The Hyde School is scarcely typical of schools professedly dedicated to character education; it is, if anything, the extreme case, where principles that elsewhere have been applied halfheartedly have been most deeply considered and uncompromisingly followed. Hyde is, in fact, so peculiar, so supremely dedicated to its eccentric founding…

Contemporary approaches to moral education are influenced by the "domain theory" approach to understanding moral development (Turiel, 1983; 1998; Nucci, 2001). Domain theory holds there are distinct conventional, personal and moral domains; each constituting a cognitive "structured-whole" with its own normative source and sphere of influence. One…

In this article the author suggests that a vision of the "ideal" underpins all educational work. The complex web of interactions and activities that make up school culture must be studied in order to find "ways in" to effecting change and approaching the ideal. Religious school culture may be especially complex, built as it is on both religious…

This article describes the ANSER Public Charter School in Boise, Idaho, where character education is considered a critical educational element, and both teachers and students are expected to adopt the core values of respect, integrity, courage, compassion, discipline, and responsibility. The ANSER school was founded by a group of parents, public…

The author describes her fears and struggles as she came to terms, as an American expatriate in France, with a medical diagnosis of Toxoplasmosis. This condition led to her birthing a son with Asperger's Syndrome. She tells of plunging herself into research to learn more about Toxoplasmosis, the number of things that could be seriously wrong with…

This article highlights factors that either facilitated or hampered the work of a local Safe Schools Coalition in advocating adoption and implementation of their school district's policies that include sexual orientation. Non-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation and gender identity are needed to help stop anti-gay peer abuse…

Although most parents claim their children owe them obligations of gratitude, there has been no attempt to analyze gratitude as a basis for parental rights over children's religious upbringing. Parents' provision of benefits to their children in an altruistic fashion requires that children ought normally to honor parental requests that they…

In this study, narrative and expository discourse-retelling abilities were compared in 9 children with closed head injury (CHI) age 9;5-15;3 (years;months) and 9 typically developing age-matched peers. Narrative and expository retellings were analyzed according to language variables (i.e., number of words, number of T-units, and sentential…

Responsibility is a key concept in policy and public debate about the lives of children and families. On the one hand, parents are assumed to take responsibility for children's well-being; on the other, children and young people are blamed and frequently punished for "irresponsible" or anti-social behaviour. The article deconstructs the…

Research suggests that adolescents' ratings of the appropriateness of parental reactions are influenced by several constructs, including adolescents' perceptions of the type of parental reaction, the emotions felt by the adolescent and parental intentions. However, little is known regarding how these constructs are differentially predictive of…

The aim of this article is to re-evaluate and reaffirm the contribution of the churches and of Christianity to the realization in Northern Ireland schools of legitimate and progressive educational values such as the cultivation of tolerance, moral integrity and civic virtue. Implicit in this is a critique of educational initiatives that seek to…

Augustine's concept of the deep self provides a basis for a complex and many-faceted account of critical thinking. He uncovers the moral sources of thinking in the inner depths of the self and shows that critical thinking presupposes radical self-reflection ready to face the truth about oneself. Self-knowledge assumes transparency, consciousness…

This article examines Galston's account of civic education in light of the understanding of liberal virtues that partially informs his educational recommendations. It argues that the main limitations of Galston's account have their origin in a mistaken view of the traits of character that are essential to good citizens. Historical examples are…

What are the moral limits of artistic license? A strong case can be made for the view that there are none; that in viewing works of art people should resist ethical criticism, and, "a fortiori," resist moral strictures on the artist's inventiveness. This view has recently been defended by Richard Posner, who argues that people should not expect…

The genesis of the moral leadership concept in educational administration and examples of studies exploring this idea during the 1979-2003 period are discussed. The author recommends more contextually sensitive descriptive studies with a focus on the social relations among school leaders and others, giving particular attention, in a…