Why Johnny Can't Tell Right from Wrong

Abstract

In what may be the most important and most controversial book about public education in America in decades, William Kilpatrick argues that our schools are failing to provide the moral education they once did. America today suffers from unprecedented rates of teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, suicide, and violence (an estimated 525,000 attacks, shakedowns, and robberies occur in public high schools each month). School programs intended to deal with these social problems have largely failed. According to Professor Kilpatrick, one of the principal reasons for this failure is that our schools have abandoned the moral teaching they used to provide. Traditionally, our schools used literature, history, and other means to teach such values as honesty, respect, and moral courage. But beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, most schools switched from character education to an untested model generally known as "decision-making." In place of the stories and songs that transmitted values to generations of schoolchildren, a radical new educational theory substituted teaching methods that foster the notion that any values system is acceptable so long as it is self-discovered and "feels right." The best way to encourage moral growth, says Kilpatrick, is to return to the proven model of character education, with its emphasis on good example and good habits of behavior. Kilpatrick explains why this approach works, and he gives examples of school systems that have switched to character education with impressive results. Finally, Professor Kilpatrick explains what parents can do to encourage character formation in their own children. Among other things, he recommends that parents read to their children and provide them with good books that transmit moral values. He includes an annotated guide to over 100 books for children and young adults.

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