Educating moral people: a caring alternative to character education

189 Pages·2002·0.54 MB·English

by  Nel Noddings

Educating Moral People

Educating Moral People
A CARING ALTERNATIVE TO CHARACTER EDUCATION
Nel Noddings
Teachers College, Columbia University
New York and London
Published by Teachers College Press, 1234 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027
Copyright © 2002 by Teachers College, Columbia University
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, or any
information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher.
Chapter 2 reprinted by permission with minor changes from Critical Conversations in
Philosophy of Education, edited by Wendy Kohli (New York: Routledge, 1995).
Chapter 3 reprinted by permission with minor changes from Schools, Violence, and
Society, edited by Allan M. Hoffman (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996).
Chapter 5 reprinted by permission with minor changes from a theme issue on “Rethinking
the Social Studies,” Theory into Practice,40 (1) (Winter 2001).
Chapter 6 reprinted by permission with minor changes from The Construction of
Children’s Character, edited by Alex Molnar (Chicago: National Society for the Study of
Education, 1997).
Chapter 7 reprinted by permission with minor changes from Elementary School Journal,98
(May 1998). © 1998 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.
Chapter 8 reprinted by permission with minor changes from Proceedings of the 1999
Annual Meeting of the Philosophy of Education Society, edited by Randall Curren (Urbana,
IL: Philosophy of Education Society, 2000).
Chapter 9 reprinted by permission with minor changes from the January 1995 issue of
Phi Delta Kappan.
Chapter 10 reprinted by permission with minor changes from Who Cares? edited by
Mary Brabeck (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1989).
Chapter 11 reprinted by permission with minor changes from Journal of Moral Education,
23 (June 1994), published by Taylor & Francis Ltd., PO Box 25, Abingdon, Oxfordshire,
OX14 3UE, England.
Chapter 12 reprinted by permission with minor changes from Education, Information, and
Transformation, edited by Jeffrey Kane (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill, 1999).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Noddings, Nel.
Educating moral people : a caring alternative to character education / Nel Noddings.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-8077-4169-8 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 0-8077-4168-X (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Moral education. 2. Caring. 3. Students—Conduct of life. I. Title.
LC268 .N56 2002
370.11'4—dc21 2001053438
ISBN 0-8077-4168-X (paper)
ISBN 0-8077-4169-8 (cloth)
Printed on acid-free paper
Manufactured in the United States of America
09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Steve Thornton and Lynda Stone—
wonderful students, cherished colleagues

Reason, being cool and disengaged, is no motive to action, and di-
rects only the impulse received from appetite or inclination, by show-
ing us the means of attaining happiness or avoiding misery: Taste, as
it gives pleasure or pain, and thereby constitutes happiness or mis-
ery, becomes a motive to action, and is the first spring or impulse to
desire and volition.
—David Hume

Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xiii
1 Care Ethics and Character Education 1
PART I: Moral Education from the Care Perspective
2 Care and Moral Education 13
3 Learning to Care and to Be Cared For 25
4 Care and Critical Thinking 39
5 The Care Tradition: Past, Present, Future 51
PART II: Philosophical and Historical Issues
6 Character Education and Community 61
7 Thoughts on Dewey’s “Ethical Principles
Underlying Education” 73
8 Two Concepts of Caring 85
PART III: Curriculum and Moral Education
9 A Morally Defensible Mission for Schools in the 21st Century 93
10 Educating Moral People 102
ix