As the ideological pillar of modern Japan's imperial system, the Imperial Rescript on Education was profoundly imprinted on Japan's modern education. But, in fact, multiple alternative proposals for developing modern education were put forth in the mid-Meiji period. One such proposal was the ethics ("rinri") education promoted by the…

Philosophical pragmatists rarely receive credit for their contribution to virtue ethics. But perhaps they should. How did America's philosopher of democracy, John Dewey, and one of its most famous elder statesmen, Benjamin Franklin, advise troubled souls in search of moral improvement? According to James Campbell, Dewey and Franklin recommended…

Education is central to creating well-informed citizens capable of participating in social and political life. However, civic education in some liberal democratic societies has often focused on teaching students the mechanics and structure of party politics, overlooking many of the public virtues that help to sustain democratic life. In this…

Character is a crucial aspect of living in society. Character building has been carried out in Indonesia from hundred years ago. The people have improved their way of life by adopting local culture's educational values, such as the Makassar-Buginese "Siri'." However, in this era, there is a deterioration of student character as a result…

Based on Ben Franklin's project to develop his virtuousness, we present an assignment that provides a structured process to facilitate students' virtuousness in their day-to-day lives. Students determine four virtues they wish to develop. Each week, students focus on behaving consistently with one of these virtues. At the end of each day, they…

In this article, I describe a recent scandal involving collusion between officials at the American Psychological Association (APA) and the U.S. Department of Defense, which appears to have enabled the torture of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. The scandal is a relevant, complex, and engaging case that teachers can use in a…

Discussing high standards of morality expected from U.S. public servants, authors question to what extent schools are encouraging ethical double standards and formation of inaccurate images of political leaders. Presents a democratic classroom interaction model which teaches through classroom activities the citizenship processes of communication,…