Character and Moral Education

This collection offers previously published and commissioned essays, written to be accessible to the wider public as well as educators and scholars. The editors hope the new scholarship will challenge norms in the field. The authors come from divergent philosophical and political perspectives in fields such as education, psychology, policy studies, and sociology, but all agree that educational reform should be guided by moral principles. The readings in the first part of the book overview the history, politics, and pedagogical ramifications of the national movement in character education. In the second part of the book, contributors look beyond character education as the prevailing model of moral education. These essays challenge the 'scientific,' positivist treatment of teaching and learning evident in the current reform agenda. Some specific topics include critical pedagogy and moral education, Jonathan Kozol's moral vision of America's schools, and a Buddhist view of moral education. There is no subject index. DeVitis is affiliated with Old Dominion University. Yu teaches education at Southern Illinois University. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Joseph L. DeVitis is Visiting Professor of Educational Foundations at Old Dominion University. Recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he is a widely published scholar and public intellectual in educational policy studies. He is a past president of the American Educational Studies Association, the Council of Learned Societies in Education, and the Society of Professors of Education. His most recent books are Critical Civic Literacy: A Reader (Peter Lang, 2011) and Adolescent Education: A Reader (Peter Lang, 2010), edited with Linda Irwin-DeVitis.
Tianlong Yu is Associate Professor of Education at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, and a visiting Taishan Scholar Professor of Education at Shandong Normal University, China. Born and raised in China and educated in both China and the United States, he writes on the social foundations of education with a keen interest in issues of moral education and multicultural education.