Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • Free Essays • My Term Papers • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Education Values in conflict Values in conflict Each day as young people attend school they are bombarded with various moral messages. These messages come in many forms. These differing forms may be categorized in either of two different areas, moral instruction or moral practice (Jackson, Boostrom, and Hansen, 1993). Moral instruction refers to both formal and informal methods. Formal instruction as part of the classroom curriculum is directed and intentional. Sometimes formal moral instruction is not quite so obvious however. Rituals and ceremonies such as pep rallies, graduations, and various assemblies may all be categorized as formal moral instruction. Visual displays with moral content are also considered as formal instruction, although they are of a more passive approach. One can not walk the hallways of a typical middle school without seeing numerous examples of posters and signs which attempt to convey some sort of moral message. Perhaps the most subtle and least recognizable form of moral instruction is the interjection of moral commentary within an ongoing activity. Public recognition for doing exceptional work is just one example of such Moral practice methods may also be either formal or informal. The rules and regulations within the school and classroom would be considered formal forms of moral practice. A more informal method of moral practice would be the expressive morality within the classroom. Expressive morality may be conveyed either intentionally or unintentionally. Everything a teacher does, from facial expression and body language to expressing personal beliefs, can have an effect of influencing the values of an adolescent. Hence teachers should be extremely A Gallup (1980) public survey of attitudes towards schools showed that 79% of the respondents were in favor of some form of instruction which would concentrate on morals and the development of moral behaviors. Along with academic competence, character development is the most desired goal of educators (Wynne and Wahlberg, 1985). Many states actually mandate some form of character education by law. In Nebraska, state statutes 79-214 and 79-215 specifically outline this. Despite this apparent agreement between the public and educators, as well as its legitimacy under law, the teaching of moral behavior and values runs the risk of having a negative impact on the identity formation of the adolescent when the values transmitted to them at school do not mesh with those which are learned at home. Before we can discuss the possible impact of moral education on the values and character as they relate to the identity formation of the adolescent, we need to try and understand what character and values are. Values are one’s principles and judgment of what is important in life. “We are expected to develop out own opinions, outlook, stances to things, to a considerable degree through solitary reflection” (Taylor, 1991). However, when defining our identities this is not how things work. An individual’s identity is defined through their dialogue with others, normally those who matter to them. The impact of these dialogues, such as those with our parents, continue to influence us long after they have left our lives (Taylor, 1991). Character is “a complex set of relatively persistent qualities of the individual person, and generally has a positive connotation when used in discussion of moral education” (Pritchard, 1988). Generally, character is observable in one’s conduct (Wynne and Wahlberg, 1985). The definition of one’s character is essentially the definition of one’s lifestyle. Much like values, an individual’s character is influenced by those who matter in one’s life (Campbell and Bond, 1982). Today we live in an extremely diverse and complex society. It is a society which could arguably be considered to be pluralistic. The varying ethnic, religious, and cultural perspectives can make issues of character and moral value extremely difficult to evaluate. In addition to this diversity, differences in things like socio-economic status increase the complexity of the evaluation. A good example of the problems which may possibly arise from this complexity occurred Two men of middle eastern heritage were arrested on charges stemming from their marriages to two adolescent girls. These marriages were arranged by the girls’ parents. According to their cultural heritage and customs, what these men did, in cooperation with the girls’ parents, was perfectly acceptable. According to the culture and customs here however, what they did was not only considered immoral but illegal as well. For the purposes of this discussion, the appropriateness of their actions is not at issue. The point is that the cultural diversity involved resulted in a situation of extremely serious conflict. Of more importance to the discussion here is how this situation may have affected the two young girls. On one hand they had their parents exercising a tradition which has been a part of their culture longer than our culture has even existed. These are the same parents who raised and cared for them their entire lives. On the other hand they had the state. The state is telling them that they were put into a situation that was immoral and illegal. The disequilibrium which these girls must have experienced must undoubtedly be enormous. What can they be expected to believe? If the state is correct, then the parents that had raised them were not only wrong but immoral as well. If this is true then does that put into question everything else that their parents had ever taught them? Is everything they have been told to believe in wrong? What if their parents are right? Do the girls now question everything they hear in school with regard to morality? Can those who have wrongly persecuted their family be trusted? The possible questions which might surface in the minds of these girls is endless. The full impact on their identity formation is impossible to determine. Many children today are growing up in conditions that do not provide the moral and ethical framework which is necessary to develop good character (Schaeffer, 1998). There is also the influence from the media. The messages adolescents are receiving from advertising are rarely consistent with those they hear in school. Increasingly the Internet may also have potential negative impacts on what adolescents perceive as moral. The information which is easily accessible over the so-called information superhighway runs the full range of the moral spectrum. Marital conflicts, spousal and child abuse, and inconsistent discipline at home are all related to antisocial behaviors in adolescents (Hinshaw and Possibly, the most influential environmental condition which can create moral and values conflict for the adolescent is the factor of peer pressure. Surrounded by their equally confused peers, adolescents frequently make poor decisions which result in harmful, and sometimes lethal, consequences (Schaeffer, My personal experience with the possible conflicts which can arise from value and character issues involved my youngest son. One day he came home looking rather disheveled and he was obviously distressed. When I questioned him as to what had happened to him he appeared embarrassed and was hesitant in telling me what had occurred. He began to relate to me the story of how two other children in his class had attacked him after school. Although he did escape any serious injury he was left with a small cut on his right hand. The cut was caused when one of his attackers had dug his nails into my son’s hand. This occurred at the same time that my son was being restrained by the second attacker. Both the boys involved in the assault on the son were much larger than he. One of the boys involved was a young man that my son had been having problems with on previous occasions. I had contacted the school in regard to the situation several times. On one of those occasions which my son was harassed he retaliated. When he did so he was observed by the teacher. As a result my son was reprimanded and I was contacted by the school’s principal. I told my son at this point that he needed to make the teacher aware of when this other boy was giving him trouble and that he should not attempt to retaliate in any manner. The school had made it abundantly clear that violence of any kind would not be tolerated even if it was done in self defense. When I called the school after the last attack the teacher informed me that there was nothing which could be done due to the fact that none of the teachers or administrators at the school had witnessed the incident. I found this statement incredulous. It was beginning to sound to me that a student could do anything and get away with it as long as no adult had observed the action. It was then that I had decided that it was necessary for me to do something in order to help my son. My son is not the athletic type. The thought of one kid beating him up was troubling enough, let alone two kids. So, in direct opposition to the wishes which were expressed by the school, I told my son that he needed to start defending himself. I sat with him and explained to him that he should respect and acknowledge the rules of the school. I also explained that this did not mean that he was required to suffer through the humiliation which he was currently dealing with. We talked of things like dignity, honor, and self respect. I then proceeded to teach my son how to go about defending himself. I took great pains to inform my son that what I was showing him should only be used in a situation where he was directly threatened. I informed him that under no circumstances was he to use what I had taught him to vent his anger toward another person. I further explained to him that in the event it were necessary to use what I had shown him he most likely would have to face some serious consequences at school. I assured him that those consequences would be limited to school. I made it clear that he would receive no punishment at home and that I would do everything within my power to reduce the severity of the consequences that the school should decide to impose. It is possible that my actions may have fostered a certain amount of disequilibrium within my son. I hope that the impact of this was minimal given the amount of time that I had devoted to explaining the reasoning behind my actions. I do believe that he was already experiencing quite a lot of disequilibrium due to the stress of the given situation. Values and Developmental Contextualism As mentioned earlier classroom rules and regulations are but one category of moral practice. In the example of my personal experience I showed the possible conflicts that can arise in this particular area. It is possible that this category may provide educators with an easily observable method which can be used to initially assess the character of students. However this initial assessment has the possibility of being misleading as exemplified in my personal experience. to selected external controls is considered to be a valuable indicator of good character (Berkowitz and Grych, 1998), the many differences in culture, ethnicity, religious belief, and environment would suggest that the exhibition of certain moral behaviors is not necessarily indicative of a lack of character. Because of this any universal assumptions based on specific behaviors exhibited by the The public and educators alike agree that moral education is necessary in our schools. Many states even require such education by law. The collective intent appears to be the formation of today’s adolescents into adults of tomorrow who exemplify good citizenry. Although there is this general agreement that our schools should prepare our students to live a good life, there is also a common ground that our schools should not be involved in actually defining what constitutes a good life Rawls, 1971). It is a common argument that “you can’t legislate morality.” However, this is not necessarily correct. It is dependent upon the nature of the legislature. If a legislature is actually democratic, then the legislation of morality is possible (Berkowitz and Grych, 1998). If this is the case, the decisions and rules which are developed are increasingly likely to be just. Also, through participation in the process, those involved will most likely have their own development stimulated in a positive way (Power, Higgins, and The extreme diversity of today’s society as well as the various environmental factors make the transmission of values the possible catalyst for serious conflict. The resultant conflict has the potential for increasing the stress which enhances the disequilibrium most adolescents experience. Although certain moral behaviors may be used to judge the character of students it is important to understand that there are many different possibilities for students to behave in a given manner in a given situation. Therefore any universal assumptions based on observations which are taken out of context can only serve to cause further problems for the adolescent. Furthermore because we define ourselves through our interaction with others, to categorize students based on a limited insight could prove to be disastrous for the formation of their identities. Adolescents want to feel like they are being treated fairly. If teachers view students as lazy, self-centered, and manipulative then it is doubtful that when dealing with students these teachers will act in a manner which makes the adolescents believe that they are being treated fairly. If we want students to behave in a given fashion, we must be sure that they understand what is expected of them. They must possess the skills which would enable them to perform in that manner. Most importantly, They must be able to recognize that it is a responsible, Although there are no simple answers to the questions which might arise when there are moral and ethical conflicts, it seems likely that the potential negative impacts of these conflicts can be minimized if teachers and parents can maintain open lines of communication with the adolescent. The lines of communication must be open not only with the adolescent but between parents and teachers themselves. Parents need to be aware of what is viewed as desirable and appropriate. educators must understand and be sensitive to the cultural context of parenting (Berkowitz and Grych, 1998). It is vitally important to identify areas which might create a clash with their values. The inability or unwillingness of either educators or parents to do this might go beyond simply failing to stimulate the adolescents moral growth. It may actually serve to undermine their moral Jackson, P., Boostrom, R., and Hansen, D. (1993) The moral life of schools. San Gallup, G. (1980, September) The twelfth annual Gallup Poll of public attitudes toward public schools. Phi Delta Kappan. 62,39. Wynne, E. and Wahlberg, H. (1985) The complimentary goals of character development and academic excellence. Educational Leadership, 43(4). pp. 15-18. Taylor, C. (1991) The ethics of authenticity. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. McClelland, D. (1982) Education for values. New York: Irvington Schaeffer, E. (March, 1998) Character education in the curriculum and beyond. Berkowitz, M. and Grych, J. (1998) Fostering goodness. From internet, http://www.uic.edu/lnucci/MoralEd/aotm/fosterin.htm Rawls, J. (1971) A theory of justice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press Power, F., Higgins, A., and Kohlberg, L. (1989) Lawrence Kohlberg’s approach to moral education. New York: Columbia University Press. Hinshaw, S. and Anderson, C. (1996) Conduct and oppositional defiant disorders. In Marsh, E. and Barkley, R., Child psychopathology. pp. 113-154. New York Bibliography: Word Count: 2632
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