Background/Context: The reconsideration of reverence was proposed by Paul Woodruffi's 2001 book, Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue. In examining reverence, we draw on moral philosophy, particularly the revival of virtue ethics, and acknowledge Woodruff's cross-cultural studies of reverence, particularly in ancient Greece and Confucian China.…

This essay attempts to set out the fundamental notions--attention, detachment, silence, solitude, prayer, and apprenticeship--of Weil's educational method, claiming that such a pedagogy expresses a vision of learning in which the moral, the aesthetic, and the spiritual life are harmoniously balanced. Simone Weil's approach to education is not only…

Moral educators have little to learn from the moral theories in which philosophers routinely trade. These theories--including those by Slote, Hume, and Kant--leave behind the concrete world in which the moral educator labors. As interesting as they may be, they merely devise alternative routes to the same destination--to the main general features…

This paper reports findings from a study about school staff's perceptions of the preferences for social interaction that young people have with similar and different others. This tension was explored empirically using scenarios of moral dilemmas to conduct in-depth semi-structured interviews with school staff from special and mainstream secondary…

We provide a historical perspective toward the current public school practices of American sex education. The primary time frames include the progressive era (1880-1920), intermediate era (1920-1960), the sexual revolution era (1960s and 1970s), and the modern sex education era (1980s to the present). In each period, we highlight key developments…

This paper reports the effect of a moral education programme on the ethical judgement making ability of university students. The programme comprises two forms of intervention: a dedicated ethics course and subsequent practical training. A total of 113 accounting students from six Malaysian universities participated in a longitudinal study…

What opportunities and challenges are presented to religious education across the globe by the basic human right of freedom of religion and belief? To what extent does religious education facilitate or inhibit "freedom of religion" in schools? What contribution can religious education make to freedom in the modern world? This volume…

This study is the first attempt to conduct a critical analysis of the research on Ikeda's educational philosophy published in mainland China and Taiwan. The study employed a combination of archival research and responses to an online questionnaire by professors and doctorate students studying Ikeda's educational philosophy. The study analyzed the…

Rather than propose or endorse a single theory of comedy, this essay explores a wide variety of implications in sometimes-conflicting ideas on the subject. It groups questions under such topics as types of comedy, plot, social morality, and identity. These questions are drawn from a wide range of viewpoints both ancient and modern. It concludes…

Education is ubiquitous and inevitable; schooling is an institutionalized activity usually confined to designated times and places. Public schooling is subject to public regulation and control, presumably for the common good. The author contends that true democratic education seeks educational equality as a way to educate individuals capable of…

Educational philosophers and sociologists have pointed out the potential risks of an educational trend of therapy, which seems to have connotations with Western macro-discourses of individualisation, popularised psychology and privatisation of the public room. The overall purpose of this article is to discuss potential risks and possibilities…

To investigate reasoning about family honour, 128 first generation (mean age = 27.2 years) and second generation Hindu Indian-American adults (mean age = 24.7 years) were presented hypothetical scenarios in which male or female protagonists defied common Hindu customs (e.g., arranged marriage, intra-religion marriage and premarital sexual…

While assessment is regarded as integral to enhancing the quality of teaching and learning, it is also a practice fraught with moral and ethical issues. An analysis is made of current assessment practices of teachers in South Africa which seem to straddle the domains of accountability and professional codes of conduct. In the process the position…

In this article, the author addresses many of the key points in each of the special section articles to which he responded. He observes that they are all very important pieces of research in that they clearly add important information to the existing body of research. The author notes that the articles provide insight on school climate in…

This paper considers the policy environment of adult literacy as a space within which sites of learning are shaped and given value. It explores the interplay between international, national and local visions of what literacy is, who literacy learners are and what counts as learning, thereby linking broader social formations with local practices of…