Moral Education

Conservatives have understood very well that politics is based on morality. They have also understood intuitively that Strict Father morality underlies conservative political thought. To spread their views to the coming generations, they are doing exactly what they should be doing: working to install Strict Father morality as the official version of morality in the schools. Here the main figure is William Bennett and The Book of Virtues is his primer.

What Bennett calls "traditional moral values" are the values of Strict Father morality. Though Nurturant Parent morality may have been traditional for mothers throughout history, it has gained public prominence in popular American culture mainly within this century as women have gained more prominence and influence. Because of the cultural dominance of strict fathers over the centuries, the tradition of Nurturant Parent morality has been less visible, but it is no less "traditional."

It should be clear by now that teaching Strict Father morality – so-called "traditional" morality – is teaching political conservatism, which is why a political figure such as Bennett has put so much effort into it. To be in charge of the teaching of morality is to be in charge of the teaching of politics.

The Book of Virtues is interesting for the virtues not taught there: nurturance, tolerance of "deviants," social responsibility, open-mindedness, self-questioning, egalitarianism, championing the disenfranchised, communion with the natural world, aesthetics for its own sake, self-development, being in touch with one's body, or happiness (in the sense of Moral Happiness). There are no sections on modern moral issues: the equality and independence of women, the morality of organized labor, or the protection of consumers and the environment. These are other virtues very much worth teaching – especially to children. They are among the virtues of Nurturant Parent morality.

Is there a way to provide moral education without engaging in political indoctrination? Fortunately, there is. It would be the teaching of how morality is understood in this culture, both Strict Father and Nurturant Parent forms of morality and the critiques each makes of the other.

Here are some guidelines. Teach the two models of the family, and the two moral systems that fit them best. Relate these family-based moral systems to issues of gender. Teach what Strict Father morality is and what Nurturant Parent morality is, and what the differences are. Point out that they don't agree and that this is a political as well as a moral matter. Give examples. Point out how each would criticize the other. When you teach Strict Father morality, by all means exemplify Bennett's list of virtues. But when you teach Nurturant Parent morality, exemplify all the virtues listed above that Bennett does not include. Be sure students understand which virtues fit which view of morality. And be sure they understand that this is a political as well as a moral matter. So far as I can see, this is the only way to keep the teaching of morality from being political indoctrination.

There may be a problem in taking this route to teaching morality and avoiding partisan moral and political indoctrination. Many conservatives believe that there is only one possible view of morality – Strict Father morality. Many religious conservatives believe that teaching both moral systems is itself immoral. Because it promotes discussion about what morality is, it prompts children to think for themselves rather than merely obeying authority. If one follows my suggestion, some may argue that even equal time for Nurturant Parent moral views subverts traditional morality just because it teaches children to think for themselves and not just obey authority.

It is important to resist such arguments. Children need to be taught moral ideas, which includes the fact that there are alternative moral views that are deeply grounded in the most basic of human experiences, namely, family life. They need to know that there are alternative views of what family life and family-based morality ought to be. They need to know that it is not just a matter of flipping a coin, of saying one moral system is just as good as another. There are facts that matter, which will be discussed below in Chapters 20-23.

Finally, it is crucial that the teaching of morality not be left only to religion. Each interpretation of a religious tradition chooses a form of morality to go with it. It is important that children have an education, outside of their particular religious tradition, that allows them to understand what form of morality is built into their religious teachings. It is important for children, as they are growing up, to be able to see morality from the outside as well as the inside, to be able to name the features of a moral system and to see the differences across systems. In a democratic country we have to live with people who have very different moral views than our own. We need to be able to pick out those views, name them, and discuss them openly.

The issue of moral education is an explosive issue. It raises the deepest questions of who we are and what we should raise our children to be. There are no more important questions than these.

Summary

Strict Father and Nurturant Parent moralities come into play across a whole spectrum of American life. In affirmative action, they show up in the distinction between the Strict Father focus on head-to-head competition versus the Nurturant Parent focus on the overall well-being of the family (metaphorically, the nation) over whole groups and long periods of time, taking into account such practical matters as subculture differences and the effect of cultural stereotyping on individual judgments.

The division manifests itself in the issue of gay rights as a matter of upholding the required heterosexual orientation of the Strict Father model over the equal nurturance ethic of the Nurturant Parent model. In the multiculturalism issue it is a matter of upholding a single standard of authority versus the equal nurturance ethic. In education, it is a matter of upholding the Strict Father moral system itself versus the internal questioning and need for understanding required for true nurturance. In art, family-based moral views provide very different conceptions of what art should be. And in the teaching of morality, the issue is whether Strict Father morality is to be taught as the only morality, or whether a discussion of these two major alternative moral systems should be held. The culture war shows itself most clearly in the issue of moral education.

Because of the bitterness of the culture war it is necessary to understand what the ultimate sources of division are because they manifest themselves so differently in political issues.

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 913