experimenter's authority to help someone; level of moral development was assessed by Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Scale, and motivation by a…

Inquires whether it is feasible, useful and profitable to conceive moral education through the teaching of virtues. Considers some problems involved in presenting virtues. (Author/RK)

This assessment of L. Kohlberg's theory of moral development is a dialectical critique focusing on his claim that the sixth stage of moral development is morally adequate, specifically, that it is both comprehensive and fully equilibrated. Includes a brief account of B. J. Lonergan's dialectical method and an analysis of the sixth stage of…

The moral concepts entailed in Kohlberg's cognitive-developmental theory of moral judgment are examined and the underlying meta-ethical position is criticized. (Editor)

Provides a detailed account and critique of all of Lawrence Kohlberg's writings dealing with the seventh stage of his moral development theory. Discusses the uniqueness of stage seven as compared to one through six. Concludes that stages one through six culminate in, but are not lessened by, stage seven. (Author/AEM)

Describes the process and results of two groups of undergraduates' attempt to formulate a new Decalogue. By comparison with the original, they preferred general positive formulations to specific, negative ones. Analysis of the results shows a lack of clearly religious (as opposed to moral) content and the absence of anything to do with sexual…

Provides an overview of the issues surrounding multicultural and antiracist education as aspects of moral education. Introduces the remaining articles in this issue. (JDH)