for Teachers and Students
Children and young people have no road-map of behavior to go by if they are not taught some simple, clearly defined, and exact code of acceptable behavior. Values clarification techniques go on and on about allowing the person to "choose for themselves", "depend on their own feelings", and "become aware of their own beliefs". But without a firm basis in some moral code, they have no clear beliefs, feelings or opinions about much of anything. The application of these methods degrades into "what feels good", hedonism, and self-centered selfish decision-making. This type approach to "ethics" and "morality" is the perfect expression of the "me" generation where everything is judged solely with regards to what the individual gets or obtains from the moral "choice". There is a reason for the rise of immorality, violence and crime in modern society. It has more than a little to do with the current philosophies and practices of modern moral relativism, situation ethics, and values clarification. The application of these ideas would actually be fine IF they were applied by people with a firm grounding in moral education and some clear code of acceptable behavior. Without these things the application of these ideas results in moral and social chaos. It degrades in actual practice into "do whatever one likes" because "no choice is better than any other choice" and "ethical decisions are all relative to my own personal feelings, desires and impulses". Anyone desiring to understand where education and morality went wrong needs to study Jean Jacques Rousseau, John Dewey, Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow and this book - these will supply a clear understanding of the road which has led to moral destruction ending in the current "modern" society. From back book cover: Rarely in the school curriculum is direct attention given to a crucial educational experience - the examination of values, ideals, goals - even though the value systems which students develop are directly related to the kind of people they are and will be, and to the quality of the relationships they form. Designed to engage students and teachers in the active formulation and examination of values, this book is unique in content and format. It does not teach a particular set of values. There is no sermonizing or moralizing. The goal is to involve students in practical experiences, making them aware of their own feelings, their own ideas, their own beliefs, so that the choices and decisions they make are conscious and deliberate, based on their own value systems. This important and relevant book presents numerous practical strategies which plunge student and teacher directly into the evaluating process. Students will find these activities intriguing, and closely related to their personal lives. Teachers will find the suggestions simple, practical, stimulating. Sidney Simon is Professor of Education at
the University of Massachusetts; Leland Howe is Assistant Professor of
Education at Temple University; and Howard Kirschenbaum is Director of
Adirondack Mountain Humanistic Education Center.
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