The background, evaluation process, theories, and practical aspects of the Just Community High School in Cambridge, Masachusetts, are presented. The document is organized into four sections. Section 1 briefly discusses the components of a Just School: participatory democracy with teachers and students having equal rights, emphasis on conflict…

A 20-year study to verify Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development through a new research design, the Standard Issue Scoring System, is reported. Kohlberg theorizes that an individual progresses through several stages in attaining moral judgment. As children grow older, they are able to integrate diverse points of view on a moral conflict.…

The purpose of this case study was to look closely at one single-parent Anglo-American family, members' daily patterns of living, and psychosocial patterns that may set them apart as an achieving family. The major assumption guiding the research effort was the thesis that home environments of interpersonally competent American youngsters show some…

This study attempted to determine if the Judeo-Christian tradition, when part of an individual's religious background and when incorporated into school philosophy, influenced the level of decision-making of high school seniors (N=130) in sociomoral and environmental issues. Subjects, attending four public and private schools in the Columbus (Ohio)…

Values about education held by private school educators tend to be those best suited to preparing their mostly middle- and upper-middle-class students for managerial and professional careers. Social scientists have hypothesized that schools readying students for social leadership will stress internalized student behavior norms instead of obedience…

Designed for the growing field of philosophy and children, this sourcebook is concerned with motivating children to think in ways that will increase the meaningfulness of their lives and, as a consequence, help them see the importance of their own education. The approach entails a reappraisal of the entirety of philosophical literature in search…

The study involving six Philadelphia schools was designed to validate the Circle Test of Honesty as a prescreening technique for identifying candidates for placement in emotionally disturbed (ED) classes. A search of the literature revealed a lack of research correlating moral judgment with identification of disturbed children or with rate of…

The goals and content of an interdisciplinary course on the history of ideas, which is required at Baker University as part of its general education program, are described in this position paper. The course aims to help students appreciate the complex character of historical reality and to help them clarify their values and make responsible moral…

The foundations upon which Baker University's interdisciplinary course on the history of ideas is built are described in this position paper. The particular situation of the Baker students and faculty members is analyzed by way of identifying the needs, resources, and problems to be resolved. The presuppositions and definitions from which the…

Experiences in prenatal life and early childhood that may cause personality disorders or criminal behavior in later life are examined in these proceedings of the Subcommittee on Childhood Experiences as Causes of Criminal Behavior of the Standing Committee on Health, Welfare and Science, Senate of Canada. This issue, the third in a series of 19…

This study of moral judgment among young Italian school children reports differences between individual and group judgments. Laboratory and projective techniques were devised to study judgments, perceptions of fairness, motivations and suggestions for restoring equity among a sample of children between 5 and 9 years of age. Subjects were 12 middle…

The document contains a paper on the prosocial theorists' approach to moral/citizenship education and three critiques of the paper. Prosocial theorists focus on specific kinds of behavior which can be associated with moral theory: altruism, guilt, helping, cooperation, resistance to temptation, impulse control, and empathy. The work has been…

Three issues regarding general education are addressed in this paper: What does "general education" mean? Why do many faculty members and the public have little regard for general education? Can general education be established as an important part of the college curriculum? It is suggested that a concern for moral values is an important part of…

Values education is concerned with helping people determine worth in making practical, esthetic, and moral judgments. The purposes of this paper are: (1) to argue that the teaching of values in school is unavoidable, (2) to suggest that current efforts in values education are insufficient, and (3) to offer suggestions for a more comprehensive…

Competency-based education is a model that needs research and development before it can be successfully translated into classroom practices for teaching higher reading skills. Competency-based programs of reading instruction that stress cognitive rather than low-level skills may encounter difficulty in performing a logical task analysis of higher…