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Title: The Death of Character: On the Moral Education of America's Children by James Davison Hunter ISBN: 0-465-03177-3 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 22 May, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.2 (5 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Glad it's over
Comment: Most of Hunter's writing, with it's cumbersome, lengthy sentences full of sociological jargon, is hard to read, and the tiny type (10 point?) doesn't help. The section on the history of the techniques used for the moral education of our children, from the 18th century forward, is more straightforward. In the U.S., we started with commonly-held morals based on biblical commands and progressed to each of us making up his own individual set of values. The author is pessimistic about things getting any better. Don't look for solutions to the problems he enumerates. Rather, he sees us sliding down a slippery slope of disintegrating morals into eventual chaos. Honestly, if I'd known what the book would be like, I wouldn't have bought it. Having bought it, if someone had told me what it would be like, I wouldn't have read it. On the other hand, it was fascinating to see, from the history he details, just how we got from there to here.
Rating: 3
Summary: Interesting; more about problems than solutions; tough read
Comment: Author James Davison Hunter is a very smart man who does a great job of tracing the changes in moral and social temperament over the years to show how weakened values and ideals have made their way into today's youth. "The Death of Character" has lots of important things to say about the "transformation of moral education" (the title of the book's largest part), and though Mr. Hunter's views are erudite, his writing is really hard to absorb. I'd be inclined to rate this more highly were it not for the fact that it took me forever to read. This book would be great as a university text.
Much of what is explained about how our children are turning out revolves around three strategies for moral education: psychological, neoclassical, and communitarian. I learned quite a bit reading about these approaches and their influence on not only "why Johnny can't read," but more importantly, "why Johnny lacks character." There's some good stuff to contemplate, and I found myself comparing my formative educational years with those of today's school kids. Yep, big difference. What Mr. Hunter has to say about the state of our youngsters must certainly be frustrating to the typical parent; however, there's not much in this book that addresses what to do about it. Disappointing in that regard.
Each page of "The Death of Character" is chock full of well-referenced, expository writing: full of discussion, argument and expanded viewpoints. Although truly interested in grasping all that Mr. Hunter had to convey, I found myself getting bogged down amidst cumbersome wording within too many long sentences that had me reading them over and over again to zero in on the point. My mind wandered frequently. The more than sixty(!) pages of notes were occasionally intimidating (some notes cover multiple pages of even tinier type).
Overall, the importance of the topics covered were outweighed by the low "readability factor." I'd have to tackle this book again to get out of it what I'd expected.
Rating: 4
Summary: A sobering look at character education in the schools
Comment: Character education is an inherent part of teachers' jobs. Whether intended or not, students learn just as much from the examples teachers set as the curriculum they teach. Formal character education, however, has become a recent outgrowth of growing concerns that our schools are not doing what they should to impart the common culture, or that schools are the panacea for society's ills.
Programs attempting to remedy these needs of society have been around as long as public schools have existed. As Hunter points out, these programs are not just a sign of the demand that exists, but are also a measure of the intensity of our fears.
Strategies we have devised, Hunter asserts, aggravate rather than ameliorate the problem. This comprehensive study of the history and philosophy behind the character education movement provides an insightful view of just why our best intentions tend to go awry when these attempts are administered.
Perhaps what we should be questioning is whether these are truly our best attempts. As Hunter says, "One need not listen very long to realize that children have become a code for speaking about ourselves. In claiming to put children first, we often place them last -- or at least subordinate to ideology."
This is a recommended read to any parents, teachers, or administrators thinking of putting into place a structured character education program in a school.
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Title: Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America by James Davison Hunter ISBN: 0465015344 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: September, 1992 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: Educating Moral People: A Caring Alternative to Character Education by Nel Noddings ISBN: 080774168X Publisher: Teachers College Pr Pub. Date: January, 2002 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: Death of Common Sense:How Law is Suffocating America by Philip K. Howard ISBN: 0446672289 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Bringing in a New Era in Character Education by William Damon ISBN: 0817929622 Publisher: Hoover Inst Pr Pub. Date: April, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Educating for Character : How Our Schools Can Teach Respect and Responsibility by Thomas Lickona ISBN: 0553370529 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 September, 1992 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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