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…

Explores how to cultivate morality and character in students without indoctrinating them and manipulating them into expressing particular moral beliefs. Asserts that critical thinking must be at the heart of college curricula; proficiency in the art of teaching critically--encouraging students to question, think for themselves, and develop…

Responds to John E. Petrovic's article entitled "Moral Democratic Education and Homosexuality: Censoring Morality." Argues against Petrovic's notion that teachers must portray homosexuality positively and ignore their beliefs against homosexuality. Believes instead that when teachers educate their students about sexual orientations they must…

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'…

Despite an ambience of strict church-state separation and religious pluralism, there is a growing consensus that certain widely accepted virtues (honesty, fairness, and respect for others) can be taught in U.S. public schools. Character education should be pursued, but whether ethical habits can be separated from specific religious traditions…

Provides background information on the Nahshon School, a small Reform Jewish day school. Describes the ways in which the Nahshon School implements a vision of caring. Considers school philosophy, curriculum, and rituals, teachers as role models, and how the school evaluates its progress. Addresses obstacles facing the school. (CMK)

Examines teachers' eroding authority regarding curriculum, moral education, and ethical rigor. The destruction of the Second Temple (AD 70) produced an authority crisis in Jewish society when high priests and ritual sacrifices were eliminated. In response, rabbis redefined authority and vested it in the teacher-student relationship. (Contains 11…

Many educators agree that they must be concerned with standards of conduct, referred to by some as character education and by others as moral education. However, schools should not and cannot bear the entire responsibility. The responsibility should be shared by many, among them the families, private and public agencies, and health care and social…

The classical concept of "ethos" (the establishing of the speaker or writer's credibility, his or her moral character) has acquired many meanings over the centuries and has played an important role in determining the many shifting perceptions of the teacher's role, both in the classical period and the modern period. The issue can be…

Written for prospective and practicing K-12 teachers, this book examines values education. The authors' central concerns are twofold. The first is to help and encourage teachers develop their own rationale for values education. The second concern is to help teachers help students develop a rational foundation for their own values and learn the…

Children need to share their personal lives with other persons in a relationship of mutual respect and responsiveness; i.e., in a relationship of love. Children are an end, not a means, people to be valued for their own sakes. Adults must help children to know who they are and who they can become. Values contribute to the fulfillment of a person's…

This collection of papers is divided into three sections. After "Introduction" (Wiel Veugelers and Fritz K. Oser), the first section, "Learning from Morality," includes "On Becoming Moral: How Negative Experience Can Inspire the Moral Person" (Fritz K. Oser); "Who Should I Become? Citizenship, Goodness, Human…

Educators need to recapture the historical role of schools to pass on to the young the community's best values. The current status of moral education in schools, the consequences of the present conditions, needed changes, and implications for pre-service and inservice teacher education are discussed. (IAH)

Describes the Jefferson Institute on the Foundations of Ethics in Western Society, a program of the Fairfax County (Virginia) high schools to provide teachers with a surer grasp of ethics to help them foster a school climate in which students consider issues of "right behavior." (SLD)

Articles about academic honesty seem either to begin with an example of egregious deceit in American schools or to claim that dishonesty is worse than ever. However great may be the forces influencing students to lie or cheat, educators, at all levels and in all settings, must push back by holding students accountable and by teaching about…