A Call for Emphasis on Private Morality and Virtue Teaching

Christina Hoff Sommers, a philosopher, strongly argues for an emphasis on the teaching of ethics in education. An argument is given about private and social morality. It is claimed that even though teachers teach Ethics courses which typical include topics such as abortion, euthanasia, and corruption in big businesses there is no focus on private morals.

Private morals are being neglected and if the focus is towards social morality, it will be difficult to equalize the two. Moreover, dogmatic ethical relativists is a common theme throughout the article. Sommers asserts “in ethics, right and wrong do exist.” Which is an agreeable statement. Yet, it does not mean that it will be true to all. This is where the idea of relativism plays in because many believe the scale of right and wrong is flexible. With this thought process what may seem right to a majority of people is deemed wrong to another person. Sommers recommends the teachings of Aristotle in order to combat this issue. Aristotle's theory hones in on courage, generosity, and temperance. His teaching lessons dogmatic relativism and has been found to be naturally appealing to students.

Despite the fact that Aristotle's theory is surrounded by controversy students have never been able to rely on relativism for opposition. Later on, it is mentioned that the teachings of Ethics has drastically changed throughout time. There was a period where Ethic classes were concrete and concise but eventually there was a steady decrease and it soon became an optional class. But around the 60’s, there was a rapid increase in the teaching of ethics. However, students continued to be morally agnostic even when presented with issues that were not seen as controversial.

As a teacher Sommers felt drawn to present well thought out arguments on all sides of topical moral issues. Even when doing so students would argue that morals are subjective. In order to open the minds of students Ethic classes need to establish the fact that there is a right and wrong otherwise the class can fall apart and result in moral agnosticism. If this foundation of right and wrong is recognized it should produce moral common sense within students. Lastly, instead of teaching abstract dilemma ethics that cause students to face irrational judgment it is better to introduce stories and parables that help to instill moral principles.

It is even mentioned that the survival of the Jewish culture was because of stories that had a significant meaning. It is believed by many that indoctrination occurs when telling stories such as this. But as mentioned before teachers are presenting the students with a story for them to draw their own conclusions. Literary figures heavily contribute to providing students with a strong moral example. In order to successfully work towards teaching virtue there needs to be behavior policies enforced at schools and teachers should not be demonized when trying to teach students civility.

Personally, I agree with Sommers said. Moral intelligence is crucial in today's society. It is essential in order to make the world as smoothly as possibly. It is difficult for me to understand the perspective of an ethical relativist because their beliefs have many fallacies. Ethical relativists believe there are no moral absolutes, what is right for you may not be right for me, and no moral principles can apply to all people in all places at all times. This position assumes that our morals evolve and change with social norms. Ethical relativism, in retrospect, is a good theory idea until basic existence of universal morals are denied.

Next, I believe Sommers provides very valid ways for schools to start implementing better teaching tactics when it comes to teaching virtues. She suggests character learning and teaching through parables. Character learning has been proven to work in many expeditionary learning schools. I attend and EL high school which teaches through character learning. Receiving this type of education has helped me tremendously because it has increased my critical thinking skills and personal growth. I truly believe that if every elementary school, high school, and college were to incorporate character learning we as a society would see less dogmatic relativists.

Also teaching Ethics through parables is a beneficial way to introduce morals. Many cultures today have been able to develop strongly because of parables. Parables aid in visualizing the meaning of a subject to understand it better because of the connection to information you already know. Lastly, I agree with Sommers thoughts on moral relativism. I think that since students are not being taught right from wrong it is very easy to rely on moral relativism. A factor that contributes to this are moral dilemmas. In schools students are often presented with moral dilemmas that have no obvious right or wrong. Placing students in this situation can cause an irrational thought process as mentioned before because it can trick students’ moral compasses which ultimately leads to moral relativism.