Habits of Mind: Struggling Over Values in America's Classrooms

The thorny issue of how to incorporate moral teaching into the curricula of American classrooms is addressed in this study of one such attempt. Focusing on a program called ``Facing History and Ourselves,'' a course that studies the Holocaust as a prism through which students view contemporary problems of racism, prejudice and other social ills, the author, an educational consultant, examines this curriculum in a multiracial middle school in Cambridge, Mass., and presents the ways teachers and students have reacted to and begun to deal with their differences. Fine acknowledges her advocacy of this approach, which has encountered significant political opposition from conservatives and the New Right and has generated controversy among school boards nationwide. The author comes down on the side of those who believe schools have a vital role to play in nurturing the moral growth of the young. Especially of interest to educators. (Apr.)