America’s Schools Need Character Education Essay -- Education Reform Es

A question that often finds itself as the focus of curriculum debates and school think discussions is that of moral and character development. Does character development incur a place in our schools? Should public schools take the responsibility of educating students on morality? The answer is colonial and has a multitude of sides and opinions. In a way, however, schools already educate students on what to believe and how to behave. By excluding the business relationship of the other Ameri baths, such as people of color, women, and homosexuals, and center instead of the failures and successes of those of European descent, our schools already instill a distinct vision of who and what we are supposed to be. The white Protestant males vision of history and view of the world tends to be placed into the text -books and overall teachings of public schools in the United States. A very real example of this bias can be seen in the teaching of Thanksgiving. A holiday celebrated universall y through all religions gives educators in public schools the opportunity to discuss and rejoice in the day with classroom activities and parties. Neglected from the Thanksgiving lesson, however, is the plight of the Native American who lost land and life when the Puritan settlers landed. Although moral education differs from multicultural education, they have points that intertwine. To me, the goals of character and moral education are to open up the minds of children and encourage an acceptance of others different from themselves. One of the most important pieces to moral education is reproduction respect. Through development of respect and understanding of difference and humanity in general, perhaps much of the hate and intolerance that occurs in our society pres... ...dence Institute on-line. http//i2iorg/Publications/Op-Eds/ breeding/itselementary.htmPetrovic, J.E. (1999). Moral Democratic Education and Homosexuality Censoring Morality.Electronic Copy Journal of Moral Educati on 28, 201-210. Pierce, K. (1999). Its Elementary The New Gay Public Education Outreach. NLJ On-Line. http//www.liberty.edu/premier/nlj/July1999/Gay1.htm.Simonds, F. (2001). CEE Strategy. Citizens for Excellence in Education on-line. http//www.webcom.com/webcee/ceestrategy.htm.Stoltenberg, J. (1989). Refusing to Be A Man Essays on Sex and Justice. London UCL Press.Teaching margin Project. (1997). Starting Small Teaching Tolerance in Preschool and the Early Grades. Montgomery, Alabama Southern Poverty Law Center. Teaching Tolerance. (2001). Ten Ways to Fight Hate. on-line. http//www.Tolerance .org/10_ways/teach/index.html