Moral questions in the classroom : how to get kids to think deeply about real life and their schoolwork / Katherine G. Simon ; foreword by Theodore R. Sizer and Nancy Faust Sizer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Simon, Katherine G., 1962-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Moral education (Secondary)--United States--Case studies.

Moral education (Secondary).

High school teaching--United States--Case studies.

High school teaching.

United States.

Genre:

Case studies.

Physical Description:

xv, 288 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, [2001]

Summary:

What constitutes a just war? How does race matter in America? Are the interests of corporations the same as those of the public when it comes to the environment or public health? Middle and high school history, literature, and science classes abound with important moral, social, and political questions. But under pressure to cover required materials and out of fear of raising controversy, teachers often avoid classroom discussions of questions that are profoundly important to students and to society.

This book investigates how schools can responsibly take an active role in moral education while honoring their academic mission. Using extensive observations in public, Catholic, and Jewish high schools, Katherine Simon analyzes the ways in which teachers avoid or address moral questions raised by students and implicit in course materials. She examines how morally charged issues may be taught responsibly in a diverse democracy. And in an afterword that teachers and teacher educators will find particularly useful, Simon provides practical tools and strategies for structuring discussion and designing units to help teachers explore moral issues more deeply with their middle and high school students.

Contents:

Chapter 1 The Place of Meaning 1

Chapter 2 What Is Moral Education? 15

Chapter 3 Three High Schools and a Researcher 39

Chapter 4 "We Could Argue About That All Day": Missed Opportunities for Exploring Moral Questions 53

Chapter 5 "It Makes You Think": Sustained Discussions of Moral and Existential Questions 99

Chapter 6 From the Sublime to the Mundane: Religion Courses in Religious Schools 144

Chapter 7 Whose Values Will Get Taught? The Challenge of Pluralism 180

Chapter 8 The Case for Systemic Reform 220

Afterword: Strategies and Tools for Incorporating Moral and Existential Questions into the Classroom 232

Appendix Methods 249.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-282) and index.

ISBN:

0300090323

OCLC:

46928873