Objections (and Responses) To Moral Education

By Joan F. Goodman

Given the strong public endorsement of moral education, one might expect it to dominate the educational agenda. Why doesn't it? That which is approved in principle apparently meets resistance in practice. The following six objections to moral education may explain the pervasive wariness. Each of them seems to me unwarranted.

Tell a neighbor, for example, that your school wants to start a moral-education program and chances are he will ask, worriedly, "Whose values will get taught?"

Here is the basic argument: We live in a complex society of vast moral diversity, with no agreement on a moral canon. Some believe morality is nothing more than a set of cultural/political conventions. That's inevitable because "shoulds" are not observable, agreed-upon things-in- the-world, like daisies and chairs. Moral norms are opinions and attitudes, not facts. So they get politicized. For instance, the virtues of restraint—thrift, hard work, self-discipline, delayed gratification, promptness, persistence, and excellence—fit well within a conservative, individualistic social orientation. They tend to be promulgated by the political right. The virtues of generosity— tolerance, sharing, caring, forgiving, compassion, and humility—are more egalitarian values. They tend to be promulgated by the left. We cannot prove the superiority of either, as we prove the relationship...