To demonstrate the inappropriateness of fables for moral instruction at early elementary levels, a study was conducted with children from grades two, four, and six in two suburban schools on Long Island (New York). The children listened to recordings of three fables, "The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf,""The Fox and the Goat," and "The Lion and the…

The primary purpose of academic instruction in religion in the public schools is to inform children about religion rather than to indoctrinate them. When the study of religion is presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, there are no legal barriers. Now that the Supreme Court has settled the debate about what can and cannot…

The rationale for values education is reviewed and it is suggested that the language of values education does not belong in education. The authors state that teaching is an activity that takes aggressive and direct action on students' opinions and beliefs, not for the sake of their values, but for their characters. (LBH)

Examines secretarial loyalty in the face of an employer's legal or moral wrongdoing and the need for the secretarial studies education program to address this issue. (TA)

Clarifying values through physical education is one way to make classrooms and gymnasiums more relevant to a world of change, confusion, and conflict. (JD)

This article offers early childhood professionals six cases regarding ethical problems faced in the field and guidelines for group discussion of the cases. This material is to be used in conjunction with the article by Kenneth Kipnis in this issue about ways to discuss professional ethics. (RH)

It is argued that liberalism is rejectable by reasonable people and that inculcating liberal beliefs in the minds of children is, therefore, inconsistent with liberalism. In particular, R. M. Hare's defense of teaching liberal morality as being consistent with liberal morality itself is attacked. (Author/RM)

Callan (Journal of Moral Education, Jan. 1985) argued that liberalism is rejectable by reasonable people and that inculcating liberal beliefs in children's minds is, therefore, inconsistent with liberalism. In this reply, the author argues that making distinctions between different senses of "reasonable" and "liberalism"…

Author describes how psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg's work has been influential in a different line of research than Kohlberg's own, sharing observations of the impact of Kohlberg's work on the field of moral education and on the author's own work in the field. (Author/NB)

Explores the relationship between literary criticism and ethics by analyzing two shifts regarding ethics in literary criticism: (1) a taboo against engaging in ethical criticism, encouraged during the 1930s to 1950s; and (2) the undermining of that taboo, caused by the eruption of social problems concerning race, sex, and class. (MM)

Briefly discusses the formation of the Japanese Association of Morality Psychology and lists the papers presented at its annual meetings since 1985. Presents a survey of publications on moral development and education in Japan, organized by theorists such as Kohlberg and Piaget and themes such as moral development theory. (GEA)

Discounts arguments that students should choose their own moral values. Suggests that emphases on teachers' neutrality in moral education promote an overly rigid separation of fact and value and of moral content and moral form. Considers the formation of early moral habits indispensible to the development of moral reasoning. (DMM)

Attempts to answer the question "Can virtue be taught?"; the heart of what many experiential educators try to do. Shows that virtue exists but cannot be inculcated through any pedagogical methods, because freedom is a necessary condition for learning virtuous action. (NEC)

Discusses genocide as an historical problem. Focusing on twentieth-century events such as the Holocaust and the Armenian and Cambodian genocides. Assesses the values of the United Nations Genocide Treaty. Calls for world vigilance to prevent future tragedies. (GEA)