Character education: a critical analysis; robert tatman, stacey  (Page 6/16)

1960s

According to Massey (1993) of the ASCD, the sixties decade introduced the controversial values clarification approach which was criticized for creating classrooms considered values-free. Teachers who once could presume respect and authority now had no common character base from which to expound moral education because the new pluralistic view of society purported no common set of values (Smith, 1989). Another approach to teaching values was the cognitive-development approach. Both approaches focused on students developing personal reasoning processes based on moral judgments (Massey), but differed on how students’ personal moral reasoning was developed.

Students’ moral dilemma discussions drove cognitive development, whereas students’ self-identification of moral value beliefs drove values clarification (Massey, 1993). According to Huffman (1993), “Many public schools abandoned systematic, formal attention to character education beginning in the late 1960s” (p. 24). The roles of classroom teachers became more restrictive as moral reasoning entailed teachers serving as facilitators in the moral development enterprise. Character-building through a didactic pedagogy was replaced with teachers facilitating students resolving moral conflicts with the teacher intervening only to help students develop their morally reasoning skills. Values clarification also called for teachers to withhold the moralizing of lessons. Attempting to influence students or the share personal opinions with them was now educationally taboo (Leming, 1993b). In nothing less than a paradigm shift for the traditional role of educators, the primary role of teachers was only to help students clarify their values.

The shift is evidenced by the consideration of education’s traditional role as was observed in the “two-fold goal of the founders of William and Mary College – that youth be well educated to learning and good morals” (Education, 1968, p. 376). In contrast to withholding the moralizing elements of lessons, the historical educational root was that moral education was synonymous with the formation of character and the instilling of good habits, and was often viewed as the proper function and responsibility of American schools (Education, 1968).