“Schools should be responsible only for teaching academic skills and not for teaching ethical and social values.”
Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion expressed above. Support your point of view with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.
Whether or not schools should teach ethical and social values is a controversial issue. On the one hand, there are many who firmly support the issue and believe wholeheartedly that ethical and social values are best taught at home rather than school. Opponents believe that, because many children are not taught these values at home, school is best place to supplement the lack of guidance at home. While I, too, feel strongly that schools should teach social and ethical values, I do not support the notion that it should be mandated.
Incorporating ethical and social values into school curriculum can be easy. In fact, many schools are already teaching these values. However whether such instruction is purposeful or inadvertent is not clear. English, history and social studies are likely the best examples where students are concurrently exposed to their standard subject matter and ethical and social values. 107 Studying literature such as “The Scarlet Letter” or “Pride and Prejudice” exposes students to stories about how consequences related to ethical and social decisions can potentially affect a person’s life. Whether it is a study of literature or learning about how conquerors driven by greed were ultimately defeated, schools are teaching academic skills and values without being required to do so.
Second, schools can add elective classes aimed at teaching and guiding students in the development of ethical and social skills. This option may be more feasible for those students at the middle and high-school grade levels since they have the discretion in choosing such elective courses. Clearly, offering such elective courses would indeed actually satisfy both sides of the issue. Students can elect to take the class and 114 and those parents who disagree with schools playing the role of “value instructor” can simply not enroll their children. Employing other academic tools, such as group study and in-depth research papers requirements, to standard class syllabuses can ensure that the class is not solely responsible for teaching values. The students, in fact, teach themselves through interaction with other thinkers, including their peers.
Still, I understand why some persons agree with the author, as Values vary from family to family. There is no one set of values that can be generically applied to everyone and as a result some parents do not want values taught in school. Also, some students already have a difficult time with the existing curriculum and to add another dimension to it may be overwhelming. It could even cause some teachers to deviate from proven teaching methods that may be less effective for the students’ learning.
In conclusion, I believe that schools are already engaged in the teaching of strong values to students without the need for a stipulated mandate. These values are easily taught alongside the general studies that are already required of schools. If a mandate is ever enforced, some parents may not feel comfortable with it. However, if such a mandate does materialize, schools can avoid controversy by offering an optional course for students to enroll. Ultimately, children need to be taught social and ethical values. Having schools engaged in the task of teaching them the rationale for adhering to a set of high ethical and social values is a logical option.
Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion expressed above. Support your point of view with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.
Whether or not schools should teach ethical and social values is a controversial issue. On the one hand, there are many who firmly support the issue and believe wholeheartedly that ethical and social values are best taught at home rather than school. Opponents believe that, because many children are not taught these values at home, school is best place to supplement the lack of guidance at home. While I, too, feel strongly that schools should teach social and ethical values, I do not support the notion that it should be mandated.
Incorporating ethical and social values into school curriculum can be easy. In fact, many schools are already teaching these values. However whether such instruction is purposeful or inadvertent is not clear. English, history and social studies are likely the best examples where students are concurrently exposed to their standard subject matter and ethical and social values. 107 Studying literature such as “The Scarlet Letter” or “Pride and Prejudice” exposes students to stories about how consequences related to ethical and social decisions can potentially affect a person’s life. Whether it is a study of literature or learning about how conquerors driven by greed were ultimately defeated, schools are teaching academic skills and values without being required to do so.
Second, schools can add elective classes aimed at teaching and guiding students in the development of ethical and social skills. This option may be more feasible for those students at the middle and high-school grade levels since they have the discretion in choosing such elective courses. Clearly, offering such elective courses would indeed actually satisfy both sides of the issue. Students can elect to take the class and 114 and those parents who disagree with schools playing the role of “value instructor” can simply not enroll their children. Employing other academic tools, such as group study and in-depth research papers requirements, to standard class syllabuses can ensure that the class is not solely responsible for teaching values. The students, in fact, teach themselves through interaction with other thinkers, including their peers.
Still, I understand why some persons agree with the author, as Values vary from family to family. There is no one set of values that can be generically applied to everyone and as a result some parents do not want values taught in school. Also, some students already have a difficult time with the existing curriculum and to add another dimension to it may be overwhelming. It could even cause some teachers to deviate from proven teaching methods that may be less effective for the students’ learning.
In conclusion, I believe that schools are already engaged in the teaching of strong values to students without the need for a stipulated mandate. These values are easily taught alongside the general studies that are already required of schools. If a mandate is ever enforced, some parents may not feel comfortable with it. However, if such a mandate does materialize, schools can avoid controversy by offering an optional course for students to enroll. Ultimately, children need to be taught social and ethical values. Having schools engaged in the task of teaching them the rationale for adhering to a set of high ethical and social values is a logical option.
