Moral education: dilemmas for the teacher

The move away from a ‘neutral’ stance in the teaching of moral education to one that might be described as more ‘positive’ does not mean that the moral education teacher will be any less likely to be accused of being subversive on the one hand or indoctrinatory on the other. Moral education does not simply involve the presentation of ‘clean’ and ‘simple’ examples of morality because morality in the real world is not like that. The article examines three dilemmas in particular. Should moral education deal with the rights of those who belong to terrorist organizations? Should it concern itself with injustices in a foreign country where that country threatens to withdraw from commercial contracts if its government is criticized? Should moral educators teach pupils that some religions (or at least some versions of them) have moral doctrines and practices which are questionable by humanitarian standards? The article answers in the affirmative to each question. It concludes by noting that just as the teaching of moral education cannot mean the presentation of ‘clean’ and ‘simple’ examples of morality, so there is no ‘clean’ and ‘simple’ way of making moral judgements.