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Social Studies Methods
September 7, 2012
Instructor, Kristin Bird
Good character instruction is essential to successful social development. Education suffers in an atmosphere of poor morals and values. Biblical values are the missing ingredient in much of American education today.
What is good character? Wilhe (2005) citing Crawford (2001) explains that a successful character program involves “grounding in actual moral conditions rather than simply a consideration of abstract moral principles or developmental standards.” Grounding in actual moral conditions requires hands on practice. Good character is what a person does, when he or she knows that no one (but God) will ever know.
What gives schools/teachers the right to intervene in children’s morals and values? Teachers are “deputized” so to speak, under the authority of God and the children’s parents. Education suffers in an atmosphere of poor morals and values.
Which values should be taught in schools? Wilhe (2005) citing Algera & Sink (2002, p. 163, 178) states:
“The Bible served as the primary textbook for reading and the daily lessons reinforced a commitment to moral codes of behavior based upon the Scripture...A comprehensive approach to character and moral education should focus on the
Influence of the learning community and provide opportunities for students to become actively engaged in character formation” (p. 178).
So I would list their program requirements as daily Bible reading and lessons, the influence of the learning community, and students actively engaged in their own character formation.
Teachers must be sensitive to parental and community expectations, but ultimately, teachers are under God’s authority. Biblically, parents are under the authority of God, and teachers would be under the parent’s authority, but also accountable to God. If a conflict arises between man and God, the Christian teacher must “obey God rather than men.” Christian teachers in public school may find themselves faced with the choice to compromise their faith and teach in a manner that doesn’t honor God, or leave their school and find another job. In Ohio, several teachers in public school have lost their jobs because they shared their faith with students at school.
What are the moral implications associated with teaching or not teaching values and character? Although some schools attempt to teach values and character, if moral relativism is taught along with it, the values are hollow and empty. The relativists have successfully removed prayer from schools, but there is no such thing as a moral vacuum.
Yes, all teachers teach morals and values, whether consciously or unconsciously. This is the power of the “hidden curriculum.” If everything is relative, then nothing—drugs, teen sex, violence, disrespect of parents—is really wrong, in the minds and hearts of these poor lost sheep in our factory schools.
We either reflect Christ to our students, or we reflect the paganized culture around us. Students naturally assume that they are expected to be like their teachers, and are natural imitators. What a tremendous responsibility!
Values clarification is an approach to education that “gave no basis for absolute truth and instead allowed for, and actually encouraged, alternate realities (Wilhe (2005) citing Kirschenbaum, 1977).
Values clarification negatively affects the teaching of values and morals. How can one be “grounded in actual moral conditions” if one believes that all truth is relative? The answer, of course, is that if a person believes that all truth is relative, then they cannot be grounded in anything.
The following questions and procedures are recommended in values clarification, according to Raths (1978) and Simon (1972) as cited at The Gevirtz Graduate School of Education (GGSE) at UC Santa Barbara:
“• The teacher begins the lesson with "opening up" activities which focus on lowrisk issues.
• The activities require student to indicate their position on an issue in an overt
and explicit manner.
• The teacher accepts student responses without judgement or evaluation and
discourages any attempts by students to challenge or mock each other's
position.
• The students should be asked to explain or provide reasons for holding a
specific value position. This is the clarification aspect of the strategy.
• The activities should, whenever possible, be related to issues that have
historical import or are related to current social or political concerns.
Closure
No assessment is really desired unless it is the observation of whether or not
students share their values and possess an appropriate sense of their own values.”
In the infamous “lifeboat scenario,” a teacher may ask a student a question such as “Who should be saved on a lifeboat?” Truth becomes relative, and instead of teaching values, the student is simply led to give his (very untrained and possibly morally bankrupt) opinion. This opinion is not evaluated in any way, no matter how morally reprehensible or wrong. In fact, the student will learn that truth is relative.
The widespread implementation of the values clarification approach has been disastrous to the quality of education as well as the spread of immorality, leading to the breakdown of social norms. Therefore, educators desperately looked for new ideas to teach character. Lickona, Schaps, & Lewis, (1998) suggest the following eleven guidelines for teaching character education, as cited by Wilhe, Gretchen M. (2005).
“• Character education hold, as a starting philosophical principle, that there are
widely shared, pivotally important core ethical values, such as caring, honesty,
fairness, responsibility, and respect for self and others.
• Character must be comprehensively defined to include thinking, feeling, and
behavior.
• Effective character education requires an intentional, proactive, and
comprehensive approach that promotes the core values in all phases of life.
• The program environment must be a caring community.
• To develop character, young people need opportunities for moral action. Young
people learn best by doing.
• Effective character education includes a meaningful and challenging curriculum
that respects all learners and helps them succeed.
• Character education should strive to develop intrinsic motivation.
• Teachers must become a learning and moral community in which all share
responsibility for character education and attempt to adhere to the same core
values that guide young people.
• Character education requires moral leadership. For character education to meet
the criteria outlined thus far, there must be educators who champion the effort.
• Programs must recruit parents and community members as full members.
Parents are the first and most important moral educators of their children.
• Evaluation of character education should assess the character of the program, the
staff’s functioning as character educators, and the extent to which the program is
affecting children.”
However, Biblical values are the vital missing ingredient in American education today. Without the Bible, there is no common frame of reference, and no “manual” for standards. That is why today, as in the time of the biblical Judges, every man does as he sees fit (Judges 21:25), and education in the west continues to decline.
References
Holy Bible, Acts 5:29 and Judges 21:25 (KJV).
Crawford, P. D. (2001). Educating for moral ability: Reflections on moral development
based on Vygotsky's theory of concept formation. Journal of Moral Education Ltd., 30(2), as cited in Wilhe, Gretchen M. (2005 Masters Theses.
Kirschenbaum, H. (1977). In support of values clarification. Social Education,
41(1), 398-402, as cited in Wilhe, Gretchen M. (2005 Masters Theses.
5-1-2005.
Lickona, Thomas, Eric Schaps, & Catherine Lewis. (1998, November/December)
Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education. Scholastic Early Childhood
Today, 13 (3), 53-36, as cited in Wilhe, Gretchen M. (2005 Masters Theses.
5-1-2005.
Wilhe, Gretchen M. (2005). Masters Theses, A Comparative-Qualitative Research Analysis of Character Education in the Christian School and Home Education Milieu, Cedarville University.
Raths, L.E.,. Harmin, M., & Simon, S.B. Values and Teaching (2nd ed.),. Columbus, OH:
Charles E. Merrill, 1978), as cited at The Gevirtz Graduate School of Education (GGSE) at UC Santa Barbara,www.education.ucsb.edu/webdata/instruction/hss/Values_Clarification/ValuClarif_Method_Outline.pdf, assessed 9/7/2012.
Simon, S.B., Howe, L.W., & Kirschenbaum, H. Values Clarification: A Handbook of Practical Strategies for Teachers and Students. New York: Hart Publishing, 1972), as cited at The Gevirtz Graduate School of Education (GGSE) at UC Santa Barbara,www.education.ucsb.edu/webdata/instruction/hss/Values_Clarification/ValuClarif_Method_Outline.pdf, assessed 9/7/2012.