THE CHURCH AND THE COLLEGE STUDENT

Katharine Drexel was an important educator who taught profound lessons to the Roman Catholic Church and American society about the responsibility of privilege and the irresponsibility of prejudice. As a professed nun dedicated to the education of Black and Native Americans, she taught both intentionally and by example. Religious educators, seeking to educate for peace and justice, often point to Katharine's life work as an example of the application of Catholic social teaching. This article argues that Katharine's educational import in regards to Catholic social teaching goes much deeper than the concrete examples of her life's work. By studying Katharine's life, religious educators can illustrate the foundational attitudes and habits necessary for the principle of social justice to take root. This will be articulated in terms of underlying emphases found in aspects of Katharine's story: emphasis on totality, on clarity of vision and purpose, on evangelization, on family ethical formation, on moral education, and on Eucharistic spirituality. A corresponding action for religious educators will be suggested.     

The Larger Project within Fantasy Literature: the Lewis/Pullman Divide

This article deals with Philip Pullman's insistence on the importance of the creative power of stories in education and the need for children to think deeper about texts than the surface plot; the suitability for fantasy literature to be used for this ‘larger project’ and the current power of children's fantasy, leading to Pullman's winning of the Whitbread Prize; and Pullman's vehement rejection of links between His Dark Materials and C.S. Lewis's Narnia books. Both series are influenced by Paradise Lost but read from their own religious position: Lewis is the conservative traditionalist and Pullman the liberal reformer. In both, Christian allegory is used to encourage deeper readings of the works. Ultimately, Pullman's criticism of Narnia draws attention to similarities between the two series and the power of both to provoke challenging questions rather than straightforward answers.     

Newman's Theory of a Liberal Education: A Reassessment and its Implications

John Henry Newman provided the basic vocabulary and guiding rationale sustaining the ideal of a liberal education up to our day. He highlighted its central focus on the cultivation of the intellect, its reliance upon broadly based theoretical knowledge, its independence of moral and religious stipulations, and its being its own end. As new interpretations enter the debate on liberal education further educational possibilities emanate from Newman's thought beyond those contained in his theory of a liberal education. These are found in Newman's broader idea of a university education, incorporating social, moral, and spiritual formation and in his philosophical thought where he develops a theory of knowledge at odds with the Idea of a University. There are, in addition, intriguing possibilities that arise from Newman's theory of reasoning in concrete affairs both because of their implicit challenge to inherited theories of a liberal education and because of the educational possibilities they hold out in their own right and in actual educational developments to which they may lend support.     

英国的宗教教育对我国道德教育的启示

英国的宗教教育影响深远,可以说是英国道德教育成功的典范。分析了英国宗教教育的特点,结合我国的道德教育,从而得出四点启示：我国道德教育在理念上,要更注重对人的精神关怀;在道德教育的方式和途径上,要灵活多样;在道德教育的内容上要强化信仰、与时俱进、结合传统;在道德教育的时效上,要强调道德践履。     

Narthical religious learning: redefining religious education in terms of pilgrimage

Religious education at school should be more than just the acquisition of knowledge. It should not only provide cognitive facts on how religious people act according to their moral and religious convictions, but also on how learners can gain as much profit as possible from these facts in order to build their own identity as religious ‘tourists’. Good religious education challenges them also to become ‘pilgrims’ and to allow the ‘slow questions’ of religion to enter into their own life, in all their vulnerability and provisionality. This paper discusses the recent orientation towards religious experience in religious didactics in Western Europe and makes out a case for a mystagogical‐communicative or ‘narthical’ approach to religious learning. This argument is presented against the background of individualisation, pluralisation and detraditionalisation of religion, which is the typical context for young people in their search for meaning today.     

THE AIM OF THE WINNETKA CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH SCHOOL

Ethical wills are statements of values, which traditionally represent a moral, rather than material, legacy to one's posterity. As documents, they are intended to help others lead better, more fulfilling lives. Yet, the process of writing ethical wills also holds great significance for those who write them—to consolidate and articulate their personal values. In this article, ethical wills are examined as an effective tool in leadership education of youth, connecting them with the religious tradition to which they are heirs. This article focuses on Jewish youth leadership education.     

Moral development as the personal education of feeling and reason: from James to Piaget

This article traces the connection between William James's writings in The Varieties of Religious Experience and Jean Piaget's work on moral development through Piagets early work on religious experience. James characterises religious experience as unlocking deep personal power that can sustain a “strenuous mood”. These ideas impacted the early work of Piaget on religious experience through the influence of Henri Bergson and The´odore Flournoy, both friends of James. The shared depth-psychology approach to religious experience of James and Piaget is important to current debates on spiritual and moral education.     

Sex education,state policy and the principle of mutual consent

Constitutive of the prevalent sexual morality in most Western European countries is the liberal principle of mutual consent (PMC). This sociological fact may give rise to the ethical question as to whether or not the state has the right to make sure that its citizens will observe PMC, among other ways by prescribing some form of sex education which has PMC as its moral content. With reference to the ambiguity of the term ‘morally permissible’, it is argued that PMC can be interpreted in two fundamentally different ways, namely, as the freedom to arrange one's sexual life according to one's own values and preferences (PMC(a)) or as the view that consensual sex is morally all right or morally unobjectionable (PMC(b)). The claim is defended that PMC(a) should be taken as part of the public morality, whereas PMC(b) should be seen as a private morality. Accordingly, the state has the right to take PMC(a) as a basis for its educational policy, but the state is not allowed to prescribe any form of sex education that has PMC(b) as its moral content. The importance of the distinction between PMC(a) and PMC(b) is shown by giving an evaluation of the Dutch state's responses to recent public statements of orthodox religious leaders about the moral status of homosexuality. Also on the basis of this distinction, the central differences between liberal orthodox and fundamentalist orthodox religious views on sexuality and the role of the state are pointed out. In this connection, it is argued that any view which takes PMC(b) as part of the public morality should be disavowed as a kind of ‘liberal funda‐ mentalism’.     

The Single Sex Debate for Girls in Science: a Comparison Between Two Informal Science Programs on Middle School Students’ STEM Identity Formation

Currently, there are policy debates regarding the efficacy and legality of single sex formal and informal education programs. This issue is particularly poignant in science education due to the historical marginalization of women in these fields. This marginalization has resulted in women being positioned as a stigmatized group within many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related fields. Research points to adolescence as the age where this sense of marginalization begins to develop. As a result, policy responses have utilized various frameworks such as: increased access for women, changing pedagogy to address women’s learning styles, changing the language and culture of science to prevent marginalization of stigmatized groups, and finally exploring the role that individual identity plays in the marginalization of women. This study adds to the policy debate as it applies to single sex education by comparing middle school participants’ STEM identity formation during two informal science learning environments (an all girls’ STEM camp and a co-educational STEM camp). Additionally, this study focuses on the influence of camp activities within two informal science education programs: particularly the provision of role models and authentic STEM research activities, as means to improve STEM identity and make these fields relevant to the lives of middle school students. The results indicate that both camps improved girls’ STEM identities. These findings suggest that the single sex environment is not as important to STEM identity as the pedagogy used within the program.     

Clipping our dogmatic wings: The role of religion’s Parerga in our moral education

Abstract

In a note introduced into the second edition of Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason (1794), Kant assigns a systematic role to the General Remarks at the end of each Part of his book. He calls those Remarks, “as it were, parerga to religion within the boundaries of pure reason; they do not belong within it yet border on it” (RGV 6:52). As Kant sees them, the parerga are only a “secondary occupation” that consists in removing transcendent obstacles. This paper is skeptical of Kant's view. It proposes an alternative account, according to which the parerga are essential to our moral education, since they force human reason to confront its own limitations and resist the urge to take refuge in spurious religious beliefs. That urge, I argue, is linked to the propensity to evil, and uses religious orthodoxy to undermine moral religion. By clipping our dogmatic wings, the parerga encourage reason to face its own dialectical tendencies and direct its speculative interest to immanent practical use. This redirection counteracts the debilitating effects of the propensity to evil and plays a key role in our moral regeneration. To consider the parerga “derivative,” as Kant himself does, is therefore a grave mistake.     

Teacher professionalization in the age of social networking sites

As teacher education students become professionals, they face a number of tensions related to identity, social participation, and work-life balance, which may be further complicated by social networking sites (SNS). This qualitative study sought to articulate tensions that arose between professionalization influences and teacher education student participants' SNS participation. Findings suggest that some expectations of professionalization in SNS cut deeply into participants' self-concept and that tensions arose surrounding unclear expectations of professionalization and fears related to political and religious expression. The study's implications are: teachers need to (a) consider how participation in SNS may impact their identity, (b) understand how moral turpitude is defined in their communities and how their behavior aligns with these standards, and (c) carefully explore how they can maintain meaningful social connections in online spaces as they pass through new phases of life and seek to become professionals.     

REPORT OF THE INVESTIGATION OF CURRICULUM AND VOLUNTARY BIBLE STUDY IN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

This article reviews the challenges provided by a plural condition toward doing religious education in the Philippines. The problem of Philippine religious education hinges on the fact that the growing plural condition in the educational system remains until now “un-discussed” or integrated in many schools. Not much is heard about proposing a platform of dialogue within religious education. Dialogue is more often associated with inter-faith initiatives beyond the learning environment. If religious education should be an instrument in the formation of the right Christian attitudes among the young, dialogue must be an urgent Christian agenda in Philippine religious education.     

The garbage gospel: Using the theory of planned behavior to explain the role of religious institutions in affecting pro-environmental behavior among ethnic minorities

This study used Azjen's Theory of Planned Behavior to examine how pro-recycling and pro-environmental messaging delivered by religious leaders affects stated recycling behavior among ethnic minorities. Using data collected from 12 religious institutions in three Ontario, Canada, communities, a promotion and education program was developed to: (1) increase awareness about existing waste management programs in the region; (2) describe what materials should be recycled; (3) highlight the importance of recycling (to the individual, to the community, and to the environment; and (4) make a direct appeal asking households to participate in their region's recycling programs. Post implementation of the P&E campaign, respondents indicated a statistically significant increase in positive attitudes toward recycling, moral norms, levels of perceived behavioral control, and awareness of recycling consequences. Perceived behavioral control, situational factors, attitudes, and moral norms were found to be the most significant predictors of recycling intention. Community leaders were demonstrably more successful in affecting positive change in stated recycling behavior among minorities relative to previous municipal promotion and education efforts.     

墨子“和”思想的内悖

"和"是墨子思想的集中概括,也是墨子主张的终极诉求。以"兼爱"立论的道德教育是"非攻"致"和"的逻辑起点和实践路径,但无差别却脱离自爱的"兼爱"要求、诉诸外力而不反求诸己的"明鬼"观念、以利释义的"志功合一"理论所蕴含的内悖,决定了墨子"和"继缺"同"的思想只能是空想。     

METHODS IN THE FAMILY

This article introduces a relationship between neuroscience and creativity for the sake of religious education. Citing creativity as a process that involves both originality and value, the writing articulates Howard Gardner's interplay between the talent of the person, the internal demands of a discipline, and the quality judgment of the field. The article explores creativity expressed both within the field of neuroscience, with the beginning of the neurocentric era, and continuing with contemporary use of technology. It then surveys neuroscience's own exploration of the fields of creativity and religious experience, with ensuing limitations. The article establishes a dialogue between religious education and neuroscience, demonstrating how religious education provides neuroscience theory with grounded practice while also supplying ethical frameworks for neuroscience practice. It closes asserting that while currently neuroscience primarily endorses sound educational practice, future neuroscientific research should yield fresh horizons demanding ongoing creativity by religious educators.     

THE RELIGIOUS ZIONIST: TOWARD THE NEW ERA

This essay presents the problems inherent in religious Zionist education on the eve of a new era, and proposes avenues toward solutions. That the Torah is permanent and the world is relative and changing leads to many incongruities within and among components of religious Zionist identity. The cyber‐era will expose the religious Zionist to a great deal of information, some of which maybe harmful and confusing—especially to adolescents—because of the weakness of present religious Zionist educational doctrines. Therefore, religious Zionist identity is in danger of “overload,” due to incongruities among and within systems. This overload may cause some people to abandon religion and others to turn to ultraorthodoxy, impoverishing the religious Zionist community in two ways, and reducing its ability to serve as a bridge between national factions.     

Khatami,political reform and education in Iran

Khatami was elected President of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1997. He came to power with the promise of creating an Islamic civil society and bringing about political reform, rule of law, freedom, and religious democracy. He advocated such values as tolerance, moderation, respect for diversity, and dialogue at the domestic and international arenas. Khatami assigned schools the task of creating pious, moral, politicised, and empowered individuals with a strong Iranian-Islamic identity, capable of maintaining a balanced relationship with the West. This article seeks to identify the pillars of Khatami's thoughts and assess whether his reformist agenda is reflected in formal schooling. An analysis of the prevailing educational goals and values illustrates that although some of Khatami's ideals are reflected, schools are still parochial, separating ‘us’ from ‘them’, with no attempt to prepare the young for global citizenship. Iranian schools continue to remain bastions of conservatism and ideology.     

Education without Moral Worth? Kantian Moral Theory and the Obligation to Educate Others

This article examines the possibility of a Kantian justification of the intrinsic moral worth of education. The author critiques a recent attempt to secure such justification via Kant's notion of the Kingdom of Ends. He gives four reasons why such an account would deny any intrinsic moral worth to education. He concludes with a tentative justification of his own and a call for a more comprehensive engagement between Kant's moral theory and the philosophy of education for purposes of understanding what constitutes the moral core of education.     

STUDENT RIGHTS TO RELIGIOUS EXPRESSION AND THE SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SCHOOLS

In this essay Bryan Warnick explores how rights to religious expression should be understood for students in public schools. Warnick frames student religious rights as a debate between the conflicting values associated with the Free Exercise Clause and the values associated with the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution. He then asks how the special characteristics of the school environment should guide us in prioritizing those values. The overall weight of the considerations, particularly concerns about civic education, leads to a two‐pronged approach to religious rights. The first prong involves a robust protection of student religious exercise; the second involves an equally robust regime of school disassociation from student religious exercises.