Moral Classrooms, Moral Children: Creating a Constructivist Atmosphere in Early Education

by Betty Zan, Betty S. Zan

This work addresses the question of how to establish an interpersonal classroom atmosphere that fosters children's intellectual, social, moral, emotional and personality development. The authors draw upon and extend the constructivist work of Jean Piaget in sociomoral development.

Genres: Education

320 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1994

Reviews

[Aaron Slack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moral Classrooms, Moral Children

This book was a fascinating look into how far our early childhood educational theory has descended into humanism. The book concerns itself with the development of morality in "constructivist" classrooms. The modern so-called "developmentally appropriate" preschool is set up and operates according to constructivist philosophy.

Experiential education and discovery-based learning get their basis from this philosophy, largely based on the work of Piaget. Instead of seeking knowledge and morality from God, it seeks knowledge from peers and from within. Constructivism in its most extreme form declares that reality (truth) cannot even be discovered, it must be created by the child, and does not exist until this happens. This is where we get statements from early childhood experts such as, "The child must own the knowledge, not be told it." Anything not experienced sensorily by the child is not actually learned. Thus, the child should not memorize an addition fact, but must discover (or construct) the truth of addition through his play.

Constructivist philosophy is based on the presupposition that man is god. He is supreme. He does not need authority to reveal anything to him. Truth is what is discovered or created by the child. Old fashioned teaching is too much like how God talks to us (heteronomous). Children must be autonomous, creating their own morals.

One result of this is preschools are now centers of indoctrination for life in a democratic society. Morality comes from the group, and loyalty is always to the group. As the authors say, "Children in constructivist classrooms know that the group is a resource for solving social and moral problems. The group takes on moral authority to which children contribute and to which they feel commitment." The authors define a moral person as someone who can fairly settle interpersonal conflicts!

A chapter of the book is devoted to discussing the formal democratic process of voting as it concerns the preschool classroom. While we are told to respect minority viewpoints, minorities are pretty much out of luck. Teaching children to accept majority rule is a major priority in the constructivist classroom.

As in democracy on a grander scale, while officially rules are created by the people, in reality the people are guided by the elite (the teachers, in this case). Children learn that all rules must be reasonable, understood by all, and created by the children themselves. At least ostensibly. Once rules are established by the majority, they are enforced, whether or not a minority is in favor or not. Sound familiar?

An evolving morality is promoted. The existence of heteronomous law and morality declared by God is denied. "This helps children learn that rules are not sacred and immutable; rather, rules exist to serve specific purposes. When the rules no longer serve the purpose for which they were designed, or when the situation changes, the rules can change, too."

Highly recommended for those seeking insight into the people and ideas behind what is fast becoming standard operating procedure in our preschools.