Educating Moral People: A Caring Alternative to Character Education

by Nel Noddings

Book Overview

In this collection of essential essays, Nel Noddings examines alternatives to prevailing models of character education--a sympathetic approach based on an ethic of care. Covering both stories in the classroom and controversial issues in education, Noddings describes the similarities and differences between character education and care ethics...examines how moral education might be infused throughout the curriculum...and calls for greater cooperation...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080774168X
• ISBN13: 9780807741689
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Teachers College Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.4" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

It's easy to miss the point

Nel Noddings is presenting a new way of thinking about morality from a feminist postmodern perspective. She is grounding her "caring alternative" in an understanding that relationships are fundamental to all human beings from the day we are born. It is in contrast to the individualistic "character education" and development of the past. We learn morality and develop in community. It's about building an environment where "caring" can occur and being aware that in order to "care," the "carer" has to listen and learn about what feels like "caring" for the person being "cared-for". It's also about the mutuality of relationships making it hard to tell who's the "carer" and who's the "cared-for." Sometimes teaching rules makes us shrewd not good.

Do We Care Enough to Teach Morality?

This book, although a bit wordy, is quite interesting especially for classroom teachers or for anyone in the educational field. Whether you are a teacher, counselor or administrator, this book can help guide you towards demonstrating genuinely caring human being behavior that transfers onto your students. Nel Noddings explains that regardless of what subject you teach, you can incorporate moral education into your curriculum. She feels that only by addressing issues of human life and morals will students believe and feel that teachers truly care for them and hence will reciprocate caring behavior.