An article found at (http://www.freeinquiry.com/teaching-morals.html), entitled TEACHING MORALS AND VALUES IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS: A HUMANIST PERSPECTIVE, discusses why morals should be taught in the public schools. While the article blatently states that teaching morals and religion are two different things, and that moral education is a matter of humanism, it still made me wonder how comfortable I would feel leaving the moral education of my children up to teachers whom I do not know personally, and whose values may be very different from my own.
I think that it is a commonly agreed upon lesson that it is "not o.k." for one person to hurt another person. In the preschool where I work, we tell the kids that it is not O.K. to hit, kick, bite or use hurtful words with the other children. Still, I also know that some of the teachers at my school "whoop" their own children as a form of discipline. While this is culturally acceptable for them, I wonder how much validity there is when one of those same teachers tells a child that it is not O.K. to hurt another child.
My point is, I think that adding moral education into schooling might be a trickier issue than it seems to be on the surface. We live in a society where different cultural and ethical practices are accepted. We live in a society where we are expected to be accepting of the practices of other cultures. But I don't think that that should extend to teaching children. I think that teaching of morals should still be the responsibility and right of the family. I can't quite wrap my mind around the idea of allowing the schools to decide what value systems should be taught to my children.
I have four sons. One thing that I know that I want them to be in adulthood is responsible fathers and husbands. This is a value that I make a conscious effort to instill into them. We live in a society where fatherhood and husbandhood are not always seen as priorities. We also live in a society where views on marriage differ widely. my views may not be the sme as the views of another. Is it O.K. to divorce when a couple no longer gets along? Is it O.K. for unwed couples to live together and have children? Is it O.K. to have same sex marriages? Is it O.K. for same sex couples to raise children? Is it O.K. to commit adultry? Is it O,K. for fathers to leave the financial and emotional burden of children to the mothers alone? Is it O.K. for women to decide to have children without the fathers consent? The questions, and combinations of answers to those questions go on and on. The biggest question for me, though, is: "Is it O.K. for school teachers to instill their opinions on this matter into my children?"
I realize that proponents of moral education in public schools are assuming a universal moral code that all humans should follow, but I don't think that all humans are yet to agree on what that moral code is or should be. We are yet to come to a consensus in our country, and are very far from coming to a consensus internationally. Until such a consensus exists, I feel that moral education does not have a place in public schools.
The website An Overview of Moral Development and Moral Education, located at (www.uic.edu/~lnucci/MoralEd/overview.html) discusses an assumed universal moral code that they say should be taught in school. I still contend that no universal moral code currently exists.
I concur with this blog entry, in that, with all of the moral issues it would be difficult to agree upon a universal code to teach in schools. The public school system should be a place that any child can attain an education regardless of their religious, political, moral, or ethnic backgrounds. With the vast diversity in America, it would be impossible to for all to agree with one universal moral code to be taught in the public school systems. On the other hand, I can also see where moral education may be needed in the public school systems due to the lack of parental involvement. Schools may be able to fill the void where some parents are lacking, teaching skills like honesty, kindness, non-violent conflict resolution etc… But where do we draw the line? Where have we gone too far? Is this an issue that can ever be agreed upon.
ReplyDeleteYou have raised some interesting issues. But what about the notion of morality that Dewey described? Would you have a problem promoting his ideas in public school?
ReplyDeleteAlso, wouldn't it be possible to draw a line between "public" morality and "private" morality? I would think that questions about marriage, abortion, divorce could be considered "private" whereas things like helpfulness to others and civic responsibility could be considered public. Yes?
My fear is that, because many people are unable to draw that line, some would consider moral education in schools to give them freedom to teach their own ideas about morality. Deweys morality is a very good idea, but the teacher's would need to be dedicated to this notion both intellectually and emotionally. Many people do not have the capacity to alter the ideas on which they were raised. This is why I say - if there were a universal moral code by which people live (Deweyan or otherwise), teaching morals in school would be a great thing - but there is no agreement there. My ideas of morality may be very different from yours, or from Jim's or Jenny's. In many cases people feel a need to impose their morality on others and to condemn those who disagree with them, and this is something I have a problem with. Say I were in a same sex marriage, and my child's teacher was morally against homosexuality - and felt that by given the right to teach morals to children, they were given the right to express their views on this subject to my children as well as others in the class? What type of situation might this create for my child and family?
ReplyDeleteAn aside note, teaching skills like kindness, honesty and non-violent conflict resolution to some kids might actually be taking from them the tools they need to survive in their communities. Maybe, rather than condemning their parents for not teaching them what we deem as proper, we need to recognise that they and their parents are living a life where skills of dishonesty, violence, and unkindness are necessary. There are many different worlds within The United states, and each person must live in his or her own world.