The goal of the instructor in a communication skills course is to improve the student's ability to communicate. The public speaking course at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is important to the Communication Department and to the university--every college except Fine Arts and Letters and Science requires a passing grade in this course for…

This text presents educational philosophy mainly as a variety of philosophical thinking, or thought, which includes both process and content or method and principles. More specifically, the text takes such intellectual activity chiefly to be the quest for a certain kind of understanding, the quest that the ancient Greeks called "the love of…

Instructors and students of literature should look to George McDonald Fraser's "Flashman: From the Flashman Papers, 1839-1842" for a clever critique of 19th-century notions of character, virtue, and moral teleology. Written to criticize Thomas Hughes's famous 19th-century novel, "Tom Brown's School Days," Fraser's 20th-century…

This book claims that morality is a two-way street, and adolescent students learn by watching teachers. It argues that schools should incorporate morality as a pivotal tool in education, noting that the American school is an exhausting, inefficient, and often dehumanizing place of work for teenagers and their elders. Students learn not just from…

This paper presents four teaching strategies, grounded in pedagogical theory, to encourage an active, challenging, creative, and meaningful experience for journalism and mass communication students grappling with moral issues, and developing higher order thinking in ethical decision-making processes. Strategies emphasizing critical thinking and…

An effective, action-oriented way of addressing students' values and character growth is emphasized in this collection of articles. The book teaches the principles that form the integrated approach to character education. Three vital aspects of teaching and learning are discussed. An introduction by the editor is entitled: "The Six Principles…

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…

Educating students about character development and responsibility can and should be an integral part of the academic curriculum. This collection contains units of study that were written to exemplify some of the many ways that these themes might be taught in preK-12 Massachusetts classrooms. Using the standards of the Massachusetts Curriculum…

This section presents the varied viewpoints of nine physicians, from the areas of pediatrics, child psychiatry, student health services, and psychoanalysis, on the controversial issue of sex education in the schools. Opinion is divided, and those who do feel positive toward the question urge extreme caution and reevaluation. (CJ)

This essay considers Jean Jacques Rousseau's conception of history in "Emile" and its relationship to Rousseau's educational curriculum. History is, for Rousseau, at the heart of the curriculum and is one of the chief instruments for imparting knowledge of the world and encouraging moral behavior. (PP)

Teachers have a significant role in the moral development of their students. They can legitimately advocate the rightness or wrongness of certain actions, and they should act as role models in this regard. (CJ)

Lawrence Kohlberg's empirical research does not, in itself, justify the claim that his higher stages of moral development are more adequately moral than lower stages; consequently, using Kohlbergian interventions to promote student development through these stages is unjustified. Empirical research, while necessary for planning and executing…

Sex education should articulate values as well as provide sexual information. A biomorphic explanation that stresses organic needs alone is insufficient for adolescents trying to cope with mature needs and emotions; instead, a psycho-organic-ethical foundation dealing with love and commitment is needed. (PP)

Some of the major changes and trends in ethical philosophy and ethics teaching are illustrated through an analysis of ethics primers. Changes in the field of ethics and in the development of moral awareness are reflected in the development of ethics primers. (JN)

A total of 59 studies were reviewed, 33 focusing on values clarification and 26 on moral development. The research on values clarification indicated that little or no confidence is warranted regarding its potential curricular effectiveness. However, the research base for the moral development approach indicated that cautious optimism is…