Educating Moral People: A Caring Alternative to Character Education

Noddings, N. Educating Moral People: A Caring Alternative to Character Education. Williston, VT: Teachers College Press, 2002.

 An alternative to character education is care ethics. The ethics of care can be seen as fundamentally relational, not individual-agent-based in the way of virtue ethics, and the ethics of care is more indirect than character education. After an introductory chapter that outlines the similarities and differences between character education and care ethics, part 1 discusses moral education from the care perspective. Chapter 2 considers care and moral education. Chapter 3 examines learning to care and be cared for. Chapter 4 examines care and critical thinking. Chapter 5 explores the care tradition. Part 2 looks at the historical and philosophical issues of comparing care ethics with virtue ethics, utilitarianism, and Dewey's pragmatic consequentialism. Chapter 6 explores character education and community. Chapter 7 outlines thoughts on ethical principles underlying education. Chapter 8 contrasts caring for and caring about. Part 3 considers the practical implications of care theory. Chapter 9 offers a moral mission for schools in the 21st century. Chapter 10 examines the educating of moral people. Chapter 11 discusses conversation as moral education. Chapter 12 gives examples of the use of stories and conversation in schools. Chapter 13 looks at the past and future of care ethics.

Source: ERIC