This essay, addressed to medical personnel and counselors, presents a bioethical approach to adolescent abortion. Topics include an overview of abortion in the U.S., related medical issues, data pertinent to adolescent abortions, ethical theory, adolescent moral development, and moral aspects of treatment of adolescents. (Author/DB)

Presents a synopsis of moral development stages and the rationale for considering the significance of moral stages in group member selection. Moral growth should be facilitated during the productive phase of group process in which members deal with their differences, rather than ignore them. (Author/BEF)

Compares Kohlberg's and Dewey's views on moral education with regard to implications for elementary social studies classes, moral instruction of children, curriculum development, and community life of the school. Concludes that Dewey's approach to moral education is more comprehensive than Kohlberg's. (Author/DB)

Suggests ways teachers can use literature with moral themes and reviews the findings of research dealing with moral judgment and development. (DD)

Historically, the counseling profession has resisted the inclusion of conversations about morality and virtue during the therapy process. This article suggests that counseling should be considered as a forum for moral reflection, which can encourage character development and civic responsibility. (Author/JDM)

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…

Moral judgments are an important aspect of social reasoning, not arbitrary products of social formations. Maintains that Gabennesch relegates moral concepts to reification, failing to account for the distinctions between conventionality and moral concepts. (BC)

Explores reasons for the current ineffectiveness of moral education and offers an alternative perspective on the proper purpose and methods for moral education. This ideal moral education is based primarily on the belief that social interactions during childhood are highly significant in the development of morality and on the functionalist…

A narrative approach to moral development sees a role for language in moral experience and regards the self as dialogic, or relational, as opposed to the epistemic self of the cognitive-developmental approach. This article reviews empirical foundations of the narrative approach, explores the dialogic conception of the self, and considers…

The current status of the United States as an "immoral" society has a direct correlation to the lack of serious attention given to moral education in the classroom. Morality, and what constitutes morality education, is a topic of concern for parents as well as educators. Morality, as a term, incorporates the social, economic, and…

Noting that Lawrence Kohlberg has written extensively in the fields of education and psychology regarding moral development in adolescents and adults, this paper argues that Kohlberg's approach offers a viable addition to levels of understanding of rhetorical discourse. The paper first offers a discussion of the Kohlbergian theory of moral…

Discusses Gilligan's explanation of the distinction between justice and care. Describes how she contrasts the two notions and explores the possibility of encompassing care within Piagetian developmental theory. Reviews Gilligan's position on justice and care as different forms of moral judgment. Examines different interpretations of universality…

Despite the educational reform initiatives outlined in programs similar to and in the American 2000 plan, conspicuously absent is any in-depth discussion regarding the growing rate of poverty among youth in inner cities. It is a poverty which engulfed one in seven youth in 1970, one in six in 1980, one in five in 1990, and one in four in 2000.…

Issues of morality and children are examined. Information on moral judgment research with children is discussed with implications for educational interventions. Research suggesting that characteristics of moral dilemmas and solutions are related to sex and grade is presented. Areas to be pursued in research and practical application are…

Reviews research on the effect of school climate on the social development of early adolescents and on three curricular programs (values clarification, moral development, and cooperative learning). Concludes that schools can positively influence socio-moral development through non-traditional schooling, i.e., open and democratic environments,…