Mixing Morals With Education?
Peter Steinfels,
New York Times,
Jun 22, 2004
The take on this news article is that colleges and universities ought to be teaching students morality, and that institutions are somehow lacking when they say things like, "ollectively we are silent on the issue of morality." Of course there is a big difference - glossed over in the discussion - between teaching students about morality in general and teaching them to adhere to a specific set of morals. Nobody argues that universities should not - or do not - teach the former. But the latter? Well, I suppose I could try to persuade professors to pass on my own sense of morality to students - but I'm not very likely to succeed, nor would I agree to teaching someone else's moral values. That's where the proposal to make colleges and universities teach (particular) moral values founders - which moral values should be taught? Better to give students the tools they need to make their own choices, and leave the indoctrination out of education.
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