After decades of marginalization in the secularized twentieth-century academy, moral education has enjoyed a recent resurgence in American higher education, with the establishment of more than 100 ethics centers and programs on campuses across the country. Yet the idea that the university has a civic responsibility to teach its undergraduate students ethics and morality has been met with skepticism, suspicion, and even outright rejection from both inside and outside the academy. In this collection, renowned scholars of philosophy, politics, and religion debate the role of ethics in the university, investigating whether universities should proactively cultivate morality and ethics, what teaching ethics entails, and what moral education should accomplish. The essays quickly open up to broader questions regarding the very purpose of a university education in modern society. Editors Elizabeth Kiss and J. Peter Euben survey the history of ethics in higher education, then engage with provocative recent writings by Stanley Fish in which he argues that universities should not be involved in moral education. Stanley Hauerwas responds, offering a theological perspective on the university’s purpose. Contributors look at the place of politics in moral education; suggest that increasingly diverse, multicultural student bodies are resources for the teaching of ethics; and show how the debate over civic education in public grade-schools provides valuable lessons for higher education. Others reflect on the virtues and character traits that a moral education should foster in students—such as honesty, tolerance, and integrity—and the ways that ethical training formally and informally happens on campuses today, from the classroom to the basketball court. Debating Moral Education is a critical contribution to the ongoing discussion of the role and evolution of ethics education in the modern liberal arts university. Contributors. Lawrence Blum, Romand Coles, J. Peter Euben, Stanley Fish, Michael Allen Gillespie, Ruth W. Grant, Stanley Hauerwas, David A. Hoekema, Elizabeth Kiss, Patchen Markell, Susan Jane McWilliams, Wilson Carey McWilliams, J. Donald Moon, James Bernard Murphy, Noah Pickus, Julie A. Reuben, George Shulman, Elizabeth V. Spelman

Discusses the changes that schools, families, political structures, and economic institutions must undergo if they are to support the moral education of Americans.

This book examines the nature of moral issues in education while attempting to provide both a clarification of the issues and suggestions as to what might be done in the social context. The job of the school is not to teach morals but provide students with appropriate ways to respond to moral issues and dilemmas. Suggestions are given for teaching strategies and quotations are given for discussion topics. The five chapters in the book include: (1) "Clarifying the Nature of Moral Education"; (2) "Religion and Moral Education"; (3) "Moral Education: A Long Tradition"; (4) "Morality and the Education Profession"; and (5) "Moral Education and Recent Trends." The appendices offer: (1) "Eleven Characteristics of Moral Problems and of Moral Disagreements"; and (2) "Criteria for Testing the Value of an Authoritative Opinion." A 73-item bibliography also is included. Suggestions are given for teaching strategies and quotations are given for discussion topics. (EH)

The Death of Character is a broad historical, sociological, and cultural inquiry into the moral life and moral education of young Americans based upon a huge empirical study of the children themselves. The children's thoughts and concerns-expressed here in their own words-shed a whole new light on what we can expect from moral education. Targeting new theories of education and the prominence of psychology over moral instruction, Hunter analyzes the making of a new cultural narcissism.

In this volume the editors incorporate the experiences of African Americans into the discourse on moral-development theory and moral education. By citing historical developments from the days of slavery to the present, the authors provide a framework through which one can interpret the way morality has been cultivated amongst Black minorities. Presenting intriguing essays of well-known African American scholars, the editors discuss both the psychology of moral formation among African American children, adolescents, and adults, and the practical implications of this knowledge.

This one-of-a-kind, comprehensive history of moral education in American schools provides an invaluable historical context for contemporary debates. McClellan traces American traditions of moral education from the colonial era to the present, illuminating both debates about the subject and actual practices in public and private schools, colleges, and universities. He pays particular attention to changing fashions in pedagogy, to church–state conflicts, to the long decline of character training in the schools, and to recent efforts to restore moral education to its once-honored place. The book concludes with a thorough examination of recent theorists, including Lawrence Kohlberg, William J. Bennett, Carol Gilligan, and Nel Noddings, and an appraisal of current practice in American schools. “In an age of specialists who quite productively write books on relatively narrow subjects imbedded in short time periods, McClellan writes effortlessly about the grand themes and social practices in the history of moral education and character training over several centuries.” —From the Foreword by William J. Reese “I would highly recommend this work to anyone interested in educational policy in general and moral education in particular. . . .There is nothing presently available that is comparable in scope, balance, intellectual coherence, and readability.” —Ray Hiner, University of Kansas