In the reading "Moral Outrage and Education" the author talks about teaching kids to have a moral goal and moral character, but we as educators have to be careful not to teach our own morals and values to the students. I fell that this is a big problem in todays society, especially with the efforts to keep God out of schools. I fell that we need to put God back into schools inorder to achieve moral standards in the students. (and I do not mean to teach a specific religion either)

I think it is hard to try to teach morals to school kids, but at the same time, not teach "your" morals to them. This, to me, is a no win situation for teachers. If you try to teach kids morals, they may not be the "right" ones to some parents, and if you don't teach any morals, then your not "doing your job" in the minds of other parents. If religion is kept out of schools, what are teachers suppossed to do? Since we are not allowed to look towards our own morals or any religious morals either.

I feel that the responsiblity for most moral education needs to come from our first teachers, that is, our parents. I learned more about how to treat people in numerous settings not by what I learned in school, but rather by the lessons that I learned with my parents and family members (most notably the near constant fights with my cousins ). In regards to what morals a teacher would teach if that were required, I wonder at which values and morals are to be taught in the first place. It does not matter if they are "your" morals or not, rather it is the question over whose morals are you teaching.

I agree with Travis on this one. Our parents are the people that should instill morals in the first place. But I also believe that the only way that can happen is for the students to have a firm foundation in a belief. If they do not, they can still be good kids, but it is few and far between.

I agree with all of this but I wanted to add a little bit about our responsibility as teachers. I believe that if we act and do as we should as teachers some of our morals and character traits will pass on to our students. For example, if teachers respect their students and others, their students will see that and return the respect. Therefore, they will gain the concept of respecting others in order to gain themselves. I think students have a lot to learn from teachers because they are the role models and the people they look up to everyday.

I agree that morals should be part of education, indirectly, and yes it is difficult to not promote our own morals as being better than others. However, I strongly disagree with the sentiments on putting God in schools. Spirituality, yes. Morals, yes. But God, no. Putting God in school is like saying to atheists, my morals are better than yours, which is what we DON'T want to do.
There is a lot of hooplah about putting God back in school, but if you look at the recent trend in both federal, disctrict and supreme court cases, you will see that the courts still uphold the idea of separation of church and state.
Students can pray on their own and organize groups before or after school, but schools who have had prayer over the intercom or at football games (that was not student led) have consistently been sued and lost. We can not promote one religion over another, and it is important to remember that one conception of God is not the same as another's. Plus there are plenty of moral people who are atheists.
The ACLU website has links to lots of these cases if you are interested.

i definetly agree with what most of you have said. i believe, like Travis, that the primary source of moral values has to come from within the home and family life. as teachers we can institute rules in our classroom but it is hard to enforce codes of conduct outside this area. i think that we as teachers set examples for students as far as how to treat others with respect and kindness. this is a universal moral and all children could use an extra helping of kindness. i like to think that good deeds are catching in that each deserves another.

brandi