Morality and Citizenship Education: Whose Responsibility? Planning for Moral/Citizenship Education, Occasional Paper No. 1.

Overview & Synopsis

The importance of teaching moral education in the public schools is emphasized in this report. Three topics are discussed. The first section includes a sketch of the present moral climate of the United States, including evidence drawn from a recent Gallup Poll of public attitudes toward education, recent magazine articles, results of educational research, and pronouncements from several state departments of education. The second section presents background information on the morals and values upon which the United States was founded and discusses the Mayflower Compact, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Northwest Ordinance. The third section describes methodological developments which enable educators to mount effective moral education programs and presents recommendations for combining efforts of parents, citizens, teachers, policy makers, and major educational institutions to improve education for citizenship responsibility on all levels. (Author/DB)