Should Moral be taught in schools?

[Defender2516]

This is a topic to discuss the value of morals and should it be put into schools?

 

 

 

Before begining, lets define moral.

 

 

 

relating to principles of right and wrong; i.e. to morals or ethics; "moral philosophy"

 

concerned with principles of right and wrong or conforming to standards of behavior and character based on those principles; "moral sense"; "a moral scrutiny"; "a moral lesson"; "a moral quandary"; "moral convictions"; "a moral life"

 

 

 

One thing thats intresting is that its the teaching of "right and wrong". However, there is a very low moral system in schools today.

 

 

 

Depending on your school, you could recieve disciplinary action for not having your shirt tucked in, or perhaps missing class. Either way, the school is quick to judge and little to teach right and wrong.

 

 

 

I remember when I was growing up, any morals I got in the school were public opinion of the teachers. I was mostly taught the basics, math, social studies, language, ect. Teaching me right and wrong was considered the parents duty or getting from a fellow church.

 

 

 

The intresting thing to know is.. not everyone has parents to rely on or a church. Some childs are literally raised up with their morals being the very ideas created in their head. So to say its right or wrong in their eyes could be conflicting with one of our ideas, say the right to steal. He may see it as okay, while another may see it as completely unnessary actions.

 

 

 

Many people do not want moral systems in our schools for fear of religion. They don't want christianity or any other religion to come in and preach "their type" of morality.

 

 

 

So then, if we take out religion, and say we are going to put a moral system into our schools, what do we teach them? We just have to be honest and really can't believe every kid has a good parent behind them. Some parents abandon their kids and leave them on the street, it has happened and is continue to happen.

 

 

 

So the discussion is.. if we was to teach morals in our schools, considering you think we should..

 

 

 

What would we teach?

[BlueLancer]

Yeah, I definitely think morals should be taught in schools.

 

 

 

At least in my school, we had philosophy or religion classes to choose from. I chose philosophy but occassionally went to religion classes since some of my friends were there. I learned quite a lot about different world religions.

 

 

 

However, in a philosophy class, the teacher would every day challenge us to evaluate moral scenarios, this one stuck to my head:

 

 

 

If your son is dying of a disease that can be easily cured by a medicine, however that medicine costs $6,000 and the doctor is not willing to 'lend' it to you or allow partial payment... Is it o.k. to steal the medicine?

 

 

 

Even though everyone agreed stealing is wrong, to save a child's life over the profits of a greedy doctor would be right in the minds of every single person in that classroom.

 

 

 

That's just an example. :) It's important for kids to learn proper, humanistic values and morals. Nearly all normal cultures, regardless of ethnicity and religion, respect human life and shun upon hurting others unless in absolute need of retaliation to survive.

 

 

 

Not just that, but kids really don't know what "honor" is these days. Like lending $50 from your friend and not paying it back. Promising to do something, then intentionally not doing it 3 months later. A lack of honor is a sad thing as well.

[BlueTear]

So the discussion is.. if we was to teach morals in our schools, considering you think we should..

 

 

 

What would we teach?

Democratic values, human rights and equality.

[BlueLancer]

So the discussion is.. if we was to teach morals in our schools, considering you think we should..

 

 

 

What would we teach?

Democratic values, human rights and equality.

 

 

 

No question that human rights and equality should be valued.

 

 

 

That also spawns a significant question which is acute right now: Does democracy, as a form of goverment, really appeal to every nation and culture in the world?

[indy500fan]

However, in a philosophy class, the teacher would every day challenge us to evaluate moral scenarios, this one stuck to my head:

 

 

 

If your son is dying of a disease that can be easily cured by a medicine, however that medicine costs $6,000 and the doctor is not willing to 'lend' it to you or allow partial payment... Is it o.k. to steal the medicine?

 

 

 

Even though everyone agreed stealing is wrong, to save a child's life over the profits of a greedy doctor would be right in the minds of every single person in that classroom.

 

 

 

That's the problem with teaching morals in the classroom. They are subjective. I don't agree with every person in that class room, and I wasn't a student who would speak up against something if everyone else had already agreed it was moral. So there may be people who don't agree, but popular opinion would win out.

[____]

Ethics and morality, yes, so long as the foundation of said 'classes' are not based on religion.

[Mercifull]

Ethics and morality, yes, so long as the foundation of said 'classes' are not based on religion.

Word for word exactly what I was going to say.

[Zonorhc]

I believe morality should be an incidental topic of discussion in class, rather than an entirely separate subject with its own curriculum. Actively teaching it would give students the wrong idea; they should be given stimuli and guidelines and left to discover and define morality in their own way, rather than have someone else's imposed on them.

[knives669]

Not just that, but kids really don't know what "honor" is these days. Like lending $50 from your friend and not paying it back. Promising to do something, then intentionally not doing it 3 months later. A lack of honor is a sad thing as well.

 

 

 

I completely agree.

 

 

 

I think it's a good idea to teach morals in school. Just as long as they allow some freedom to develop ideals, and the classes are not based on religion.

[Defender2516]

Now here's a brain thinker for you.

 

 

 

Its "okay" to teach a student being moral. However, we cannot define his morals for him, only impose the right and wrongs we believe are right and wrong already.

 

 

 

Therefor, the morals we teach are already our own developed ideas being forced onto someone else, and thats the problem.

 

 

 

Who's to say that I can't stand up and say "your teaching me Islam" or "christianity!" while attempting to develop my morals?

 

 

 

The problem is not morals. The real problem is people thinking because people are different, we should all hold our own opinion values without question of its moral nature.

 

 

 

Its intresting to say there is no absolute truths in life, yet we made it a absolute truth that no one should hold someone elses opinion above someone elses, and let them define their own moral system.

 

 

 

This creates people who's morals collide with others, resulting in violence.

 

 

 

Because we say "he has his own right to think what he thinks, believe what he believes, then his right and wrongs we cannot judge".

 

 

 

Yet if something is right, such as hugging your mother, how can it be wrong to another if we duplicate the situation?

 

 

 

There is either something wrong with the individual or something mis-judged on the situation.

 

 

 

I believe absolute morals do exist, and the problem is if everyone has their own idea of whats right and wrong, no one knows what really is right and wrong. We would all be mis-guided fools.

 

 

 

Thus, you end up with huge political debates on petty issues like the incident with the girl getting detention for hugging her friends.

[dsavi]

My school teaches religion and moral, which is actually called ethics. I think the ethics part is okay, but unfortunately it's required, and therefore adds to my workload and schedule.

[Nenga]

I think it would be good to have morals taught in schools. Little kids cuss, don't respect anyone, etc. The age for kids having sex or doing drugs is geting lower by generation. and the generation that is growing up into adults now (my generation) has the same problem and I will admit I do too.

[angryjoe]

Well first of all, it should be taught by parents.

 

 

 

However seeing as that is becoming a less and less common occurance the yes, it should be taught in schools.

[Necromagus]

I think it would be good to have morals taught in schools. Little kids cuss, don't respect anyone, etc. The age for kids having sex or doing drugs is geting lower by generation. and the generation that is growing up into adults now (my generation) has the same problem and I will admit I do too.

"The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority, they show disrespect to their elders... They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and are tyrants over their teachers."

The whole kids-these-days thing is as old as time itself. We are teaching children morals in school from day one, whether we realise it or not. We're taught to play nice and to share and to obey all the rules while the teachers whip us into thinking along their lines. Still, a philosophy class in high school would definitely be a good idea, with an emphasis on developing your own ideas rather than just plowing through the old philosophers over and over again.

[BlueLancer]

 

The problem is not morals. The real problem is people thinking because people are different, we should all hold our own opinion values without question of its moral nature.

 

 

 

That's grossly wrong, people should constantly challenge their own views, values and opinions... And ponder whether they are pure and honourable.

 

 

 

Or do you think the guy in Finland who just shot 9 innocent students was right in his view, because he had begun to hate the world, and in his opinion and values, it was O.K. to kill them to make a point?

 

 

 

What if someone challenged his views strongly enough to prevent this massacre?

[Defender2516]

 

The problem is not morals. The real problem is people thinking because people are different, we should all hold our own opinion values without question of its moral nature.

 

 

 

That's grossly wrong, people should constantly challenge their own views, values and opinions... And ponder whether they are pure and honourable.

 

 

 

Or do you think the guy in Finland who just shot 9 innocent students was right in his view, because he had begun to hate the world, and in his opinion and values, it was O.K. to kill them to make a point?

 

 

 

What if someone challenged his views strongly enough to prevent this massacre?

 

 

 

You mis-read me out of context. I was illistrating(sp?) that people do not judge someone elses moral due to the fact that they are entitled to it. And as I have found from experience, the only people who challenge your morals is those who disagree.

 

 

 

That would be like a christian saying to another, do you REALLY believe in Christ? Or a athiest to another, do you really think there is no God?

 

 

 

It just doesn't happen inless their is already a disagreement on the issue.

[Rebdragon]

Ethics and morality, yes, so long as the foundation of said 'classes' are not based on religion.

 

I suppose, though I had a Morality and Social Justice class last year that was based in Christian teachings (almost all simply about the infinite love and respect for life it teaches), and there was some pretty dang useful information in that class, and it was unbiased enough to let one think for themselves. I still have the binder from it and reference information from the class constantly :-k .

 

 

 

For example [from the class], capital punishment has been shown time and time again to statistically be completely and utterly ineffective as a deterrence against crime. That's not a moral teaching, just objective information to guide morals. I'm still undecided about whether or not capital punishment should be allowed, but what I learned from the class has been invaluable in my search for moral guidance on difficult issues.

[Echofish]

In the Philippines, we have lessons called GMRC (Good Manners and Right Conduct) In this subject, every school-aged Filipino is taught how to be a good person and how to be a good Filipino citizen. I remembver having to read out my GMRC books in class, saying what should be done, according to the textbooks.

 

 

 

I've done my lessons, done my exams (GMRC has exams and you CAN fail it!) and yet I still ended up as a trashy, immoral nincompoop :|

[Defender2516]

In the Philippines, we have lessons called GMRC (Good Manners and Right Conduct) In this subject, every school-aged Filipino is taught how to be a good person and how to be a good Filipino citizen. I remembver having to read out my GMRC books in class, saying what should be done, according to the textbooks.

 

 

 

I've done my lessons, done my exams (GMRC has exams and you CAN fail it!) and yet I still ended up as a trashy, immoral nincompoop :|

 

 

 

???

 

 

 

You don't sound immoral at all to me, maybe a low self esteem, but you shown only respect for others in your post. I don't see why you would think you turned out bad.

[Lionheart_0]

In the Philippines, we have lessons called GMRC (Good Manners and Right Conduct) In this subject, every school-aged Filipino is taught how to be a good person and how to be a good Filipino citizen. I remembver having to read out my GMRC books in class, saying what should be done, according to the textbooks.

 

 

 

I've done my lessons, done my exams (GMRC has exams and you CAN fail it!) and yet I still ended up as a trashy, immoral nincompoop :|

 

 

 

???

 

 

 

You don't sound immoral at all to me, maybe a low self esteem, but you shown only respect for others in your post. I don't see why you would think you turned out bad.

 

 

 

Heh, but you don't know the stuff she says on msn at 1 in the morning... what a potty mouth! Joking Echo, you are an amazing person!

 

 

 

On topic, I think that morals and citizenship should definitely be taught in school. Even how to be polite, something parents should be teaching, should still be taught. As Darkrick said though, none of the morals taught should be based out of religious teaching but rather teachings that would be usable to everyone, of every culture.

[Medellin]

You could... but at the end of it, the ethics of a person is developed by his environment.

[meol]

Although we had nice debates about typical topics like capital punishment, euthanasia, and stem cell research, I really can't say I learnt or changed by views during Ethics lessons. Having a specific class to deal with Ethics and Morality isn't as useful, in my opinion. Because you are taking the class while knowing you'll be faced with serious issues, you are probably predisposing your mind to be "the good, rational guy", instead of thinking on your own.

 

 

 

On the other hand, it's much better to deal with moral issues in other classes (like history, languages, etc). For example, our history teacher (being German himself) constantly faces us with facts about Democracy, challenging our believes (and his own, as well), and that's how I've formed most of my views on these issues.

 

 

 

Teachers should teach ethics and morality as part of their own teaching program (whenever possible), but there shouldn't be specific lessons for them. That way the students can learn better about different ways of thinking, seeing that (almost) none of them are "right" or "wrong".

[ltb2006]

Yes, moral is very important but as long as it isn't religous based

[look_its_rob]

I constantly have debates with my English teacher over moral, and it usually ends with her calling me ignorant.(she some how won the teacher of the year award for USA today, look her up.) I think it would be impossible to properly teach such a thing as morals differ from person to person. For example, one person may think its completely wrong to have sex if you are not married, yet another person may think its perfectly fine, and there may be 10 different views on the same subject. This will instantly lead to pissed off students when their morals are not considered to be proper, as i am everyday after English class. I hate that teacher oodles by the way, always on her high horse because of all the awards she has, she thinks shes better than everyone else.

[BlueLancer]

For example, one person may think its completely wrong to have sex if you are not married, yet another person may think its perfectly fine, and there may be 10 different views on the same subject.

 

 

 

I always wondered why some people think it's "wrong", just like some people think being gay or lesbian is wrong or worshipping some eastern God is "wrong"...

 

 

 

Those are personal choices. I don't think it's any of my business what two people do in their bedrooms, or my job to judge them to be "wrong" as long as those people don't do any harm unto others.

 

 

 

If you believe it's wrong to have sex before being married, you have every right for your opinion. But judging others that do have sex before being married makes you look arrogant.

 

 

 

How can a set of morals be wrong if it hurts no-one?

 

 

 

Example: Someone thinks it's ok to steal because he needs stuff, and punch/stab people who annoy him, just because he's bigger than them. This guy obviously has skewed morals because he has intentions to hurt others.

 

 

 

Another person thinks he/she can have sex even if not married. Sex is one of the most natural things in the world next to eating and breathing, humans can't exist without it, how is that person being immoral as he doesn't hurt you or me?