Louisville, Kentucky, public school teacher Paul Barnwell was distressed by his 11th-grade students’ response to this hypothetical moral quandary: “If your significant other commits a felony where people are gravely injured, do you report them to the police?”
To his dismay, the students resoundingly responded “No!”
His students’ reaction made Barnwell recognize the absence of moral instruction and character development in district schools.
In fact, he argued that moral instruction is often neglected, since many teachers are overwhelmed by the pressures to focus instruction on government-assessed standards, such as Common Core, which he notes “ultimately elevated standardized testing and severely narrowed curricula.”
“For many American students who have attended a public school at some point since 2002, standardized-test preparation and narrowly defined academic success [have] been the unstated, but de facto, purpose of their schooling experience,” Barnwell wrote in The Atlantic.
Yet moral instruction in schools is extremely important to families. In particular, parents rank moral and character development as one of the top three most important qualities in a school.
More
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
We used to read stories in grade school that promoted good morals, then discuss them. Those days are gone?
ReplyDeleteSadly yes, it's all about the demoncrat liberal sinfilled agenda now.
Delete
ReplyDelete"Those days are gone?"
Not at our house, 5:27, but it's awfully hard to find those books anymore, them having values and all. The liberals make sure only their books are readily available.
We home-schooled and got our materials through Christian Light Publications. They are Mennonite-oriented, but very good overall. There are quite a few good reading books available through them that really promote good morals. Our favorites were the ones about the Miller family.
It helps if the kids have full bellies and have books in their homes. In the course of my life I have always been amazed how many people had only the TV Guide Sears catalog and the Bible in their home. Stacked not by relevance but how it fits on their coffee table.
ReplyDeleteI remember well a class that taught right from wrong. About honoring a commitment made - telling the truth and accepting the consequences, being responsible for your actions. We will never see those types of studies again.
ReplyDeleteMany of us learned through Boy Scouts. Well that is now a joke. I bought an old boys scout book from the 80’s and my kids and I go through it.
ReplyDeleteI'm 83 years old and I don't remember morals being taught in school but it was taught and stressed at home.It was just a natural thing that everybody was expected to be moral.
ReplyDelete