#values education

I just saw this YouTube Shorts now at 6:34pm PHT on my feed. Let me post it here because I want to talk about it in the future. I know everyone knows I'm not a good person.

(Source)

Josh & Kathryn

June 8, 2025 at 1:03am PHT: I don't know why I keep on hearing my 'inner voice' say, "Josh Brolin's wife worked for him as an assistant."

Job Collars

And, of course, everyone deserves respect regardless of educational attainment.

Patience, Resilience, and Understanding

When I was younger, there were a few times when I went to my dad to complain about our nanny housekeepers. He then asked me why would I let other people affect me and stoop to their level. I may have misunderstood what he meant, but thinking I was above and they're beneath made me feel uncomfortable. Yet again, as the old adage goes: "Take the high road."

On Being the Better Person

My inner voice: "Uh-oh! She said, 'I think you really love me.' That's a red flag. 🚩"

One of the reason why I chose Values Education as my major is that I personally want to discover my true self and strive to be the best I can be. Being a ValEd student is more challenging than I expected, but I know that there is a journey I must go through to reach my goals. I face difficulties, challenges, and obstacles daily, but I understand that school isn't always a terrible experience. I value enjoying what I do and embracing whatever comes my way. This helps me learn and grow from the things I experience, which can have a big impact on my life. I also think that the people who care about me, like friends, classmates, family, and even strangers, can make me appreciate where I am in life

Values education is significant in my life and everyone else's life because it helps us transform into a better individuals and lead better lives.

With traditional federalism degraded in the collective view of Americans, although it is still strong within certain areas of the country, the natural rights view emerged as the prevalent perspective of governance and politics in the years following World War II.  One consequence of this construct’s upgrade is that it has become the subtext of the nation’s civics curriculum.  This blog finds this condition – the emergence of the natural rights construct – as deficient and, at minimum, an enabler of much of the nation’s civic problems.

         In its stead, this blog argues that, in terms of civics curriculum, natural rights should be replaced, in an organized way, by a revised version of federalism.  That version is given the name, liberated federalism, and subsequent postings will describe and explain what its tenets are.  The overview just presented over the last several postings of traditional federalism did much of the legwork, in terms of introducing the reader to the major ideas of federalism.  

Perhaps a good way to view the shift to a liberated federalism is to see it as a synthesis among the various mental constructs that are prevalent today.  In their curricular book, Allan C. Ornstein and Francis P. Hunkins describe their feelings concerning critical pedagogues with their near radical views on the problem of inequality and the excessive individualism that characterizes much of the curriculum in effect in our schools today.  They write:

Reflective educators realize that schools can nurture in students a celebration of the individual along with a concern for others. Students can apprehend that competition [a natural rights concern] and cooperation [a critical theory concern] can be melded effectively.  It is evident that major change within society will come not from replacing one system of beliefs with another but rather in the generation of a new system that melds both evolutionary and revolutionary ideas and ideals.[1] (emphasis added)

Such melding, which can also incorporate the ideas and ideals of federation theory, should start with paying attention to what a proposed mental construct holds to be moral.  Moral commitments serve as a foundation of any political theory.  Even the most callous or self-serving political doctrine, at its basis, justifies the power distribution model it espouses through a set of moral positions.  These can range from the most secular and practical to the most spiritual and otherworldly.  But any system of governance needs to ground what it does in a view of morality.[2]  

While traditional federalism is of another time, a newer version can meet the challenge of providing an appropriate approach to civics education.  Its foundation is on a view of morality neither relying on a trump value of liberty, as in natural rights, nor of equality, as in critical theory.  Initially, in formulating an updated federalism, one needs to seriously address what such an approach would hold as its moral basis for governance and politics.

         One can ask:  what is the legitimate role of public schools in values education?  Replace the words “public schools” in the question with “government” and the concern becomes obvious. The writer holds a related memory: each of his parochial school days started with religious instruction.  Why don’t public schools have something similar by addressing moral or ethical issues, particularly in social studies classes?  Some are opposed to a government agency – schools – promoting political values; others with a collusion with an organized religion.

There is a prohibition of religious instruction in public schools. This prohibition is not to say that such sectarian moral codes cannot be mentioned in public schools. For example, any study of world history would refer to religious influence in determining many historical events and trends.  Sectarian beliefs of morality can also be provided to students as alternative views when considering moral questions if it is not the presented as the only or favored option.

The prohibition is against promoting religious beliefs or establishing a connection to a religion or religions.[3]  So, one can further ask: could such instruction be done within the constraints of the First Amendment and its clause prohibiting the “establishment” of religion and still be based on a moral, federalist view?  What would such an effort include?  

·        One, it cannot offend the constitutional restrictions of the First Amendment demanding a curriculum that is not sectarian, but secular.

·        Two, that it be committed to a substantive moral view which does not dissemble into a relativistic set of beliefs that avoids giving clear objective standards for good and evil.

·        Three, that it cannot promote a political ideology which would offend established beliefs of large segments of the population – those people whose tax money pays for our public schools.

·        Four, a moral view guiding such an effort does need to be flexible enough so that under its purview, the wide array of moral issues facing the nation at any given time can be addressed.

Stating the challenge, a bit differently:  such proposed instruction needs to be substantive enough so that students are clearly informed as to its sense of good and evil, but not so restrictive that half the population would be opposed to it.  It also needs to allow students to disagree with its beliefs; so that they can debate derived issues.

Another concern is that a secular based, moral instruction needs to utilize a consequential approach to moral reasoning.  That is, something is not moral or immoral in and of itself, but due to the consequences of that something happening, e.g., cheating is immoral because it shortchanges the legitimate interests of someone and, in turn, undermines trust, which in turn leads to other consequences, etc.  

But there is a point in this reasoning at which even a consequential approach hits upon a basic, trump value.  As such, that trump value, a value that is held to be the most important value and is deferred to in any contention among values, would be used to guide which issues students should investigate.  It would also guide in the choice of questions that are used in those investigations.  

It has been pointed out in this blog that the natural rights construct holds liberty as its trump value and critical theory holds equality as its trump value. Any consequential approach logically needs a trump value eventually.  So, the first step in developing a moral view for liberated federalism is to settle on a trump value.  To arrive at one, a review of the Western philosophic tradition was deemed to be useful. That review offered the following results:

Aristotelian ethics promote a morality anchored with the concerns of the polity – a collective sensitivity;

Utilitarianism, that while it supports a self-centered sense of human happiness, does establish a consequential moral system;

David Hume, who points out that while what is believed to factually exist (the is) cannot indicate or determine what – for normative reasons – is correct (the ought), one is reminded that certain factual conditions do correlate to certain desired outcomes and that values can be warranted only by sentiments;

Immanuel Kant, who argues that any resulting view must not sacrifice the integrity of each person and that there are categorical imperatives that ultimately determine what is good or evil;[4]

Pragmatism, that highlights a future orientation of pragmatic thinking, the inexorable connection between means and ends, and the tie between what is moral and the interests of associations; and

John Rawls, who argues, through the utilization of a mental exercise, that any person would seek true equal opportunity if he/she does not know a priori his/her position in a formulated polity or society and that advantages are arbitrarily distributed through natural causes (genetic factors and natural environments) or communal conditions (social factors).  

These are the primary ideas from the Western tradition – which deserve more space to flesh out – that were considered in developing the moral view offered in the next posting.  A quote by Aristotle gives one a good overall effect of these sources in the development of a federalist, moral view and a suitable message to end this posting:

In all arts and sciences[,] the end in view is some good.  In the most sovereign of all the arts and sciences – and this is the art and science of politics – the end in view is the greatest good and the good which is most pursued.  The good in the sphere of politics is justice; and justice consists in what tends to promote the common interest.[5]

[1] Allan C. Ornstein and Francis P. Hunkins, Curriculum: Foundations, Principles, and Issues (Boston, MA:  Pearson), 143.

 [2] One might find it difficult to see any sense of morality in a criminal regime that rules solely through force.  But the claim that “might makes right” is a moral claim.  It is a claim not shared by those who see life through modern eyes, but it is, unfortunately, one that has a rich history.  Ultimately, those who ascribe to it would argue, all political arrangements are based on this belief.  Even selfishness is a moral position (in its broadest sense), if only shared by a single person.

[3] For those interested, they should look up the Lemon Test, which is what the courts use to determine whether schools are offending the establishment clause.

 [4] Through his use of categorical imperatives, Kant’s moral system is not a consequential approach to moral reasoning.

 [5] Aristotle, “Aristotle: The politics,” in The Great Political Theories, ed. Michael Curtis (New York, NY: Avon Books, 1961), 87.

By Raymond Gerson

Frequent high stakes testing, hours of test prep drills, large classes and reduction or elimination of art, music and P.E. are taking their toll on both students and teachers. School counselors have reported an increase in A.D.H.D., anxiety, depression and other psychological problems among students. Parents have reported that as early as elementary school their children are starting to hate school and are turning off. Many students are bored and stressed out from the constant pressure to perform on high stakes bubble tests. 

Children begin school with a natural curiosity and intrinsic motivation to learn. Learning should be an enjoyable process which stimulates student imagination, creativity, ability to think for oneself and the ability to solve problems that have more than one right answer. This type of learning experience will prepare students to become well-informed and productive members of society and to work in good careers in the future. Many current educational environments are breaking the spirits of students and teachers and are turning off intrinsic motivation to learn and teach.

Many wealthy and powerful individuals (and organizations) with little or no teaching experience are influencing educational policies which are destructive. They are in favor of frequent high stakes testing, large classes, closing public schools and reducing courses in the arts except when it comes to their own children. Their children usually attend private schools with small classes, health support services, plenty of courses in the arts and little or no frequent high stakes standardized tests with hours of test prep drills. This is hypocritical and inhumane.

Children need to be emotionally healthy to live successful and fulfilling lives as adults. Development of their emotional and social intelligence are important if they are to grow into fully functioning adults with humane values. Values such as kindness, caring for others, love, integrity and compassion make us good human beings. Students will learn these values from the example of adults and by the way adults treat them. The way many students are being treated is lowering their sense of self-worth, diminishing their creativity, blocking their potential and teaching them to be less compassionate and empathetic.

Teachers should be allowed to teach and create their own lesson plans based on the curriculum that they are teaching. They need time to teach students to think for themselves instead of spending hours doing test prep. They also need time to collaborate with other teachers.

There are schools which are excellent models of education such as the one in Finland. Instead of modeling our education system after successful ones, the U.S. is following in the footsteps of educational systems like the one in Chile which is a “free market” disaster.

The changes that are needed for a great education system will not come from the top down until there is enough action and pressure from the bottom up. Students, parents, teachers and school administrators will need to protest in large numbers before the PTB will make necessary changes. An example of this occurred recently in Texas. Mothers who were angry about all of the high stakes testing convinced the state politicians to take action. They voted to reduce the amount of yearly standardized tests from fifteen to five.

Let’s reawaken a love of learning in our students, treat them with humane values and give our teachers opportunities to teach students to think for themselves.

Raymond Gerson is an adjunct professor of college and career success courses at Austin Community College. He is author of Achieve College Success and Achieve Career Success and trains educators how to teach these strategies.

For more information go to:

http://www.collegereadinesstraining.com

Four free gifts:

Hey #Education

I have a question, or two. I'm writing my dissertation on values education - whether it's important/whether it's necessary. I'm writing my dissertation because I have some reservations about the current Scottish values - which are compassion, wisdom, justice, and integrity. These values are not defined within our curriculum, or anywhere else - but are apparently these are the values of Scotland (there was also very little public consultation)

Anyway, if you felt like answering, I'd really love to know - helps with my thought process.

- What are your values as a teacher? - What are the values in your curriculum? - Do you think these two sets of values compliment or contradict each other in any way? - Do you think values have a place in the classroom? If so, which values should we emphasise? What are the problems of instilling values in the classroom? - How should we teach values?

I will be ranting about these things for a while to come yet, so expect my opinions along with lots more questions. I'd be really grateful if you felt like sharing your thoughts.