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Children Must be Taught to Tell Right from Wrong UN>!#Ji:$
William Kilpatrick k6_
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Many of today’s young people have adifficult time seeing any moral dimension (道德层面) to their actions. There are a numberof reasons why that’s true, but none more prominent than a failed system ofeducation that eschews (回避) teaching children the traditionalmoral values that bind Americans together as a society and a culture. Thatfailed approach, called “decision-making,” was introduced in schools 25 yearsago. It tells children to decide for themselves what is right and what iswrong. It replaced “character education. (品格教育)” Character education didn’t askchildren to reinvent the moral wheel (浪费时间重新发明早已存在的道德标准); instead, it encouraged them topractice habits of courage, justice and self-control. $?Y
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In the 1940s, when a character educationapproach prevailed, teachers worried about students chewing gum; today theyworry about robbery and rape. O4ciD 1
Decision-making curriculums pose thorny(棘手的) ethical dilemmas to students, leaving them withthe impression that all morality is problematic and that all questions of rightand wrong are in dispute. Youngsters are forced to question values and virtuesthey’ve never acquired in the first place or upon which they have only atenuous (薄弱的) hold. The assumption behind this method is thatstudents will arrive at good moral conclusions if only they are given thechance. But the actual result is moral confusion. "4
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For example, a recent national study of1,700 sixth- to ninth-graders revealed that a majority of boys considered rapeto be acceptable under certain conditions. Astoundingly, many of the girlsagreed. *A' :^vgk
This kind of moral illiteracy is furtherencouraged by values-education (价值观教育) programs that are little more thancourses in self-esteem (自尊). These programs are based on thequestionable assumption that a child who feels good about himself or herselfwon’t want to do anything wrong. But it is just as reasonable to make an oppositeassumption: namely, that a child who has uncritical self-regard will concludethat he or she can’t do anything bad. rj&
Such naive self-acceptance results inlarge part from the non-directive (无指导性的), non-judgmental (无是非观的), as-long-as-you-feel-comfortable-with-your-choicesmentality (思想) that has pervaded (渗透) public education for the last two andone-half decades. Many of today’s drug education, sex education andvalues-education courses are based on the same 1960s philosophy that helpedfuel the explosion in teen drug use and sexual activity in the first place. h?jy'>T?b2
Meanwhile, while educators are stillfiddling with (胡乱摆弄) outdated “feel-good” approaches, New York, Washington, and Los Angeles are burning.Youngsters are leaving school believing that matters of right and wrong arealways merely subjective. If you pass a stranger on the street and decide tomurder him because you need money—if it feels right—you go with that feeling.Clearly, murder is not taught in our schools, but such a conclusion—just aboutany conclusion—can be reached and justified using the decision-making method. n8DWA`[ib
It is time to consign (寄出) the fads (风尚) of “decision-making” and“non-judgmentalism” to the ash heap of failed policies, and return to a provedmethod. Character education provides a much more realistic approach to moralformation. It is built on an understanding that we learn morality not bydebating it but by practicing it. x48 Y#"'
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Summary of “Children Must beTaught to Tell Right from Wrong” w'oP{=y[
In his essay “ChildrenMust be Taught to Tell Right from Wrong,” William Kilpatrick arguesfervently that the “decision-making” approach to the moral education ofAmerican youth, which replaced “character education” 25 years ago, hasprevented juveniles from behaving and thinking in accordance with thetraditional moral principles that are fundamental to American society. rC
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According toKilpatrick, decision-makingmethods instill in students a wrong belief that all norms of morality aresubjective constructs with only relative truth in them and therefore can beinterpreted flexibly and even questioned. This belief deprives them ofthe chance to secure solid moral standards and induces misconceptions aboutwhat should be clearly right or wrong. h?5$-#q~
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In parallelwith this inadequacy of the “decision-making” approach are the unexpected outcomes of thosevalues-education programs focusing on students’ self-esteem that subscribeto the “non-judgmental” mindset dominating “decision-making” curriculums.Their mistaken assumption that feeling good warrants morality excusesstudents from criticizing and disciplining their own behaviors. 7K>FC T
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Basing hisconclusion on his analysis of the fundamental flaws of the decision-makingapproach, Kilpatrickfinally proposes an immediate shift back to character education which hebelieves teaches morality more effectively by emphasizing practice instead ofdiscussion. I9O!CQCTt
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