Given the prevalence of religion talk in today's world, another form of fluency is needed. Civic multilingualism is the ability to converse across different religious and ethical perspectives in search of understanding, compromise, and common ground. According to the author, this may represent the greatest social challenge of the 21st century.…

Criticizes the "great tradition" article (EA 519 521, this issue), pointing out that the cause-and-effect relationship between values clarification and the increase in juvenile problems is tenuous.(MD)

When parents neglect their children's moral education and community influences are negative, schools need to form partnerships and work for change. This article reviews problems encountered when schools attempt to inculcate or clarify moral values and summarizes various authors' opinions on the subject. (MLH)

Although it is often useful to accept students' value statements nonjudgmentally, values clarification theory recommends that teachers go beyond moral leadership and help students learn to think through their personal values and understand what it takes to live a value-directed life. Methods to promote and clarify our "heritage of moral values"…

Moral instruction was an accepted part of the educational system until the 1930's. More recent approaches to moral instruction are discussed and criticized. The author states that it is specious to talk about student choices, that school is inherently doctrinal, and that the question to ask is, What will be indoctrinated? (MD)

Describes the Values Clarification Project and the Berkeley Health Curriculum Project, two educational programs being used by southwest Iowa schools in order to reduce drug abuse. (JG)

When applied to values education, the personal computer provides interactions that promote reflective analysis while ensuring discretion and psychological safety. (Author)

The Inmate Editor of "The ECHO," a newspaper for 50,000 inmates in the Texas Prison System, describes teaching an illiterate young prisoner to read and write; states that the majority of inmates are barely literate; and urges teachers never to discount their own impact as role models and to infect children with the desire to know. (MLF)

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…

Instead of employing a wide variety of teaching methods in the classroom, teachers should use only a few compatible methods. To choose these methods, teachers must clarify their own beliefs about basic elements of education and must assess the appropriateness and effectiveness of various methods in particular settings. (IW)

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)