In his article “Students’ Broken Moral Compass,” teacher Paul Barnwell discovered that his students had little experience reflecting on their own morality or ethics – and that ethics and character were seldom, if ever, discussed in school. “During my 12 years in education, I can’t recall a single meeting in which the discussion of student character and ethics was elevated to anything close to the level of importance of academics within school curricula.” And yet, as Barnwell discovered, students welcomed discussions of morality and ethics.
Moral and ethical behavior may not be discussed in many homes either where parents don’t or can’t teach fundamental values because they are too focused on their children’s achievement and happiness.
The American Education Research Association says “Education must become the agent of change rather than the object of change.” And teaching young people the importance of moral and ethical behavior is one area in which education must be the agent of change.
“You cannot make men good by law: and without good men you cannot have a good society. That is why we must go on to think of the second thing: of morality inside the individual”. [C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity, p. 72]
Resources for Reflection and Teaching about Morality and Ethics
The Core Virtues Foundation Website, a website that discusses virtue and offers suggestions for how to teach it at home and in schools: https://www.corevirtues.net/
The Good Project strives to equip individuals to reflect upon the ethical dilemmas that arise in everyday life by providing them with the tools to make thoughtful decisions: https://www.thegoodproject.org/
Kindness 101 with Steve Hartman: videos that actually show examples of people putting kindness and caring into action: https://www.cbsnews.com/feature/kindness-101-steve-hartman/
Read how some teachers incorporated morality and ethical lessons into their daily academic lessons in “Students’ Broken Moral Compass,”