When teachers talk about leaving the profession, they are commonly described as "burnt out." But for many, argues Doris Santoro, that's not the real story. In truth, most teachers enter teaching because they want to pursue moral commitments to the well-being of their students, colleagues, and communities. In-depth interviews with…

Societal stories about school do not just reflect our current views and values, they also shape our political preferences and the realities that result from them. In recent decades, stories of the traditional common school and its more collectivist, shared culture have given way to newer stories oriented around competition and choice. Sarah…

The aim of education should be developing intellectual character, moral character, civic character, and performance character. That does not mean that schools should ignore teaching content, but that the dispositions and habits of mind that come from developing these four forms of character will remain with students throughout their lives.…

Curiosity is vital quality of the creative work. However, in the classroom, educators seem to view curiosity as alternately amoral, virtuous, or dangerous. Education's stance towards curiosity is, in a word, curious. Conversely, the author says, curiosity is inherently amoral--neither good nor bad--and the subject is ripe for an exploration of the…

In a challenging critique of moral education in public schools, James Davison Hunter argues that the unspoken imperative of all moral education is to teach only those virtues, principles, and other moral teachings about which there is essentially no disagreement in American society. Hunter claims that almost every major form of moral education in…

If the goal of teaching ethics is to affect behavior and ultimately produce thoughtful, ethical people, then the best process to do this is by embedding ethical practices in student discussions. One teacher demonstrates how she has done this in her classrooms.

The special learning needs of students in grades 4-5 who are children of poverty have been misunderstood and therefore unaddressed. As a result, many students born into poverty start down a slippery slope of steady academic decline in grades 4 and 5. But specialized, counter-intuitive approaches. Specifically, accelerating the learning of these…

Declares that Kohlberg fails to consider morality outside of Kantian terms, fails to take "good-boy" morality seriously, is weak on affective morality, and fails to consider habit training in growth. (DW)

Overall, education students performed at a significantly lower level of moral reasoning development on Rest's Defining Issues Test than did students from other fields. (Author/IRT)

Discusses the failure of college honor systems and the relationship between that failure and the press for success in the world outside the university. (IRT)

In every case, and regardless of subsequent application, all rules, morals, and laws are established by one segment of a given population for application primarily to another segment of that (or some other) population. Men do not make laws with the primary object of restraining themselves. Thus, morality is not always healthy. (Author/JF)

The issues center on values, parental influence, and discipline. (IRT)

Argues that teachers must break the pervasive communities of silence about race in primary school classrooms and thus become moral communities. Includes list of books teachers can read aloud with children to stimulate classroom discussions of race. Also includes selected list of references for teachers. (PKP)

Considers popular approaches to moral and character education in schools. Draws on the work of moral philosophers such as Kant and Kohlberg to construct a synthesis of direct and indirect teaching methods allowing children to make moral choices. Includes 25 references. (MLH)

Outlines New York's approach to values education. (IRT)