Morality in Education

                  When first mentioned, the concept of moral education causes many in the education field to shudder, grimace and begin to slowly back away from the conversation. This is simply due to the fact that for many, the concept of morality is too closely linked to religion. We, as a profession, are conditioned to avoid anything that could possibly be construed as religious instruction in the public schools. The possible consequences for schools and school employees who dare to broach the subject include a whole host of lawsuits from parents on all sides of the spectrum, resulting in a significant cost to the district, as well as national public scrutiny. A simple Google search for “religious education in public schools” reveals 60,700 results in approximately 0.32 seconds. It is only natural that we would have such an immediate negative reaction to this subject. However, whether we realize it or not, schools are immersed in moral education and could not survive if they did not engage in some form of this topic. However, we often trade the possibly inflammatory term of moral education, with more benign nomenclature such as “behavior support systems”, “behavior interventions” or “character education.”

      In a recent blog post, Bean (2010) addresses the topic of moral education. He asserts that “society no longer consistently teaches and enforces its own ethical codes…it is no surprise that it has fallen on public institutions to monitor people's behavior at a level it never did in the past.” Many students no longer have consistent role models for appropriate behavior at home, both in inner city, urban schools, as well as middle class, suburban populations. This is due to many factors outside of the realm of our current topic of discussion, but can largely be attributed to the decline of the middle class. This decline is contributing not only to a change in our national economy, but also in our society as a whole. Often, students spend far more time at school, inside a classroom, with their teacher than they do at home with their parents. Therefore, teachers are caregivers and, as such can have a dramatic influence on the lives of their students. We may not realize it, but we are teaching moral values by modeling them in our classroom and through our behavior policies that have become a necessity in schools.

      Because children often do not have a consistent, positive role model for interpersonal interactions, it falls on schools to teach these behaviors. If schools did not teach appropriate behaviors, in many populations, learning would not occur in the classroom. The state of Michigan recognizes the integral relationship between behavior and learning. It offers Michigan’s Integrated Behavior Learning and Support Initiative (MiBLSi), which is designed to support both behavioral instruction and reading instruction, to schools in the state who serve at-risk populations. “An integrated model not only views behavior and reading as components of the same support system, but these components also influence one another. Unless discipline issues are at a minimum, instruction will be interrupted and teaching time will be lost. Additionally, poor academic performance may lead to students engaging in problem behavior that results in escaping academic tasks.” (miblsi.cenmi.org) The components of the behavior program include tenements that students of the school must be “respectful, responsible and safe” and includes reward programs for students who are caught demonstrating behaviors that are consistent with at least one of the three categories. While the MiBLSi program is optional for schools, recent anti-bullying legislation in Michigan (PA 0241) requires that schools adopt anti-bullying polices and also encourages school boards to adopt “provisions to form bullying prevention task forces, programs, teen courts, and other initiatives involving school staff, pupils, school clubs or other student groups, administrators, volunteers, parents, law enforcement, community members, and other stakeholders” as part of those policies. Due to the recent onslaught and public awareness of bullying (see this page for a compilation of Huffington Post articles related to school bullying to get some sense of the prevalence), schools that choose not to adopt bullying prevention measures (read: behavior initiatives) will almost certainly come under fire during any investigation of bullying related incidents.

      It is obvious that schools must adopt some form of moral education, whether they choose to call it by that term or another. However, what topics should schools address in their moral education? Lickona suggests that, at the very minimum, schools must teach the concepts of respect and responsibility. She also contends that schools consider including models for moral decision-making and the use of moral discipline. Haydon, however, takes a much less direct approach by contending that “there can be many aims for moral education…yet there may be good, if not conclusive, reasons for pursuing all of these aims.” As discussed above, it behooves schools to at least teach moral responsibility and behaviors necessary for successful performance in school (i.e., respect, responsibility, honesty, etc.). Without addressing these ideals, students who do not see this behavior outside the school will not be successful in a learning environment. Resources for schools looking to incorporate moral education into the curriculum can be found here.