Beyond Marquee Morality: Virtue in the Social Studies

o s t American educators agree M that education for citizenship in a democralic society involves developing the knowledge, skills, and values necessary for civic efficacy. But the details about what knowledge, which skills, whose values, and the appropriate methods for developing them have been the subjecl of long-standing debate among social studies educators. Of the three components of civic education, the challenge of developing democratic values and inoral character in youth has spawned ;L variety of curriculum models and pedagogical techniques. Such approaches as values analysis, moral reasoning, values clarification, and character education emphasize different goals, methods, and terms. Such terms as c h m w t e r , values, attitudes, dispositions, t i -ai ls , virtues, ethics, and morals sometiniex appear without clear distinctions about their meaning. Recent dialogue within this area of social studies education has focused on