Race/Multiculturalism SIG Statement on Laws Forbidding Teaching about Systemic Racism – Lawrence Blum

Race/Multiculturalism SIG Statement on Laws Forbidding Teaching about Systemic Racism – Lawrence Blum

Members of the Race/Multiculturalism SIG wishes to call to the attention of the AME community an alarming development happening in many state legislatures in the US. As of this writing, as many as 15 such legislatures have passed or are seriously considering legislation that would forbid educators (at either secondary or higher ed level) from teaching about systemic racism in the US. The explicit targets (i.e. what is declared to be forbidden) of the legislation differ a bit from state to state. Sometimes the target is “critical race theory.” This label historically refers to an approach in the study of law that examined ways that law incorporates explicit or implicit racial bias. But the label is now used in a much more expansive and less definite way to refer to the study of systemic racism in its various forms.

What and How Can Moral Education Contribute to Social Justice? by Larry Nucci

What and How Can Moral Education Contribute to Social Justice? by Larry Nucci

Much of what is done in the name of moral education focuses upon developing what I refer to as moral “wellness,” and what Kohlberg characterized as the development of conventional moral thinking. Moral education, however, must go beyond promoting basic moral wellness to prepare students to address issues of social justice, or in the words of educational philosopher, Winston Thompson, suffer from incoherence.

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Will Moral Software Reduce the Need of Moral Education? The Evaluation of Academic Texts in Spain – Levy Farías (English and Spanish versions)

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Will Moral Software Reduce the Need of Moral Education? The Evaluation of Academic Texts in Spain – Levy Farías (English and Spanish versions)

Explaining his views on moral development, Lawrence Kohlberg used to contrast moral principles with moral commandments. Would he still be with us, I believe he would also be contrasting moral principles with the increasing use of what may be called “moral software:” decision processes with moral implications, in which cybernetic mechanisms replace or outweigh by far human judgments. Of course, we can only wonder how many new insights Professor Larry would be giving us, but any reader can compare what he wrote about the limitations of simplistic, rigid, moral commandments with the noticeable limitations of the diverse moral software tools that proliferate nowadays.

Al explicar su enfoque del desarrollo moral, Lawrence Kohlberg solía contrastar los principios morales con los mandamientos morales. Creo que si todavía estuviera entre nosotros, ahora también estaría contrastando a los principios morales con el creciente uso de lo que podríamos llamar “software moral”: procesos de toma de decisiones, con implicaciones morales, en los cuales los mecanismos cibernéticos reemplazan o superan por mucho a las valoraciones humanas. Por supuesto, tan solo podemos especular sobre las muchas ideas novedosas que el Profesor Larry nos seguiría brindando, pero cualquier lector puede comparar lo que él escribió sobre las limitaciones de los rígidos y simplistas mandamientos morales, con las notorias limitaciones de las diversas herramientas de software moral que proliferan hoy día.

Comment on Jonathan Haidt, "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion" (Pantheon, 2012) – Lawrence Blum

Comment on Jonathan Haidt, "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion" (Pantheon, 2012) – Lawrence Blum

Jonathan Haidt wants people of different political ideologies to talk, respectfully and constructively, across that divide. His Righteous Mind aims, among other things, to help “liberals” and “conservatives” understand each other, and thus to facilitate productive conversation. Haidt identifies six “moral foundations” he sees as underpinning ideological/political positions. He views liberal morality as grounded in care, fairness, and liberty, all of which he regards as individualistic values. He sees conservative morality, by contrast, while sharing the liberal three, as also embracing the three remaining values/moral foundations—loyalty, authority, and sanctity—that Haidt regards as “binding,” that is, as values concerned with holding a society together and reinforcing ties amongst its members.

Seeds of Morality Must be Planted Rightly – Darcia Narvaez

Seeds of Morality Must be Planted Rightly – Darcia Narvaez

It’s easy for us to believe that reasoning about moral issues is the most important aspect of morality. We spend many years in schools which typically foster an intellectual view of life, encourage us to suppress our emotions and disregard our relational and spiritual connections, keeping us focused on explicit knowledge or facts about the world. And it is true that some of our behavior is guided by the explicit decisions we make—which sweater to wear, whether to start a diet, how best to apply for a new job.

Failing Students for No-Name Assignments? Fair Grading Practice in Elementary Education by D. Scott Herrmann

Failing Students for No-Name Assignments? Fair Grading Practice in Elementary Education by D. Scott Herrmann

Juveniles are developmentally different than adults.  As a society we get it, right?  In the 1930s child labor laws were established when the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed, recognizing that juveniles are fundamentally different than working adults.  They are in a state of developmental maturation which requires special safeguards because of their immaturity. 

Revisiting Competing Conceptions of the Justice of Affirmative Action by Elizabeth Vozzola

Revisiting Competing Conceptions of the Justice of Affirmative Action by Elizabeth Vozzola

On October 10, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court heard opening arguments in the controversial Fisher v. University of Texas affirmative action case in which Abigail Fisher, a white 2008 Texas public school graduate, charges that she was a victim of racial discrimination. Fisher narrowly missed out on admission to the state’s flagship institution under Texas’s Top 10% Law that guarantees admission to any Texas high school student ranked in the top 10% of her or his class. 

After the Mandela Moment: What now South Africa? by Sharlene Swartz

 Nelson Mandela is gone, he died on 5 December, 2013. A day earlier the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation released its annual reconciliation barometer. Amongst its findings were that38% of white South Africans DO NOT believe Apartheid was a crime against humanity and 54% DO NOT believe that black South Africans are poor today as a result of Apartheid’s legacy.