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Values Education in American Public Schools

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Values Education in American Public Schools VALUES EDUCATION IN AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS: AN OVERVIEW WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE by DOUGLAS STEPHENS ESKEW (Under the Direction of Jo Blase) ABSTRACT In the history of the American public school, teachers have consistently played a major role in the transmission of values and that function continues today. Yet there is a great deal of conflict in the arena of values education over the question : Which values are to be taught? Following the traditional Rankean historicist method of historical research, this study features a detailed examination of the history of values education in the United States as well as the philosophy of those involved in selecting the values to be taught. The focus is upon the differing views between those of a more conservative paradigm who consider themselves traditionalists and those with a more liberal paradigm who consider themselves multiculturalists. Included is an overview of current policies and practices and a presentation of values education principles and practices across the nation that have potential to unite Americans of all perspectives. INDEX WORDS: Character Education, Civic Education, Traditionalism, Multiculturalism, Higher Law, Natural Rights, Rule of Law, Democratic Values, Relativism, Absolutes, Race, Sexuality VALUES EDUCATION IN AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS: AN OVERVIEW WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE by DOUGLAS STEPHENS ESKEW B.A., Augusta College, 1977 M.Ed. University of Georgia, 1980 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Georgia In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF EDUCATION ATHENS, GEORGIA 2004 © 2004 Douglas Stephens Eskew All Rights Reserved VALUES EDUCATION IN AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS: AN OVERVIEW WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE by DOUGLAS STEPHENS ESKEW Major Professor: Jo Blase Committee: Joseph Blase John Dayton Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2004 DEDICATION This labor of love is dedicated to my family: to my mother and father who have always been my faithful supporters; to my three wonderful sons Ryan, Parker, and William, who have not had my fullest attention these past months, I will make it up to you; and especially to my beloved wife, Harriet, who has sacrificed so much and covered for me so many times so that I could work. I love you always and forever. Finally, I dedicate this work to America; may she always seek to live up to her ideals. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is more than appropriate for me to express sincere gratitude to my advisor and mentor, Dr. Jo Blase, for her support and guidance these many months. I would never have dreamed of this day if you had not planted the seed and nourished it. Your steady counsel has helped keep me anchored throughout this work. Thank you more than words can express. Also, thank you to my committee members: Dr. Joseph Blase, for helping me strive for a higher level of scholarship in my study—your example has been most inspiring—and Dr. John Dayton for your help, especially for providing the idea for my research in values education. I could not possibly have had a better committee. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................................v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO VALUES EDUCATION IN AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS ................................................................................................1 Values Education in American Public Schools .......................................................1 Statement of the Problem and Purpose of the Study................................................2 Research Questions..................................................................................................4 Assumptions and Theoretical Framework ...............................................................5 Definition of Terms..................................................................................................8 Significance and Limitations of the Study.............................................................11 Organization of the Study ......................................................................................13 2 REVIEW OF CURRENT LITERATURE ON VALUES EDUCATION...................15 The Need for Values Education.............................................................................15 Obstacles to Values Education...............................................................................17 Alternative Methods of Teaching Values ..............................................................19 General Philosophy Behind Values Education......................................................20 Current Formal Values Education Programs .........................................................22 3 METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF VALUES EDUCATION........................................................................................................25 vi Introduction to the Historical Method....................................................................25 Chronology of Historians and Their Contributions to the Historical Method.......25 Hermeneutics .........................................................................................................28 Historicism.............................................................................................................32 Historiography.......................................................................................................35 Philosophy of History............................................................................................35 Historicist Philosophy............................................................................................37 The Historical Method...........................................................................................40 Applications for Educational Historiography ....................................................47 The Historical Method As Applied........................................................................48 4 THE HISTORY OF VALUES EDUCATION IN THE AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOL IN CONTEXT OF THE CURRENT CONFLICT BETWEEN TRADITIONALISTS AND MULTICULTURALISTS .......................................51 Foundational Values: Colonial America................................................................51 Foundational Values: Revolutionary America.......................................................54 Constitutional Foundations, Jeffersonian Democracy, and American Values ......57 Early Nineteenth Century: The Common School ..................................................64 Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century: Americanization..........................66 John Dewey and the Progressive Movement.........................................................67 Schools as Inculcators of Americanism: The Forties and Fifties ..........................72 Introduction to Turmoil: The Sixties and Seventies ..............................................74 The Reagan Years: A Conservative Revolution ....................................................79 The Conflict Widens: The Nineties and into the Twenty First Century................81 vii 5 THE VALUES EDUCATION CONFLICT BETWEEN MULTICULTURALISTS AND TRADITIONALISTS.......................................84 The Beginning of Controversy in Values Inculcation ...........................................84 Polls, Surveys, and Other “Scientific” Data ..........................................................86 Specific Guidelines for Values Inculcation ...........................................................91 Orientation: Safe Schools or Graphic Sexuality? ..................................................97 “Intergenerational Intimacy”...............................................................................113 Diversity?.............................................................................................................118 Philosophical Background of Multiculturalism...................................................122 Man as Moral Sovereign......................................................................................125 Cultural Relativism..............................................................................................128 Applications of Relativism for Schools ...............................................................130 Constructions of “Reality”...................................................................................134 Philosophy of Traditionalism...............................................................................139 The Conflict Continues........................................................................................146 6 AN EXAMINATION OF VALUES EDUCATION TODAY WITH CONSIDERATION OF SOLUTIONS FOR THE CURRENT CONFLICT..........................................................................................................152 The Need for Values Education...........................................................................152 The Call for Values Education.............................................................................154 Obstacles to Values Education.............................................................................156 From Whence We Came......................................................................................157 Which Values?.....................................................................................................160 viii Sexualization........................................................................................................168
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