Teachers are obliged to develop children's morality

Recently in the process of doing some work towards my degree a topic came up that I thought would be interesting to hear your opinions on. That topic is

Teachers are obliged to develop children's morality as part of their education

I have my own thoughts on the matter and I would like to hear yours.

My thoughts are this - I define the role of a school, especially in the primary/elementary role, as to provide the skills and knowledge that is necessary for students to possess in order to become a productive member of society. I would suggest that an understanding of socially acceptable morality and the ethics of one's society as a whole is knowledge that will benefit students a lot in making them productive members of society simply because it is important for them to be able to attract clientèle and work with others once they join the work force. Which would make developing a students morality a part of providing the skills and knowledge needed and fits the role of a school exactly as I defined it. That being said I also think that individuality is important and that students should be encouraged to form their own beliefs and values so as not to stunt their psychological growth. So, what is your opinion? Do you agree, disagree, a bit of both? Discuss.

I think it's up to parents to teach their kids about morality, not schools. Its an individual thing, although there are some general basics( dont go around murdering people and stealing stuff from them, treat others how you want to be treated, etc..) it would squash their individuality and if their parents taught them differently a child could end up confused. I dont really think it's a school's job tbh.

I don't think that it should be obligitory for teachers to have to teach kids good morals, since I agree it is a parents duty to bring up their children. However I think to be even a half way decent teacher you'll have to teach the kids decent morals. It's pretty much part of behaviour management. If a child is constantly shouting out over the teacher and being rude because the child thinks that's ok to do then the teacher is going to have some issues in the classroom if they don't challenge the behaviour.
In extreme cases bad morals in kids can also put other children's health at risk since if a younger child thinks that it's ok to hit another child for whatever reason you're putting other students well being in danger because you don't think it's your job to teach a child morals.

I knew parents were lazier than a bunch of pigs on dope nowadays but really? You're so out of touch with your kid that you gotta have schools teaching the tykes what's right and what's wrong instead of doing it yourselves?

Sorry little raeg there, but yeah it definitely shouldn't be mandatory if you ask me since it'll basically be drone production otherwise.

No, not entirely. The basics sure, but there are too many teachers in a child's life to be considered proper channels for life lessons. The parents are first and foremost the morality teachers, as they are the only constant in a Child's life.

^Agreed, really. The formulation of opinions is something that a teacher should never interfere with, that doesn't promote learning in anyway and does the opposite of producing productive members of society. That being said the teachers should always encourage a few basic morals and values such as non-violence unless it is absolutely necessary, equality amongst people and, in my opinion, individuality counts as one of these important things we should teach.

Seeing that at least half of the parents around here are ineffective at best, since they'd rather leave their children at a day-care than to actually take the time to raise them, I deem it necessary to have our teachers teach the children good morals, but only if they see it fitting that the said child needs it. If the child is already well-disciplined, then they need not to teach them any morals. However, since more & more children becoming more chaotic, this method is the last & best hope for today's generation of children.

I think Hybrid Trainer hit the nail on the head. I imagine there's basic stuff, like not hitting other kids or whatever, which we can all agree on (and if some parents don't agree on that then... oh dear.) and which is fine for teachers to teach children. But it has to be only the very basic stuff, I think. Stuff that'll have an impact on a child's views about matters which aren't black or white rather than what's just socially acceptable needs to be left to parents. It's not the place of a teacher to transfer their potentially controversial views onto a child. That's the parents' job, should they choose to do so. A teacher should, well, teach while helping to guide the children in what's acceptable (i.e. the whole hitting, shouting out, etc. thing).

...not that I can imagine why a teacher would be discussing controversial stuff with young children anyway. Or, for that matter, why the parents aren't also teaching social norms.

Unless the school is religious where then you'd basically have to teach religious morals, then no, there's no reason you should. There are basic morals I think a child should learn that they might not learn at home, like not to hit other people or be mean, but it doesn't really go any further than that. But overall, the child's morals should be something they learn at home. And if parent's aren't teaching them and the teachers can't teach them (I'm pretty sure it's illegal anyway?), then that's just lazy on the parents' part. And by "child's morals" I don't mean religious morals entirely. Just little life lessons in general. I hope this post makes sense lol.

I learned that alone...i didnt trust anyone who wanted to teach me something wrong or right cuz i was lied by everybody and when i was curious about something and i asked about it my parents made joke of it and told the others about this and that made me to be isolated ...and i didn't insulted anyone never,i didnt stole anything in my life and i am always polite to who deserve to be polite to( treat others how you want to be treated)

Really interesting topic. I thought I actually had my mind made up soon after reading the first post, but I found that being less the case as I read the pov from some of the later comments. I think I'm somewhat undecided. I like they idea of it being formally addresses in school. Let's stretch our tax dollars as far as we can hehe. The only thing though is it would have to be a curriculum all to itself with benchmarks and tests. I guess I'm not for or against it. If its taught in schools then great, but if not that's okay too because I know my child is still learning things and I'll personally take care of what he isn't at home.

I think some of this stuff should be thought regardless but then again i went to a catholic school so what do i know

I'd be willing to bet that they actually teach you morality in a more indirect fashion, what is right from wrong etc. Schools have codes and honor systems and rules and such, just as you would at home. Maybe not over the same things, but still, as a young child, you will be influenced by the teachers you have in some way, learning positives and negatives from them and from other adult authority figures around you.

My position on this has evolved recently. Before I used to think that it was the family's responsibility, and the fact that the morality of youth declining would be due to bad parenting etc. etc. But then I spoke to a friend of mine, and thought some more.

The first factor that changed my mind was how he reminded me that students stay in school some 6 hours every day. They make their friends there. And teachers are an authority figure. I thought about Confucianism, and the respect for teachers inherent in that philosophy, and considered the potential for teachers to be a guiding force.

Secondly I thought about bullying. There's so many stories about school districts and administrations not doing enough to prevent bullying and dealing with it after it happens. If the school had a strong sense of community and anti-bullying culture, then it's more likely they'd be able to identify bullying as it's happening, and allow reconciliation between the two parties. The amazing thing about school is that everybody is a child/growing up. You can actually reconcile two people, whereas in adulthood, I don't think that's really possible. And what is fostering a sense of community and an anti-bullying culture if not guiding the morality of kids?

You first develop teamwork and collaboration skills in school. This is yet another opportunity for moral growth to take place. Morals are essentially social norms, and are not only ideas, but must be practised. What better environment is there than the school in which to reinforce the practising of good morality?

I think the philosophy of ethics should be a mandatory course in every high school. Scholars have debated morality for thousands of years, and we have several major competing theories on the topic. I don't think it's unreasonable to teach these to students so they can figure out on their own what right and wrong means to them.

I'm also working on becoming a Teacher. One of my professors told the class that we as teachers must serve as role models for our students. I believe it's true that teachers play a large role in ethics and morals especially at a young age, later on though that influence declines (that's why the ancient Chinese and other civilizations (both ancient and recent) would start teaching their children at a young age as when they'll get older they'll be harder to mold.) It may sound cliché but life is like a road, the people we meet early on will influence whether we arrive at our destination of choice, or another, and even the people we meet as we're older can change that path. Of course the child's own decisions and mentality also play a part.

@ magma/aqua - I agree with this to a great extent. The thing people forget is that children actually develop a lot of their morals and ethics themselves from experimenting with different social groups (parents, teachers and friends). It is actually quite difficult to force your views onto a person in the manner the nay-sayers of teachers acting as moral educators seem to think teachers teaching for morality would.

Agreed. Kids are much more susceptible to new experiences in their lives, and things that they experience early on will have a huge impact on them later on in life. It's kind of like the analogy with kids and languages. Kids pick up languages much easier than adults. Same applies to morals and ethics.

I know when I have a kid, I'll be picky about where I send them to school and make sure they have the best interest of my kid at heart. Until then, my family will have to wait for the baby announcements. ;)

They have a role in teaching you the basics but no the rest should be left up to the parents and the person themselves. First and foremost their job is to provide education, I mean one could argue morality and proper social behavior is part of education but eh...

The role of a teacher is to teach a student how to learn. The teacher is also expected to enforce the rules and policies of the school, and discipline students accordingly. However, it is not the role of teachers to teach morality. Because morality is subjective, it cannot be taught in a group setting. Each student is unique and comes from a different background from the rest of the student body. Therefore their perspective on life differs. This is especially true of students who come from a different religious background, or who come from a different cultural background. What is moral for a Christian may not be moral for someone who is Jewish or someone who is Muslim.

As I indicated above, the only way a teacher can enforce a certain level of conduct, is through the school's rules and policies governing student and teacher behaviour. So even if a student does not see a problem with talking to the person next to them while a teacher is conducting a lesson, the teacher will discipline the student for disrupting the class, in contravention of the rules governing behaviour. This is not teaching morality, this is enforcing the rules--two completely separate things.