Religious and Moral Education Edited

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education
COURSE INTRODUCTION Dear Student, Your are warmly welcome to course FDC 119 - Religious and Moral Education 1. This course is titled General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education. This course is basically dealing with the study of nature and common assumptions of the various religions and those particularly practiced in Ghana. We shall attempt to examine the various sources of Religious and Moral Education, which is studied at all levels of education in Ghana. We shall also explore the modern theories of Religious and Moral development as presented by various researches and how the theories can be applied to the teaching and learning process.
As a student who is being trained for the classroom, this course will assist you to acquire the relevant skills that will help you to teach your pupils effectively.
Dear Student, I believe you are aware that Ghana is a religiously pluralistic society (society with different belief systems) and therefore the pupils you would be teaching may belong to different religious persuations. This course will help you assist your pupils to appreciate and understand the different religions practiced in their communities so that they can co-exist or live peacefully with one another. It is possible to do this successfully if you apply the various concepts that would be discussed in this course.
Now, let us have a look at our objectives which we would like to achieve by the end of this course.
COURSE OBJECTIVES By the end of this course, you will be able to: demonstrate an indept understanding of the concepts of Religious and Moral Education and the sources for its study. develope a deep understanding of the various theories/researches of Religious and Moral Education and apply them in your teaching. acquire the professional skills of bringing-up a morally educated person.
Please note that this course is a two-credit course and it is being taken only in the first semester of year one. i.e. First year, first semester. The course is divided into thirteen chapters and it is expected that you
would use a week to go through each chapter in detail so that at the face-to-face sessions, your lecturer would use the four hours (2 hours for Saturday and 2 hours for Sunday) to discuss your difficulties with you every other week. By using a week for each chapter, you would have covered the entire course within the thirteen (13) weeks leaving you with two weeks for revision and a week for end of semester examinations.
Please note that as a distant learner, you are being motivated to exercise a good sense of commitment and discipline since your lecturer is away from you and would only meet you after a forthnight. Do not wait till you meet your lecturer before reading or studying the text. You should use your time profitably by disciplining yourself in your studies. Face-to-face sessions are meant for addressing aspects of the lessons you failed to understand and so adequate time would not be available for teaching as it pertains with the regular system. On this score, dear student, do not hesitate to contact any of the following people, in situations where you find difficulty in understanding the contents of the lessons.
any RME tutor from a nearby College of Education. your headteacher, if you are already teaching. circuit supervisor. an experienced teacher. regular students in the Colleges of Education. fellow distant learning students.
It is our hope that all the above mentioned people would be more than glad to assist you in whatever way possible. We have every conviction that you would be able to go through this course successfully. You are warmly welcome.
CHAPTER ONE
MEANING AND SCOPE OF RELIGIOUS AND MORAL EDUCATION
BASIC CONCEPTS IN RELIGIOUS AND MORAL EDUCATION: RELIGION, MORALITY AND EDUCATION
Dear Student, you are welcome to chapter 1 of this course. The chapter deals with the Meaning and Scope of Religious and Moral Education. It examines the various definitions of Religion given by various scholars from their own understanding and interest. The Chapter also examines the concept of Morality and what constitutes Moral Values as well as the concept of Education. We shall try to examine how the basic concepts: Religion, Morality and Education work together to achieve the goals of the subject. We shall also discuss the functions of religion and the extent it benefits the believer and the society at large. The other side of the discussion will also consider the disadvantages of religion. Other areas worth noting in this chapter is a discussion of the components of religion and characteristics of a religious person. Another area we shall consider is the concept of morality and what constitutes moral values in a given society. Finally, we shall deal with the concept of Education and discuss how these three basic concepts: Religion, Morality and Education combine to help society achieve harmony.
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to: give your own explanation of the concepts: Religion, Morality and Education. state at least five reasons for the study of Religious and Moral Education. identify and explain the six dimensions of religion given by Ninian Smart. list at least four characteristics of a religious person.
give at least four contributions religion has made towards the development of Ghana. give six examples of moral values in your community. explain R.S. Peters concept of Education. state four characteristics of Education.
Just relax and read on.
One of the most important subjects in the school curriculum which serves as a vehicle for national development is Religious and Moral Education. The subject is taught at all levels of education. That is, it starts from Basic school to the university level. We shall try to find out the meaning of the concept Religious and Moral Education. Religious and Moral Education is a subject or a discipline that provides learners with both sound religious and Moral training as well as appropriate attitudes and values that enable individuals to make correct choices and decisions in life.
The subject is made up of three main concepts namely: (a). Religion, (b). morality and (c). Education. For a better understanding of the teaching and learning of Religious and Moral Education, let us consider the meanings of the concepts involved.
Religion is a complex phenomenon that influences the life of a person in many ways. It affects all aspects of a persons life. A persons religious belief can influence the type of dress he wears, the food he eats and the kind of occupation he does. Religion also goes a long way to determine a persons world view and attitude in general. For example, for religious reasons, some people leave the comfort of their homes to lead ascetic life. Some people have also lost their lives because of religion. Conflicts and many wars the world over have come about as a result of religion. Indeed, the sensitive nature of religion makes it a complex phenomenon. It deals with the fears and hopes of man and therefore affects seriously every facet of life.
THE NATURE OR DEFINITION OF RELIGION
A. THE CONCEPT RELIGION Every phenomenon depends on subjective thoughts and since religion is a phenomenon, any attempt to define it depends on subjectivity. It is not possible to give a universally acceptable definition of religion. In many cases, one may succeed in giving a description of the phenomenon instead of a definition. People talk about religion to suit their own interest or understanding. A reflection of some definitions may help us to come to terms with the complexity of the phenomenon. SOME DEFINITIONS OF RELIGION Emmanuel Kant: Religion is the recognition of our duties as divine commands Max Mueller: E. B. Tylor: Robert Smith: Religion is the perception of the infinite Religion is the belief in a spiritual being Religion is a mystical pact between the worshippers and their totem. Sigmund Freud: God is nothing more than an exalted father. Karl Marx: Rudolf Otto: Religion is the opium of the masses. Religion is the feeling of the presence of the wholly other. Emile Durkheim: Unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things. Elizabeth Nottingham: Religion is mans attempt to plunge the depth of meaning in both himself and the universe. William James: Religion.shall mean to us, the feelings, acts and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far us they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they consider the divine.
Geddy MacGregor: Religion may be considered as a commitment to a kind or quality of life that purports to recognize a source beyond itself (usually but not necessarily called God) and that issues in recognizable fruits in human conduct (e.g. law, morality), culture (e.g. Art, Poetry) and thought (e.g. philosophy). Religion is the ultimate concern of man.
Paul Tillich:
Ninian Smart: Religion is a complex object with six dimensions: doctrinal, ritual, mythological, ethical, experiential and social.
All the above definitions are different ways of understanding religion. Though all of them highlight some important elements in religion, they do not capture all the elements involved. We can consider the definition essentially as individual ways of understanding religion. Let us analyse the last three of the definitions: Geddy MacGregor sees religion as a commitment to the unseen reality. His description of religion draws our attention to the following elements: 1. Religion is part of the total life of man. 2. It involves a code of conduct that regulates the life of the believer and therefore his conduct as a human person. 3. Man through religion recognizes the existence of a power greater than himself (but not necessarily God) upon whom he absolutely depends. 4. Religion also involves the culture of a people, which includes their world views, philosophy and thought systems.
Paul Tillich also sees religion as the ultimate concern of man. According to Paul Tillich, the purpose of life is not first to live and die but to look beyond the ordinary life. Religious people look for the ultimate goal an endless bliss (e.g. heaven) and whatever they do in life is tied to this goal. For this reason, religion influences almost all aspects of life.
Ninian Smart also draws our attention to the six dimensions of religion: doctrines, rituals, myths, ethics, experience and society. These are very important elements of religion. All religions have doctrines which are at the centre of their activities. The doctrines involve the codes, creeds and the cult. Again, all religions have the performance of rituals. The rituals are performed in physical terms but have spiritual implication for the believer. It is these rituals that enable man to identify with the spiritual world. Examples of such rituals include libation, prayers, sacrifice, etc.
Furthermore, all religions have a mythological element that makes it difficult to explain the inexplicable. Countless stories abound in the world religions about their founders, their experiences and their concept of the spirit. There are myths that are not easy to comprehend. Again, every religion has an ethical dimension. They all emphasize on good conduct or morality. No religion encourages bad or unacceptable conduct. Believers are enjoined to live a way of life that reflects the philosophy of the religion. The codes are expected to be followed religiously by members. The day to day activities of believers and what they perceive as the interference of the spiritual is seen as the experiential dimension. Issues like miracles and healing are linked to religious experience. Most religions have these elements. Lastly, religion is society based. There can be no religion without society. It takes place in society and manifest itself in society, hence the social element of religion.
The above explanations and analysis only succeeds in describing the concept of religion but it does not give us a definite definition. The attempted definition become more inadequate when you come to think about other religions like Buddhism which has no Supernatural Being as object of worship. To Elizabeth Notthingham therefore it is better to describe religion than to attempt a definition of religion. It is almost impossible task if not altogether impossible. For our purpose we shall attempt to describe religion as the system of beliefs, doctrines, ethics and ways of life aimed at enlightenment, deliverance and salvation. Let us now move to examine the functions of religion:
FUNCTIONS OF RELIGION
The concerns of religion are multi-faceted. Every form of religion aims at the spiritual well-being of the individual, intellectual attainment, social welfare and the economic development of the people who live by it and practice it. Religion plays a very significant role in the life of society through the following means:
1. Primarily, religion serves as the vehicle of communication between God and human beings. It gives spiritual enlightenment to human beings, through worship and ceremonies like prayers, sacrifice and festivals, all of which serve to promote godliness in mans relationship with the ultimate reality (God).
2. Religion is a phenomenon that provides guidelines for moral behaviour in society. Religious people are expected to conform to certain standards of behaviour in whatever society they find themselves. They should serve as moral agents and this goes a long way to promote good relationship and fellowship among human beings.
3. In stress situations, religion becomes the panacea (answer). It provides spiritual answers (through faith) to most human problems. Believers, in times of trouble, therefore develop very high psychological stance that enable them to face the challenge in full. Through religion, human beings find solution to problems of life like death, failure, divorce, disappointment etc. Here, religion provides an explanation for events that seem difficult to understand, it explains the whys and hows of life. 4. The social dimension of religion is seen in the unity it fosters; the kind of unity that cuts across barriers such as egocentrism, tribalism and sectionalism. Believers see each other more as members of a particular
religion or brotherhood than as members of a tribe or even a family. Religion therefore provides social control that helps to stabilize and sustain society.
5. Religion in many ways strive to offer services in many different areas of life to mankind. For example, in education, there has been establishment of many schools, colleges and universities the world over. In agriculture, there are many religious groups who operate as non-governmental organisations in the production and processing of food and other essential technical services. Again, many religious bodies are involved in the delivery of primary health care in the form of hospitals and other para-medical institutions. Such services are rendered to the general public without exception.
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Religion also provides emotional satisfaction through the relationship that is established with the object of worship. An issue that may seem meaningless becomes meaningful through religion. The spiritual connotation given to certain situations in life bring meaning and understanding to many events in the society.
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Religion introduces human beings to their creator and the purpose of their very existence. It thus creates the creator creative consciousness in the individual and helps to offer meaning to the purpose of life.
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Religion also promotes tolerance and respect among members with common faith. For example, the menace of HIV/AIDS is being fought from a common front involving the major religions in the country dubbed Reach out. This is based on the respect accorded the different religions.
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Religion also creates job opportunities for the populace. Most people acquire jobs as Pastors, Revered Ministers and administrators. Professionals like Teachers, Doctors, Nurses and other workers are employed to work in such religious institutions for a living.
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Religion also provides recreational satisfaction to members. Most religious activities, though spiritual, come with several activities like festivals. The celebrations of these festivals are times for joy and happiness. People of all walks of life and even non-members of faiths participate in the activities. These activities also boost economic life. Examples of such festivals include Christmas and Easter for Christians, Id-fitr and Id-ul-adha for Muslims and traditional festivals like Adae Kese, Homowo, Odwira, etc. We should note that all that glitters is not gold, therefore let us consider the other face of religion.
DYSFUNCTIONS OF RELIGION
The functions of religion as seen from the above contribute a lot to socioeconomic and spiritual well being and upliftment of society. Nevertheless, the phenomena sometimes become highly counter productive when viewed against the following backdrop:
1. Religion in many ways promotes division and disunity in society because it manifests itself differently from one religion to another. Peoples
understanding of religion differs considerably hence the division of religion into various types: Christianity, Traditional Religion, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastranism, etc. Even believers of the same religion break further into different sects. For example, in Christianity, we have different denominations like the Orthodox Churches: Catholic, Anglican; the Protestants (Methodist, Presbyterian); the Pentecostals (Church of Pentecost, Assemblies of God) and the Charismatic churches (Calvary Charismatic Centre, International Central Gospel Church). All these divisions are based on doctrinal differences, which sometimes degenerate into unhealthy rivalry.
In Islam, the division is not different. We have the Al-Sunna, The Sunni, the Shiite and the Ahmaddiya movement even though they all profess to follow
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the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed and the Quran. In many ways, even within the same sect, the division may be based on saved and unsaved members. In fact, people do not see themselves as members of the same community but rather as members of a religious group. Such a position weakens the foundation of society even though the group may constitute just a small fraction of the community. 2. The non-empirical dimension of religion (i.e. the belief in forces outside the physical realm) does not only promote superstition but also militate against individual development initiative. In many cases, believers tend to depend very much on spiritual forces rather than on themselves to improve their lot. Instead of seeing life from a pragmatic point of view and work hard to improve themselves, they rely on these spiritual forces to seek answers to their problems. In fact, problems that need physical approach to solve are left to the forces of nature and the supernatural. This seriously undermines the development of the individuals lot and that of society at large. Believers usually may expect miracles in almost every single problem that confronts them without making the least effort to attempt a practical solution. 3. Most religious believers have a strong urge to achieve the ultimate goal of life: the Endless Bliss-heaven. This hereafter goal is cherished so much in the major religions in Ghana. (Christianity and Islam). This kind of belief in many ways compel believers to be completely submerged in their religious practices. This situation obviously weakens the spirit of we feeling in terms of statehood and patriotism since to these people heaven is their goal but not worldly things.
4. Again, some religious teachings and prohibitions run counter to national goals, aspirations and development. For example:
a) Members of the Jehovah witness sect do not participate in active politics and therefore do not run for political offices, their reason being
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that God Himself is the sovereign authority so they depend on Him for direction and instructions.
b) Traditional religion forbids work on certain days they consider as sacred. For example, in Ghana, fishing on the high seas is forbidden on Tuesdays. In most Asante communities, farming on Thursday is forbidden. The day is said to be a sacred day for the deity, Asaae Yaa (Mother Earth).
c) Prohibitions about food also abound in many places. For example, Muslims do not take pork. Believers of the Kwaku Fri shrine do not take water-yam (afase[) and the members of the Seventh Day Adventist do not take snails, crabs, and grass-cutter. There are many more such food prohibitions even though the above delicacies are of very high nutritional value for man.
d) In the practice of orthodox medicine, a Christian Church like the Catholic is against the use of contraceptive pills and other devices for the control of birth. The Jehovah Witnesses also do not take blood transfusion. All these positions run counter to health delivery effort in the society. 5. Religion also impacts negatively on productivity in the state considering the long periods believers spend in prayer and fasting including all night sessions in Christian Churches. Such long hours spent at these activities have a toll on such believers at their work places because of fatigue and it leads to low productivity. 6. Religion, furthermore, creates tension and conflicts among people who do not share the same faith. Fanaticism makes it difficult for religious bodies to tolerate other bodies. For example, quite recently a serious conflict erupted between a Christian religious body in Accra and the Ga traditional council
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over the observance of noise during the Homowo festival waiting. This does not augur well for social harmony. 7. Religion also retards maturation and human initiative. This happens when members rely on religious leaders and religious materials for direction in all aspects of human endeavour. Indeed, some believers have made their leaders tin-gods and cannot do anything without the direction of such leaders. This affects the total life of such believers and many such leaders take undue advantage of such people.
These are but some of the negative effects we can identify with religion. It is important to note, however that inspite of these problems associated with religion, it is still a very important part of human life. What is important however, is that we should allow it to be more beneficial to human existence because in some communities, people use religion as bases to violate human rights. E.g. ethnic cleansing as it is currently happening in the Darfur region in the Sudan. At this stage, it is important to consider the various components of religion. The components that form the core of religion.
COMPONENTS OF RELIGION
There are three main components of religion. These are creed, code and cult. Creeds: They are set of beliefs e.g. Apostle creed in Christianity, six articles of faith in Islam.
Code: This is about the behaviours or conduct of the believers. It defines the level and quality of relationship between believers and believers as well as between believers and their object of worship.
Cult: It is the practical dimension, which are the rituals people embark upon to give meaning to their faith. For instance worship, sacrifice, festivals etc.
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THE RELIGIOUS PERSON
Now that we know what religion is all about, let us try to find out who a religious person is. A religious person is anyone who accepts, believes and practices the faith of a particular religion. He or she is committed to the religious duties stipulated by the faith. The entire life of this person is tied to those beliefs and so he or she practices the faith in such a way that it affects his or her lifestyle. The religion influences his or her decisions, what he or she eats, what he or she wears and even the way he or she relates with others. What characteristics then should a religious person possess?
CHARACTERISTICS OF A RELIGIOUS PERSON 1. A religious person has faith in a superior being. The object of worship could be God, the gods or a non-empirical being who is said to possess special powers beyond that of human beings. 2. Such a person shows considerable amount of commitment to the superior power. He or she relies on this power for protection and sustenance. 3. The persons moral conduct is in accordance with the wishes of the object(s) of worship. 4. He or she observes the necessary rituals as an expression of his or her faith. 5. He or she also goes through the necessary initiation rites to attain full membership of a particular faith. 6. All his or her life, he or she practices the virtues espoused by that particular faith he or she belongs. 7. Furthermore, a religious person strives to live peacefully with others, even non-members of his faith.
8. Last but not least, a religious person is expected to hold high certain virtues that are cherished by the larger society. They include respect for elders, showing of gratitude, being hospitable and giving to charity.
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Dear student let us now discuss the concept of morality. B. THE CONCEPT MORALITY
WHAT IS MORALITY?
Like religion, it is not easy to define morality. The term confuses students a lot. Many define it to suit only one aspect but that should not be the case. From the Latin word MORES comes morality, which is the goodness or badness of human conduct. This quality of goodness or badness is determined in part by a code of rules according to which people ought to live and by which their conduct or actions are judged. In other words, morality is the standard or principle of behaviour that is based on what is right or wrong in a given society.
Morality consists generally of the traditions, values, customs and habits that are cherished by a given society. It is based on the quality of relationship that is expected to exist among people in a society. It therefore produces virtues like love, kindness, self-control, justice, hospitality, godliness etc and the vices that the society disapproves of such as stealing, cheating, insults, disrespect, envy, jealousy etc.
It is, however, important to note that morality involves the evaluation of the consequences of our actions for other people and their actions for us. Indeed, we cannot talk about morality as if it is a universal code of behaviour or code of rules of conduct, which is applicable to all societies. Every society, when it comes to morality has a way of development of code of behaviour suitable to its own needs, which also provides it with its stability.
One of the most stabilizing elements in any society is tradition, hence there is always a considerable amount of traditional content in morality, especially in the code of conduct which is designed for all members of the society irrespective of any special codes of conduct, which they choose to follow,
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because of the satisfaction it provides. W. K. Frankena, a well known authority on Moral Philosophy explains that Morality consist of judgements (rules, principles, ideas) that pronounce action to be good or bad, right or wrong, simply because of the effect they have on the feelings, interest, ideas, etc of other people or center of sentiment experience or perhaps simply because of their effect on humanity whether on his own person or that of another.
Frankena is here saying that morality is based on what society perceives as virtuous or vicious in so far as there is justifying explanation or motivating explanation for it. So that a person exercises his or her free action in so far as he or she is aware of the consequences that may follow the action.
He also asserts that morality involves a wide range of attitudes such as selfcontrol, tolerance, obedience, honesty etc. which are all society based. Such attitudes are known as moral values in the society. What then are moral values?
WHAT ARE MORAL VALUES?
All people throughout the world have cultures and these cultures are enshrined in rules. These rules become the values of the people. In morality, values are really important because it forms the bedrock of morality. It is true to assert that there can be no morality without values, since it serves as foundation of morality.
MEANING OF VALUE
From experience, one thing may attract or appeal to people while another thing may not. Value is that reason why something attracts a person and possesses its appealing power. To the Ewes of Ghana, the quality, which a thing has attracts people. The root meaning of value among the Ewe is asixoxo. Part of this word comes from the Ewe word asi which means, market. The other part of the word xoxo is the present participle of the verb to have (that is having).
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Therefore, literally, the Ewe word for value asixoxo means having market, in other words, attracting market. For a thing to attract market, it must have something in it that makes it worthy of being taken to the market for a price. The value of a thing therefore is in its usefulness; the ability to satisfy human beings. It is important to note that moral values may differ from one society to another. For example, what a particular society will accept as good, may be seen in another society as bad e.g. kissing and hugging someone in public is considered quite normal among Europeans but to most African communities, particularly in Ghana, it is regarded as immoral. There are, however, some forms of behaviour that are considered immoral irrespective of wherever you find yourself. e.g. bribery and corruption.
EXAMPLES OF MORAL VALUES
1. Honesty 2. Love 3. Tolerance 4. Patience 5. Kindness 6. Faithfulness 7. Humility 8. Obedience
9. Gratitude 10. Truthfulness 11. Generosity 12. Respect for authority 13. Trustworthiness 14. Self-control 15. Hospitality etc.
EXAMPLES OF IMMORAL BEHAVIOURS
1. Robbery 2. Bribery 3. Hatred 4. Cheating 5. Pride 6. Corruption
7. Murder 8. Selfishness 9. Greed 10. Deceit 11. Jealousy 12. Backbiting
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Finally, let us now move to examine the concept of Education. C. THE CONCEPT EDUCATION
WHAT IS EDUCATION?
Education, like religion and morality, is difficult to define. The concept of Education captures so many variables therefore a single definition cannot easily embrace all that the concept stands for. Various scholars have put many definitions forward. Let us look at a few of them. R. S. Peters in his Ethics and Education, (1966), defines education as an initiation into worthwhile pursuits. Peters believes that education concerns itself with initiating young people into What is worthwhile. He identifies the word worthwhile with specific modes of thought that creates awareness in the individual such as mathematics, science, religion, geography, etc. In effect, he seeks to imply that any educational programme that does not take into account factors like freedom from ignorance, provision of information and skill and above all, the development of appreciation for issues of life cannot be described as worthwhile. In this way Peters thinks that education should involve acquisition of knowledge, skills, understanding of concepts and ability to analyse critically and above all make informed choices. Again, education should be able to widen and deepen the cognitive perspective of a person in a unique way. However, it should be done in the atmosphere of freedom from indoctrination. R. C. Lodge also defines education as the experience of a living organism interacting with its normal environment. Lodges definition emphasizes the nature or experience people go through as they interact with their environment. It is expected that people will learn from the experiences they go through, either in school guided by the teacher or in the society. The hard facts of life and reality that leads to change in perception, modification of
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roles and actions and experiences that help to develop the physical, mental, emotional and social orientation of life can be said to be education. Farrant also describes education as the process of changing behaviour patterns of people by exposing them to a kind of knowledge, which is worthwhile and capable of achieving a voluntary and committed response from the learner.
Farrant by this definition is drawing our attention to the fact that when we provide education, the method we use should be such that we shall encourage the exercise of judgement by the learner so that the learners use of faculties can be explored.
By looking at the ideas expressed by the above authorities, we can describe education as the preparation of an individual for life. In other words, education is the total process of human learning by which knowledge is imparted, faculties trained, skills developed and behaviour changed.
From the above explanation, we mean that through education every society reproduces itself by passing on its values and nature to the next generation. Society uses education to preserve itself through its culture, belief systems, customs, conventions as well as traditions. It is the foundation of development and the cornerstone of all development effort. No country can develop without sound education hence its importance.
Education basically talks about understanding, knowledge, permanent change of behaviour, freedom of choice and Worthwhile Activity. Anything outside these elements are not promoting sound education. To talk about education therefore, there should be absence of indoctrination, drug, conditioning.
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Meaning of Education
Fig. 1.
Permanent change of behavior Knowledge
Education Education
Freedom of Choice
Worthwhile Activity
Understanding
Anti - Education Fig. II
Drugs
Indoctrination
Anti-Education
Without value
Conditioning
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The term education as we have seen from the above shows that human beings need to be guided so that they can fully grasp the meaning and purpose of life. One of the disciplines that is put in place to help in the realization of this goal is RELIGIOUS AND MORAL EDUCATION. What then are the meanings of this phrase.
WHAT IS RELIGIOUS EDUCATION?
Religious Education can be explained as the study of the beliefs and faiths of various religious groups in a scientific way. It aims at deepening and widening the individuals understanding of religious and moral issues so as to help society as well as individuals to make constructive judgements about the different religions. We should, however, note that the study of these religions in our academic institutions is not intended to win converts or adherents. The study is purely an academic pursuit or discipline and it should be seen as such.
WHAT IS MORAL EDUCATION?
Moral Education can also be explained as the study of thought, words and deeds which society approves or disapproves of in order that one may be able to distinguish between good and bad or right and wrong. It is a process of equipping someone with the knowledge that can help to determine the reasonableness of conduct, so as to make a person autonomous. In this case, the person can choose to do what is good because he knows it to be good and avoid wrong because he knows it to be wrong. Issues about moral education must be free from emotions, conditions, any form of authoritarian elements and without fear. Moral Education is not a matter of being instructed in the beliefs of someone but it aims at making one a moral agent and autonomous.
In this chapter we have looked at the three concepts: Religion, Morality and Education. We discussed Religion as a concept that make people recognize the existence of Supernatural forces and how they depend on them for spiritual development. We again discussed the role of religion as well as the
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disadvantages or problems associated with religion. We also saw morality as a concept that seeks to draw a line between good and bad behavior in a given society. Lastly, we discussed the concept of education which we said is a process through which a person is prepared for life.
Now we would like you to attempt the questions below to test the extent you have understood chapter one of this course.
The questions are divided into two: General questions and Questions for discussion. The general are testing quick recall which prepares you for the objective paper and the questions for discussion is for essay type exercise.
GENERAL QUESTIONS
1. Explain the term Religion in your own words. 2. State any two definitions of religion by two different scholars. 3. Identify the six dimensions of religion as given by Ninian Smart. 4. Mention three advantages / functions of Religion. 5. State three dysfunctions of Religion 6. List 5 characteristics of a religious person 7. Give a simple definition of morality. 8. What are moral values as given by the Ewe word asixoxo? 9. Mention six moral values cherished in the Ghanaian society. 10. State R. S. Peters definition of education. 11. How does R. S. Peters definition differ from indoctrination and conditioning? 12. Through what major means can we provide education? 13. List three components of Religion. 14. Explain the concept Religious and Moral Education. 15. What are the concepts involved in Religious and Moral Education?
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QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. (a) Discuss the importance of Religious and Moral Education to the socioeconomic development of Ghana (b) What problems confront us as a nation with a lot of emphasis on religion? 2. Advance a case for the need to keep Religious and Moral Education as part of the curriculum in Ghanaian schools. 3. (a) What are moral values? (b) Discuss the relevance of four of the values today. 4. Discuss the basic concepts involved in Religious and Moral Education. 5. Identify the three dimensions of religion and explain each one.
6. In what ways are the basic concepts in Religious and Moral Education (i) Similar (ii) different?
7. What are the pedagogical implications of our knowledge / understanding of the basic concepts in Religious and Moral Education?
8. What should be our approach to the teaching of the subject in light of our understanding and what the subject (Religious and Moral Education) is?
Congratulations! We hope you had no difficulty in going through this chapter. Keep it up as we meet in the next lesson.
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CHAPTER TWO
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGION AND MORALITY
Welcome, dear Student, to Chapter Two of this course. In the last chapter we had a look at the three basic concepts involved in Religious and Moral Education. We saw how the three concepts: Religion, Morality and Education work together to help society to preserve its values, traditions and culture and hand them over to their new generations. In this Chapter, we shall examine the relationship that exist between Religion and Morality and the various reasons why we should try to avoid the teaching of morality based on religion. We think that you will find this chapter even more interesting.
Before that, let us look at the objectives for this chapter.
By the end of this Chapter, you will be able to:
explain the difference between religion and morality. state the position of the three schools of thought on the relationship between religion and morality. explain four reasons why the teaching of morality should not be based on religion. state four characteristics of rationality. explain the relationship between morality and rationality.
With the above objectives in mind, let us read the chapter. Many people tend to think that there is very little difference between Religion and Morality. To these people the two concepts are bedfellows. This idea may be misleading since the two are considered different concepts. One may not need the other to exist; though both have goals of championing good behaviour. Let us look at situations where Religion may take primacy over morality and vice versa. Many reasons have been advanced for the premium of religion over
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morality and there are other schools of thought who also argue that morality takes precedence over religion.
PRECEDENCE OF RELIGION OVER MORALITY Prof. Asare Opoku thinks that morality is based upon some recognized authority whose sanctions are accepted and obeyed. He goes on to assert that generally, morality originates from religious consideration and it flows out of religion and through this the conduct of the individual is regulated; and any break of the moral codes is regarded as evil and punishable.
The truth in the above assertion lies in the fact that in African society in general, the norm of morality is determined directly in the belief in God. God is seen as the absolute norm of human conduct. It is believed that everyone is born with the knowledge of God and that God has put in us the idea of right and wrong to enable us discern for ourselves how best we can live peacefully with others. In this way, the norms or scriptures, be they oral or written dictates with great specificity the way man should relate with others in order to be just and what he must avoid in order to escape damnation. From this stand point, religion in African traditional society becomes the foundation of morality. God is the final authority in all matters as well as the final guardian of moral codes. Trusting in God and obeying his word becomes the most basic moral duty. So that a persons moral attitude is measured as moral or immoral depending upon the presence or absence of this recognition of God as source of morality.
The above idea has been debunked by some critics. They argue that when religion is used as the basis for morality, we are destroying morality since it sounds like no person can be good except he is religious. Three arguments are put forward: a) People are good naturally not because of religion. Many a man sees the need to be good to his neighbour not because of religion. When we tie morality to religion, this good man may be seen as an obedient servant doing his masters will.
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b) One argument we can put across is that God as an ethical or moral obligation. To them, any true religion seeks to fulfil ones ethico-juridical obligations towards the gods. Hence, during the period of Jesus Christ, it was realised that the Pharisees had reduced the Jewish faith into a meticulous fulfillment of the letter of the law. This means that, the Jewish religion was reduced to a state of dead codes. By implication, therefore, ethical standards were used as the key to salvation. Religion was conceived in accordance with ethical principles in relationship with God. c) When we go by the above argument, we shall be dividing man and create one morality for believers and another for those who either do not know or who refuse to accept Gods law which is unacceptable.
PRECEDENCE OF MORALITY OVER RELIGION
Another school of thought also emphasizes the precedence of morality over religion. They think that religion should be totally rejected or be made to play a second fiddle to morality. They consider the concept of morality as an independent, autonomous philosophical reflection on human behaviour. They contend that even though religion can be retained when we are discussing morality, it should play a subsidiary role. They strongly assert that in the past, religion was considered basically as an ethical or moral obligation. To them, any true religion seeks to fulfil ones ethico-juridical obligations towards the gods. Hence, during the period of Jesus Christ, it was realised that the Pharisees had reduced the Jewish faith into a meticulous fulfillment of the letter of the law. This means that, the Jewish religion was reduced to a state of dead codes. By implication, therefore, ethical standards were used as the key to salvation. Religion was conceived in accordance with ethical principles in relationship with God.
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AUTONOMOUS MORALITY
A third school of thought contends that morality should be seen essentially as an autonomous concept. They see morality as the product of social agreement rather than sacred and unchangeable laws. This position agrees with the process of socialization and the use of scientific methods of investigation. From this perspective, there is a shift in position of the man who once sought to be justified before God, to the position of one who strives for justification only in himself. He now depends on his own conscience to justify his actions. He becomes his own judge and rejects God and religion since they are a stumbling blocks to the perfection of mans ethical being.
It is important to mention here that those who argue for autonomous morality have questioned the basing of the teaching of morality on religion as it pertains in the educational system in Ghana. They question the rationale for using the main religions in Ghana (Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religion) as bases for the teaching of morality since morality does not need religion to exist.
What then are the reasons why it is unacceptable to base Moral Education on Religion?
WHY THE TEACHING OF MORAL EDUCATION SHOULD NOT BE BASED ON RELIGION A modern method of teaching has drawn our attention to certain dangers that are inherent in basing the teaching of morality on religion. Below are some of the arguments that have been advanced to buttress this position.
1. Religion has to do with faith whilst morality deals with facts. A religious person accepts the teachings, ethics and practices of a particular religion. That person is expected to fashion his life on the teachings of that religion. The leaders of the religion can sanction any conduct, which is contrary to the teachings of that religion. The action may even be considered as a sin.
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Morality, on the other hand generally deals with ethical standards set by the larger society, which is not based on the teachings of any particular religion. In fact, society draws a line between acceptable and unacceptable behaviours. The acceptable behaviour patterns are meant to shape the life and conduct of the people in the society irrespective of the existing religion the individuals profess. Indeed, morality seeks to enforce the practice of good behaviour without using religion as the standard. It is therefore not right to use religion as the bases for morality.
2. Many people are morally upright though they may not be religious or may even reject religion altogether. Even though they may have no contact with any religion, they live very responsible and upright life. They also contribute significantly to the good of their community; their total life may be worthy of emulation. Inspite of all these virtues, such people may not associate with any religion. Thus, when we base the teaching of morality on religion, we shall be restricting the scope of morality to a religion. In fact the two are not the same.
3. Morality is based primarily on desire for peace and harmony in the society. It thrives on mutual respect for the rules of society. It also thrives on the acceptance of the ethical standards instituted by the society. People who desire cohesion and sustainability of society in harmony always ensure they do not flout the rules but act according to the standard behaviour. This is done not because of a persons religious belief.
4. Again, our moral understanding must be such as would adjust to changing social circumstances to meet new moral problems and modify our principles to deal with them. Religious rules do not lend it self to changes and therefore cannot be modified, but the rules of morality are dynamic and therefore can be changed. So the teaching of moral education should not be based on religion.
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5. Also, society is dynamic whilst religion is static. The main purpose of education is to provide the individual with control over all aspects of his or her environment, which is fast changing. However, the most important and yet most difficult adjustments to make, are adaptations to changing moral values, especially those based on religion.
6. Basing morality or moral education on religion may mean that students or learners will be taught what to think to solve a problem, as it is so in religion. For example, a religion may tell you that if one slaps you on the left cheek, turn the right cheek as well. In moral education, it is not so because, it will invite students critical appraisal of such issues, that is to evaluate the issues themselves. So when we do not base moral education on religion, it will help students to engage in the kind of thinking necessary to help them reach sound conclusions. In fact if the approach to the teaching of religion is to be open-minded and liberal, then the students should be encouraged to make up their minds on religious issues, that is, either to accept or reject religious doctrines. If students decide to reject religion, it will result in the rejection of morality since the two have been tied together and it will have very serious consequences to the individual and society as a whole.
7. Furthermore, we should realise that human beings by nature are dynamic beings in charge of their own destiny. Human beings are responsible for their actions and bear the consequences of those actions. This make human beings unique beings and give them the right to make their personal decisions, as has been stressed in modern times. This is in sharp contrast to the old abandoned context of human being acting as a passive being whose life was shaped and guided by inanimate forces of religion. Moral Education, thus, enable people to do their own moral thinking rather than encourage them to conform to an externally imposed moral code whose basis is religion.
8. The teaching of morality is not based on the historical facts of religion, which can be verified, but on the doctrinal aspects. For example in religion we have
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imperative like God said, Jesus commanded Mohammed Commanded, etc. these are tools that are used to establish faith; the divine authority is always invoked. This approach tends to discourage open and critical approach to knowledge, which is the essence of education. Thus, if we cannot justify the teaching of doctrinal aspects of religion, then we cannot justify the moral teachings that are based on them. 9. It is also important to stress that we cannot base moral education on religion because many a time, when man is faced with moral decision, the action he takes is not based on the teaching of a religion but is based on his own moral judgement. It is based on his conscience something in him, which is even deeper than religion itself..
10. Another important point is about social change, coupled with increased advancement in science and technology. These factors have brought about a lot of transformation in life and have raised very serious moral questions for which tradition is incapable of providing ready made answers. We are confronted with problems about same sex-marriages, issues about blood transfusion, use of contraceptives, invitro-fertilization, liver transplant, etc. All these have raised new moral problems. In Ghana, there is an increased worry about indiscipline, moral decadence, teenage pregnancies and many more. The answers we give to these issues may be tied to improved technological advancement. Day in and out, we need to adopt or adjust our value systems to those new changes. Religion does not give room to their followers to practice such scientific and technological advancements.
11. It must also stressed that as a pluralistic society Ghana boasts of three main religions. Each of the three religions have a good following and also have well developed ethics which are sometimes different from others. To base morality on Religion therefore raises the question as to which of the three religions should be used as the basis for morality. For example, Muslims practice polygamy while Christians practice monogamy so which of the two should we base morality on. To forestall any confusion in our context,
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morality should not be based on religion. The question is which of the religions should we base the teaching of morality on?
12. Last but not least, the teaching of moral education calls for autonomous morality whilst in religion it is authoritarian morality. There are specific instructions that should be followed by believers. Such instructions are seen as commandments from God or His representatives. This made morality in religion an authoritarian morality. However, authoritarian morality should not be acceptable because it denies the individual the right to choose his own beliefs, moral principles and behaviour, in line with his own thinking. To ensure autonomous morality therefore, one must reject any kind of authority including religious commandments and injunctions. Morality should be based on self-decision and appraisal. What then is relationship between reason and morality? What is the criterion by which to know or assess that a person is morally upright?
13. It may lead to indoctrination.
RATIONALITY (REASON) AND MORALITY Rationality or reason plays a major role in morality. It is mans ability to reason; to think rationally; to distinguish other members from the animal kingdom. Reason is the ability to act purposefully while at the same time being able to consider the consequences and the alternatives, which constitute in part what it means to be moral. Briefly, it is because the human being can reason that they are said to be moral agents. In other words, human beings ability to reason is that which makes him or her moral being. Man controls the environment knowing the consequences that follow his action. To merit that right description, anybody of knowledge or understanding must have coherence (one of the characteristics of rationality is coherence). When coherence is measured against whatever test and is regarded as appropriate, it can be described as rationality.
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Rationality requires that anybody of knowledge or of sets of beliefs must be internally coherent and consistent. A claim to rationality therefore requires at the very least respect for internal coherence and logic. Secondly, the notion of rationality requires that our thinking can be generalized or seen as universally based on our experiences. For example, in order to act purposefully, we must make choices, and to do that, we need to be able to calculate the possible consequences of the different options open to us. These calculations can be made with reference to the experiences we have had and can only be based on general conclusion those experiences made us to make e.g. Because you work with a female secretary, you think her body is yours. Does it mean your wife is also somebodys property? This is irrationality so it is not generalized. Thirdly, to make any universal assertion for which one wishes to claim a rational, one should produce reasoning for that assertion or evidence of appropriate kind in support of it. The ability to produce appropriate evidence or reason is very crucial to the claim of the truth of that assertion.
Fourthly, there is the need for reason or evidence to be tested in public for the standard of coherence to be acceptable. If we wish to claim that a particular argument is rational, we must be prepared to have it tested by the public through the criteria verification of rationality. If it satisfies our personal criteria, it will be example of rationalization and not rationality.
CHARACTERISTICS OR FEATURES OF RATIONALITY
Coherence
Generalization
Rationality Rationality
Public acclamation/Verification
Appropriate
Evidence
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In this chapter we have discussed the relationship between religion and morality. Among other things we stated that the two concepts are different and so each one can exist without the other. We examined the various arguments in this connexion. We also discussed the reasons why the teaching of morality should not be based on religion and the kind of problems that will crop up if we did so. Finally, we examined the relationship that exist between rational thinking and morality; the extent reason constitutes the basis of morality and the features of rationality. Now, turn your attention to the activities designed to test your understanding of the Chapter.
GENERAL QUESTIONS
1. In a sentence, give one reason why religion should take precedence over morality. 2. What is autonomous morality? 3. Give two instances we can demonstrate autonomous morality. 4. Mention four reasons why the teaching of morality should not be based on religion. 5. State four characteristics of rationality? 6. What is the relationship between rationality and morality? 7. In what three ways can we ensure rationality in decision making?
1. Can there be morality without Religion? Discuss. 2. (a) Discuss the relationship between Religion and Morality. (b) What are the implications if the latter is based on former? 3. State and explain four reasons why the teaching of Morality should not be based on Religion. 4. To what extent can we say that proper morality is dependent on Religion? Congratulations! We hope you did not find the chapter too difficult. Keep it up and see you.
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CHAPTER THREE
SOURCES FOR THE STUDY OF RELIGIOUS AND MORAL EDUCATION
Dear Student, you are welcome to Chapter Three of the course. In the last chapter, we discussed the relationship between morality and religion and why it is unacceptable to base the teaching of morality on religion. We also examined the link between reasoning (rationality) and morality.
In this chapter, we are moving into a new area of study: the sources for the study of religious and moral education. We shall examine the concept of morality as a religious phenomenon and as a social phenomenon. This is important because once again, scholars are divided on this issue. The next area of discussion will be the sources of morality as they pertain in the three major religions in Ghana: Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religion. We shall finally examine those sources of morality which are not based on religion and are described as non-religious sources.
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
state two reasons why morality is a religious phenomenon.
explain one reason why morality can be seen as a social phenomenon. identify and explain four sources of morality in Christianity. show two measures Christians employ to ensure application of these sources. explain three sources of morality in Islam and methods of
implementation. identify three moral sources in ATR and explain each one of them.
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describe
three
structures
secular
society
uses
to
ensure
the
implementation of moral principles. You are welcome once again. Read on ... Scholars hold various views as to what determines morality. To some scholars, the source of morality is religion. Morality, to others is derived from human society-thus they hold the view that morality is nothing more than a social phenomenon. Another school of thought also thinks that morality is a product of common sense (conscience). Aside these postulations, we can identify other non-religious or secular institution and structures that can also be considered as sources of morality. The home and the school are yet another important source of morality. Let us discuss them one after the other.
MORALITY AS A RELIGIOUS PHENOMENON
We have already drawn attention to the idea that many scholars hold the view that religion is the source of morality. So to study Religious and Moral Education, we cannot ignore the concept of religion. To Prof. Asare Opoku, morality emanates from religion. He writes, morality is based upon some recognised authority whose sanctions are accepted and obeyed. He continued that generally, morality originates from religious consideration and it flows out of religion and through this, the conduct of individuals is regulated; and any break of moral codes is regarded as evil and punishable.
The three principal religions in Ghana have the concept of morality permeating them all. The religions have the concept deeply seethed in them to the extent that the believers are very conscious of those acts that are considered as right or wrong, good or bad, acceptable or unacceptable to the respective religions. The behaviour of the believer, as a Christian, a Muslim and a Traditionalist is shaped and judged according to the basic teachings of those religions. When a behaviour is contrary to the teaching of any of the religions, it is considered a sin and immoral.
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MORALITY AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON
The society is considered another important source of morality. Every society has developed a code of behaviour that it considers suitable to its needs and aspirations. Through the codes of behaviour, the society provides itself with stability. As every society develops, the people gradually provide for themselves certain codes or regulations, which are used as yardsticks to measure the conduct or behaviour of members. The general code of conduct designed by the society may be supported by justifying explanations or by motivating explanations. The justifying explanation is based on reason showing that the consequences of obeying the code of rules is in accordance with the requirements of reasons. The motivating explanation gives the individual a reason for doing what the rules demand because it is in his own interest to do so. Members of the society may follow the rules of morality Thinkingly or unthinkingly. If they follow the rules thinkingly, they do so because, having analyzed the rules, they find that there is a justification for their existence. Such people understand the thinking, which prompted others to formulate the rules. The behaviour of people who follow the rules unthinkingly is as a result of series of habits, which have developed from habituated responses. For them, it is easier to obey the code of rules automatically than it is to analyse them and determine whether or not it is reasonable to obey them.
All said and done, what is important here is that whether people follow the code or rules thinkingly or unthinkingly, we arrive at the same idea that morality, morals and moral codes are all concerned with one primary objective namely the establishment of good life. For the members of society in general, unless society is governed by absolute values, the moral codes will not be based on such stringent demand. Nevertheless, the primary concern is still the good life and which form of conduct contributes towards it and which do not. Thus, when we talk of morality we are referring to moral values that become recognized as basis for judging what is acceptable or unacceptable in a particular society.
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Society therefore is another important source when we are studying Religious and Moral Education.
Having given the background, let us try to summarize the sources of morality in a diagram form.
SOURCES OF MORALITY
Religious source
Non-religious sources
Christianity
Islam
African Traditional Religion
Home
School Constitution U.N Charter
Community Bye-laws
Now let us consider the sources of morality as we have them in the three major religions in Ghana; namely Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religion.
SOURCES OF MORALITY IN CHRISTIANITY
Morality in Christianity is based on a well-defined belief system. The foundation is laid on the principle that a persons behaviour is measured on ones obedience of the word of God and the way God expects one to live. Again, Christians have the conviction that their life is guided by the belief in Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, who died to save humankind, thereby making man acceptable to God once again. In the light of this, Christians model their behaviour on what Jesus did and taught when he was on earth. Christians also belief in the Holy Spirit which is considered the third element of Christendom which guides and prevents one from doing what is wrong (bad) which is called a Sin and leads one to do what is good morally in Christian terms.
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Indeed, the concept of morality in Christianity is built on a solid foundation, which is embedded in the Holy Scriptures (the Holy Bible) and what it contains. Various tenets take their source from the teaching of the Holy Bible. Let us now consider these sources as they stand out. They include the following:
1. Belief in the Ten Commandments 2. The work of the Prophets 3. Belief in the Life and teaching of Jesus Christ 4. The writings of the Apostles and 5. The beliefs in the (Judgment Day) end times (a) THE TEN COMMANDMENTS: The Ten Commandments in the Old Testament, which is referred to as the Decalogue or Torah in Judaism is an important source to moral conduct in Christianity. It is divided mainly into two parts. The first part talks about the relationship that exists between man and God. The second part deals with the relationship that exists between man and his fellow human being. The Ten Commandments were given to Israelites by God through the Prophet Moses and they can be found in Exodus Chapter 20:12 17. They come in the form of orders or laws, by which Christians are to conduct themselves. The first part of the Commandments which deals with mans relationship with God are as follows: 1. I am the Lord your God and you must have no God other than me. 2. You must not make any graven image, you must not bow down to them or worship them. 3. You must not use the name of the Lord your God in vain. 4. You must keep the Sabbath and make it Holy
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MORAL TEACHINGS FROM THE FIRST FOUR COMMANDMENTS
1. The first commandment forbids the worship of other gods other than God. He only is to have veneration among Christians. Christianity teaches the existence of only one God, the creator of everything, the source of justice, who is equally powerful and who is human in form but cannot be seen by human eye and cannot be represented in any form. This commandment teaches about loyalty to God. 2. The Second Commandment forbids the making and worship of images. The reason is that God is a spiritual Being and must not be represented by anything material. The law goes on to stress that God is a jealous God who will tolerate no encroachment on His right to His people who worship Him. 3. The third commandment does not prohibit the taking of oaths but rules out any misuse of Gods name as in perjury, and making vows and not keeping them. 4. The forth commandment enjoin Christian to keep the seventh day as a Holy Day, which is a festival when worship and sacrifices are offered to God. On this day, the community is expected to cease from work and take a rest after offering worship to God. Rest is good for the body and soul. The second parts of the commandments are basically moral stipulations that are expected to be followed religiously. These are mans obligations to his fellow man. They are: 5. Honour your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you. 6. You shall not kill 7. You shall not commit adultery 8. You shall not steal 9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour. 10. You shall not covert your neighbours house, his wife, or his servant or his maidservant or his Ox or his ass or anything that belongs to someone
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else. MORAL TEACHINGS FROM THE LAST SIX COMMANDMENTS The 5th commandment enjoins us to respect our parents. The importance attached to this obligation is by the position the word occupies. Duty towards parents is the most binding obligation after duty towards God, and it partakes the nature of piety. The commandment is not only addressed to children but also, and perhaps rather to those of any age who have parents. Especially are the aged and weak parents to be respected and cared for. For the rewards which are attached to the regard of the commandment is that your days may be long. You here refers both to the individual and the nation because a sound national life depends on a sound family.
The 6th, 7th and 8th Commandments:
The above three commandments hold the three pillars upon which society rest: the sacredness of human life, the sanctity of marriage and the right to possess property. The 6th commandment is a moral code that prohibits killing or murder. This, however, does not include the killing of animals, killing people in war and capital punishment. Jesus commandment of this is in Matthew 5:21-26. The seventh commandment refers to sin with another persons wife or husband. It outlaws illegal sexual relationship with someone. The penalty for the breach of this law is death. (Lev. 20:10, Deut. 22:22).
The eighth commandment deals with contentment of what one has and avoiding taking things that belong to other people which you do not rightfully own.
The 9th commandment: This commandment prohibits perjury in the law courts. This commandment is extended to include injuring a persons good name by making false statements about him generally. This is to ensure that people do not spread falsehood or tales about other people. It includes defamation of character, backbiting, rumour mongering etc.
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The 10th Commandment: This commandment also again emphasizes contentment; not desiring to possess by foul or unfair means something that does not belong to you but belongs to someone else.
(b) THE WORK OF THE PROPHETS Israel as a nation among whom the Christian Prophets emerged was the chosen people of Yahweh (God). These prophets were regarded as persons through whom God speaks. They regarded themselves as messengers, so from them we learn what it means for God to speak to man. They concerned themselves more importantly with the evil and deteriorating situations of their time. They represented the conscience of Israel. The importance of the work and writings of the Prophets have taken the centre stage in Christianity where man is called upon to return to God through his Son Jesus Christ. In their work, they harped or spoke against the social injustice and corruption among the Israelite community. They also ensured that people in political position like the Kings and queens did not use their position to cause misery on the common people. A classic example is Prophet Nathan, who pointed out the injustice King David visited upon Uriah. Prophet Amos also criticized vehemently the economic injustice where peasant farmers were exploited by the use of scales. All these materials are sources of morality for Christians. Other such moral prophets include Ezekiel, Hosea, Elijah, Jeremiah and Elisha.
(c) THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF JESUS CHRIST
The life and teaching of Jesus Christ is also a major source of morality for Christians. Jesus spent a lot of his time in his ministry teaching about the Kingdom of God, the Judgement Day, Heaven, Relationships, virtues, etc. He taught a lot of things about the way Christians are
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expected to live and behave. The Sermon on the Mount, which appears in Matthews Gospel, is regarded by many people as an excellent material that contains the core of Jesus moral teachings. Among the areas that Jesus touched on the Sermon on the Mount is the life that God expects those who belong to Him to lead. Examples of such virtues espoused are meekness, humility, hospitality, justice, brotherliness, righteousness, forgiveness, patience, godliness, etc. Jesus in his attempt to bring nature of the Kingdom of God to the ordinary man told a lot of parables. These parables touched on living upright life that will earn one a place in the Kingdom, which will be established through Jesus Christ. (d) THE WRITINGS OF THE APOSTLES: The entire pieces of writing that constitutes the New Testament of the Holy Bible provides a lot of material on morality for Christians. These books were written by various people who were either eye witnesses of Jesus and his exploits while others also relied on the evidence that was available from the Apostles. The primary objective of these writings was to provide material that was to guide the life of Christians and the early Churches that were established by the apostles and the missionaries. The books were primary written to preach the virtues that Christ sought to champion. Moral concept like forgiveness, right conduct, obedience, charity, generosity and good neighbourliness are all emphasized in the writings. The writings of St. Paul especially, sought to draw a line between what is good or bad and what is permissible or not in the life of a Christian. So Pauls letters served as moral instruction to the churches that were established and they all later became morally instructive for all Christians.
(e) BELIEFS IN THE (JUDGEMENT DAY) END-TIMES Christians also belief strongly in the Day of judgement where God will in His power separate the good from the bad. A lot has been written in the Book of Revelation (written by John) that talks in detail about the second coming of Jesus Christ during which mankind would be judged. The
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judgement will climax in the good enjoyment of Endless Bliss while sinners will be thrown into eternal fire of hell. This writing is considered the last word of God to Christians and it is seriously cherished by all Christian believers. The book is a constant reminder for the performance of good deeds. SOURCES OF MORALITY IN ISLAM
The standards acceptable to Islam and therefore seen as source of study of Religious and Moral Education are wide and varied. They constitute the fundamental priorities every Muslim should know and live by. The sources are as follows: 1. Belief in Allah (God) as source of morality 2. Belief in the Holy Quran as source of Morality 3. Belief in the Pillars of Islam as source of Morality 4. The Hadith Literature 5. Ijma 6. Qiyas 7. Belief in the day of Judgement
(A) BELIEF IN ALLAH (GOD) The first source of morality in Islam is the belief in Allah (God) the creator and sustainer of the universe who fully knows the thoughts, motives and the innermost feeling of the hearts of all men. As the foundation of morality, the accepted standard comprises faith and purity in the sight of Almighty Allah. Total submission to the will of Allah implies living ones life on his word and instruction. (B) BELIEF IN THE HOLY QURAN AS SOURCE OF MORALITY The Holy Quran which is the Holy Scripture of Islam is another source of morality in Islam. The Quran is said to be the only extant book every word of which is fully authentic and exactly as revealed to the Holy Prophet Mohammed. It is thus unadulterated or has not suffered from any manipulation. This view about the Quran is the basis for the Muslims
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acceptance of it and so strictly adhere to all the teachings therein and make sure that he does not go against any of the teachings. The dictates of the scripture serve as the foundation for morality in Islam.
(C) BELIEF IN THE PILLARS OF ISLAM AS SOURCE OF MORALITY Islam as a religion is built upon five fundamental tenets (Pillars). The Prophet Mohammed did not institute either an organised priesthood or any sacrament, but he did prescribe several practical religious duties, which serve as source of moral behaviour for Muslims, hence the following tenets: (i) An unqualified assertion that there is no creator, sustainer or power except Allah; and that Mohammed is His Prophet and the transmitter of His message to mankind. (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) Proper and due performance of the prescribed salat. The due payment of the Zakat. The due observation of fasting in the month of Ramadan. And the performance of the Hajj by all Muslims who are capable of doing so at least once in a life time. (D) THE HADITH LITERATURE AND THE SUNNA AS SOURCE OF MORALITY The Hadith is the record of the preachings and sayings of the Prophet Mohammed revered and received as a major source of religious and moral guidance, which is second only to the authenticity of the Holy Quran. It contains all the teaching, preaching, decision and actions of the Prophet throughout his prophetic career. The statements were compiled by his companions to serve as a model for all Muslims. Muslims therefore place a high premium on it. The virtues that are espoused therein include having faith, love one another, do good, cheer people up, do not covert wealth, take care of the elderly, respect the views of the elders, treat your children equally, give up hatred, be
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modest, visit the sick, etc. The Sunna is another literature, which talks about the traditions and practices of the Prophet. The ways the Prophet did his things and went about his physical activities are recorded in this document and it serves as a guide to Muslims when it comes to behaviour. (E) IJMA The Ijma is made up of the consensus of opinion of Islamic lawyers of the highest order. Such consensus building effort then becomes a yardstick in measuring and deciding matters relating to human conduct.
(F) QIYAS The Qiyas consists of logical deductions made by the companions of the Prophet Mohammed and early followers of Islam. In matters where the Holy Quran was inexplicable and where the Hadith could not help in decision-making or judgements, the companions used their own conscience by drawing analogy from the principles embodied in the Holy Quran. Sometimes too, they arrived at certain decisions or judgements by following the concessions or opinion of the Muslim Community. Decisions and judgements, which were made out of logical deductions, also became a source of morality in Islam. (G) BELIEF IN THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT Islam as a religion believes in the day of judgement. To Muslims, life in this world is essentially a test life to enable man as a vice-regent of Allah to bring out the best in him. The ultimate results of this test life are to be given after it is over. The day on which the individual will be judged in the Day of Judgement is the basic idea of Islam preached by all the previous prophets and finally and deeply underlined by the last of them, Mohammed. The expectation or certainty of receiving rewards for good deeds and punishment for evil actions is the most potent factor for determining mans conducts, hence a source of morality in Islam.
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SOURCES OF MORALITY IN AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION
Even though scholars hold various views as to what determines morality, to African Traditional believers, morality has its foundation in the religion. Religious and communal sanctions as well as customs in traditional life in general, exert a lot of influence on the thinking and life of the African. In traditional societies, religious sanctions, which constitute punishment for non-conformity, are derived from the Supreme Being (God), the gods, and the ancestors. The communal sanctions include taboos and prohibitions, customs and traditions and social norms. Yet still, the influence of proverbs, wise sayings, folktales and songs are also means of building moral standards. Lastly, conscience (common sense) is another means that enables traditional societies to derive morality.
Let us examine all these determinants one after the other:
a) BELIEF IN THE SUPREME BEING (GOD) AS A SOURCE OF MORALITY: In African Traditional societies (where there are no atheists) God is held to be the source of all moral values. It is believed that everyone is born with the knowledge of God. It is also believed that as a creator, God has put in us the idea of right and wrong to enable us to discern for ourselves how best we can live peacefully with one another. God is considered to be all-powerful and present everywhere. He is the searcher of human heart. He sees and knows everything and his judgement is sure and absolutely inescapable. The traditional African knows God to be a God who dislikes evil or sin, who loves but can be very angry. To the Yoruba, God is the active but silent judge (Olurun Adekadajo). The Akan proverb Onyame mp[ b]ne (God is against evil) shows the nature of God, and what He demands of His creatures. To the traditional believer, God is the final authority in all matters as well as the final guardian of the moral codes. This is illustrated in the Akan proverb, Onyame b[di masem ama me (God will act as my judge).
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These ideas, about God influence the lives of the people to behave in a way acceptable to the Supreme Being and the Community at large.
B) BELIEF IN LESSER OR SMALLER GODS AS A SOURCE OF MORALITY: In African Traditional Religion, the gods are closely associated with Moral Values, breach of which is treated with high handedness by the gods. Breach of moral values alienates the doer and it affects his or her spiritual state. To Evans Pritchard, the uncleanness caused by sin (bad behaviour) is not simply a physical impurity but it is also a spiritual state. For this reason, any act of indecency alienates ones object of worship creating a vast spiritual vacuum which in turn will be filled by evil and dangerous spiritual powers. The curse brought about by wrong doing plagues the physical body, which is the vehicle of the spiritual nature of man. In the period of alienation, the victim will suffer misfortunes, sicknesses and calamities. Until the offender takes the necessary steps to appease the gods, he or she will know no peace. Divine prohibitions that are highly condemned in African Traditional Religion among offenders include adultery, incest and murder. Among the Anlos, an adherent should not commune with the object of worship especially at the shrine within twenty-four hours after having sex if the stain is not ceremonially removed. Among the Akans, Asaase Yaa (the spirit of the Earth), is considered highly sacred and therefore they forbid among other things wanton spilling of blood, incestuous practices, suicide, cohabitation in the bush, burying a dead pregnant woman without an autopsy to extract the unborn child from the womb. Such acts considered as Mmusuo (acts that bring disaster or cause misfortune) also include homicide, poisoning, stealing farm produce, etc. It must be emphasized that some African Traditional gods are known to be against acts that are anti-social. For instance, witchcraft, sorcery and backbiting are considered anti-social behaviours and culprits are made to confess their crimes at various shrines of the gods. Those who refuse to
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confess are often struck with illness and even death. The fears of the gods in society make people behave well. C) BELIEF IN THE ANCESTORS AS A SOURCE OF MORALITY: Another source of moral behaviour among African societies is the belief in the ancestors. The ancestors are spiritual powers who led physical exemplary lives on earth and are believed to still take active interest in the affairs of men. As guardians of morality, matters affecting the community are referred to them for sanctions and judgement. As ancestors they had laid down the customs and traditions of the society. They are therefore believed to be constantly watching over their living relatives. Their main concern is with the effective discharge of moral obligations. The Mendes of Sierra Leone believe that the ancestors are always ready to punish those who take advantage of the handicapped especially the blind. Those who fulfil their moral obligations receive the help and blessings of the ancestors. It is a belief that the ancestors punish the wrong doers with impotency, infertility, drought, famine etc and reward the good ones with bumper harvest, fertility, long life etc.
d) BELIEF IN TABOOS :
As inducement to keeping rules of society, some of the rules considered to be more serious have been made into taboos and the violation of these rules is seen as an offence more against the gods, ancestors and the Supreme Being. Violations of these ethical rules, therefore, are said to be rather dangerous not only to the violator but also to the entire community. Since violation of taboos bring evil consequences to the whole society, every member of the community has the duty to see to it that any individual whether a relative or not observes them. For example, if a person works on the farm on a forbidden day, he or she is considered to have committed an abominable offence that will bring disaster to the
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entire community. For this reason, it is the concern of every one to see to the keeping of taboos. Another commonly known taboo among the Akans is whistling in the night because it may bring punishment. It is believed that the gods and ancestors who are the protectors of the community are in town to perform their duty as guards so whistling disturbs them and gets them annoyed. Again, having sexual relations in the bush or on the bare floor is an abominable act. To the traditional African, sex is sacred and its commission must be done with due care and respect. The forest (bush) is the dwelling place of the gods; the ground is a sacred goddess, thus to have sex in the bush implies the land is being defiled. This can render it infertile, which can lead to famine. In short, taboos are seen as divine prohibitions, the breach of which is sin against the spiritual powers and the community in general.
e) CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS: Another important source of morality is the customs and traditions of a particular society. In Akan land for instance, children are responsible for their fathers coffin and burial. Inheritance and succession are based on matrilineal system. To go against this rule is a violation, which is punishable and may even result in death (in the olden days). According to Margaret field, the notion of goodness among the Ga of Ghana means in short keeping the customs.. What has been the practise in the society from time immemorial is taken as right and what has been avoided is wrong. In his book, Akan Doctrine of God, J. B. Dankwah says tradition determines what is right and just, what is good and bad. For example, it is the custom of the Ga and Fante not to go to the sea on Tuesdays. Violators do so at their own risk. Ancestors and the gods who established those customs punish those who break them or fail to fulfil their obligations to their kinsmen by not giving them proper burial rites.
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f) SOCIAL NORMS: Norms that the community have established also help to determine morality or human conduct. Such norms may be based on the communitys own convictions and experiences in which the individual share. The norms of the society may include respect for the aged or elders, generosity, hospitality, etc. In the traditional society, any violation of these social norms constitutes sin and it may be punishable. g) INFLUENCE OF PROVERBS, WISE SAYINGS AND FOLKTALES: Proverbs and wisesayings are also regarded as sources of morality. Virtues are couched into proverbs or are expressed in the form of folk tales with morals attached to it. The proverbs may serve as prescription for actions or acts as judgments in times of moral lapses. For example, during an argument a proverb can be cited to settle the dispute, i.e. When we love each other we do not argue. Proverbs are believed to have been handed down by the ancestors to whom we owe our communal experience and wisdom. Kindness and generosity are values worthy of pursuit and are expressed in many proverbial sayings. For instance, people who have been injured by others are often persuaded not take revenge with the proverb Commit your case to God to champion and rest your chin in your hand in expectation. Proverbs and wise-sayings help to regulate the life of the individual in the society.
WAYS OF FULFILLING COMMITMENT TO THE MORAL INSTRUMENTS/SOURCES All the religions in Ghana strive to encourage their followers to remain committed to the moral instruments we have identified. In their preachings and everyday interactions, the adherents are enjoined to follow religiously those moral guidelines. Commitment to these instruments are expressed in the following ways:
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1. Financial support:
To show commitment to the moral instruments, it is expected that adherents would support the growth of their religious traditions with their money which should be extended to the welfare of members of the religion. This should be done as a moral obligation as contained in the teachings of the religions.
2. Judicious use of time:
In fulfilling the requirements of the moral instruments, believers are expected to apportion their time judiciously so that they can be available for regular meetings to learn more about these moral obligations. They are to expend time studying the scriptures and living by their teachings.
3. Self-control or Self-discipline:
Self-control or discipline is a hallmark of every religious tradition even though some people may be seen as extremists in their religious faiths. As a matter of fact, all the three religions in their teachings emphasise the need for self-control by their adherents even in the face of extreme provocation. Very high moral standards are expected of religious persons and so the moral sources of the religions lay premium on self-control and discipline failure of which the believer is sanctioned by the authorities.
4. Exercise of strong faith:
The exercise of faith is a central component of every religion. For this reason, believers are expected to exercise very strong faith in the expression of beliefs including moral aptitudes. Seeking protection from God or higher authorities at all times shows commitment to moral instruments. Many a believer fulfils these moral obligations by depending on God and the spiritual forces to derive meaning in life through living in accordance with the wishes of ones object of worship.
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5. Guidance and Counselling:
A believer shows commitment to the moral instruments by seeking guidance and counselling at all times from the leadership of the religion. Aspects of the teachings that are difficult to understand are explained e.g. scriptural interpretations. Again, domestic problems confronting the believer are given attention through the spiritual lenses of the religion. Through this, believers acquire adequate knowledge or insight into how they are expected to behave or conduct themselves.
6. Rejection of worldly pleasures:
Finally, all the religions enjoin their followers to eschew tendencies that smack off worldly pleasures. The general belief is that worldly pleasures can lead to all sorts of temptations or evils. To show commitment to these moral instruments, believers are constantly kept on their toes to ensure that they free themselves from the influences of worldly pleasures by praying, fasting and also fellowshipping constantly. NON RELIGIOUS SOURCES OF MORALITY
Apart from religious, social and customary sanctions, there are other nonreligious sources of morality worth considering. This can be located in all levels of society; the national level to even the smallest towns and villages. Aside these, there are also universal laws that are internationally accepted and used as sources of morality. These non-religious sources include: i) Conscience ii) State laws and constitutions iii) The home and iv) The school
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Let us consider them one after the other:
(A) CONSCIENCE (COMMON SENSE): As a person grows he or she goes through various experiences that help to shape his or her character. These experiences help him or her to adapt to the environment. The various experiences help to mould him or her so that he or she will be able to distinguish between what is right and wrong. In life, it is possible that a person may commit evil and may escape punishment by the law. It is also possible that an act may be known and yet through ingenious means or technicalities, the law may find him or her innocent. To most people and especially African Traditional believers, the conscience of this person is always said to hunt, punish and condemn him. This is believed in the Akan saying that Ne tiboa abu no f his conscience has found him the guilty one. When evil acts are committed, whether others know of it or not conscience seems to be the best judge and a better punisher. Consequently, conscience appears to be a very effective means of checking evil deeds. The African and better still the Akan leaves a person who commits evil but it is not found out, to his conscience; they say let his conscience be with him ne ne tiboa na bdi. Another innocent person who is wrongfully accused of a misdeed takes consolation in his clear conscience. He says Me tiboa mmu me f Which means my conscience is clear. Indeed, common sense may tell someone not to insult an elderly person, not to have sex with a close relative, should be kind and generous as one good turn deserves another, should be hospitable especially to strangers, should avoid being a hypocrite; should be truthful and honour covenants as well as desist from stealing. Conscience is a moral determinant in the secular society.
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(B) STATE LAWS AND CONSTITUTIONS:
Every modern state has political, economic and social systems that help to ensure its smooth operation. These structures are put in place so as to serve as codes of behaviour to guide people in their day to day activities. This involves the democratic institution that makes it possible to elect representatives who enact laws for the effective running of the state. Ghana, like many countries, has a constitution (the 1992 4th Republican Constitution), which is the embodiment of all the rules and regulations that govern the life of the people. The constitution has articles that give government (Parliament) the power to enact laws to regulate the behaviour of the members of the state and prescribe sanctions in the event of a breach. Citizens are also given power to decide on what is good for them and who rules over them. Such constitutions also usually prescribe freedoms, which are considered fundamental for the proper functioning of the human person in the society. Constitutions, therefore are the modern moral values or codes that create the needed cohesion and peace a nation needs for development. Apart from the constitution, the communities have laws that are broken down into smaller laws or bye-laws at the various levels of society, i.e. Metropolitan, municipal, district, towns and villages. Such bye-laws are put in place to regulate behaviour so that we can maintain good and peaceful society. Some of the bye-laws include attending communal labour, payment of basic rate, taking good care of public property, keeping the environment tidy and safe, etc. Even though every country has its own specific institution that regulate the behaviour of its people, there are also universally accepted moral codes which cut across national boundaries. For example, all nations of the world under the Charter of Universal Declaration of Human Rights regard issues like murder, rape and defilement, espionage, treason,
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destruction of the environment as unacceptable moral laws. Such laws are binding on member countries of the United Nations Organisation.
(C) THE HOME: There is a popular adage that says that, Charity begins at home. In applying this to morality, it means that the foundations of moral values are laid in the home. Many of our personal traits and the way we behave and react to situations are acquired in the individual homes. Many homes have specific moral principles that are to be respected and followed by all members. Children may be taught how to behave in public, how to dress, how to address elderly people and adults, when to go to bed and times for waking up. All these are virtues that are cultivated in the home. It is in the light of this that Kwame Gyekye says the home serves as an effective instrument for moral education. The virtues that become the principles of a particular family may be passed on through generations.
(D) THE SCHOOL: One of the basic aims of education is to bring up children in a way that will make them very useful to society. School authorities, therefore, put in place rules and regulations that aim at promoting moral values and virtues that not only ensure effective teaching and learning but also go a long way into moulding the lives of learners to grow up into morally responsible adults in their respective communities. In the school, unacceptable behaviour is deviant behaviour. The behaviour is usually determined in the context of the schools cultural environment. So while one behaviour may be acceptable in one school, it may be unacceptable in another. But the bottom line is that if there is no deviant behaviour, the teacher will have nothing to teach about morality. The categorization, therefore, of behaviour, into right and wrong or good and bad is a way of bringing offenders to book and also making other learners aware of morally acceptable behaviour and unacceptable ones.
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Identifying unacceptable behaviour in the school provides the opportunity for the school to enforce moral principles, which also impact positively in the larger society.
In this Chapter, we have discussed the sources of morality in the three major religions in Ghana; Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religion. We stated that all the religions attach a lot of importance to these moral sources as they constitute the basis for the conduct of their believers. We have also examined the non-religious sources of morality such as state laws or the constitution, the school and the home as well as the use of our conscience in determining our sense of morality. We hope you have enjoyed every bit of this discussion. Now turn your attention to the activities line up for you and see how best you can answer those questions based on the above discussion. GENERAL QUESTIONS
1. State one reason why morality is seen as a social phenomenon. 2. According to Asare Opoku, What is the main source of morality? 3. Who is a moralist? 4. Apart from religion, identify four other sources of morality 5. State the five major sources of morality in Christianity. 6. State four of the Ten Commandments that deal with human relationship 7. Which of the Ten Commandments stresses the need for contentment. 8. List four major sources of morality in Islam. 9. Why is the Hadith and the Quran considered as very important sources of morality in Islam? 10. State four major sources of morality in ATR. 11. Who is the ultimate custodian of morality in African Religion? 12. What one moral principle is taught by the home? 13. In what way is the constitution of a state a source of morality? 14 What is described as deviant behaviour in the school?
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1. (a) Discuss four sources of either Christian or Islamic morality. (b) In what two ways are these sources either similar or different from moral instruments of African Traditional Religion?
2. Discuss three instruments through which Islam expresses and implements its moral rules or regulations. 3. Identify and explain five reasons why morality is needed in our contemporary world. 4. Do you think religion ought to be part in the moulding of the moral lives of people Discuss five reasons why. 5.Charity begins at home. What does this statement mean in terms of morality?
Very well done. Take a break and prepare yourself adequately as you move to the next chapter
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CHAPTER FOUR CONSIDERATION OF THE AIMS OF RELIGIOUS AND MORAL EDUCATION Dear Student, you are warmly welcome to Chapter Four of the course. In this chapter, we shall be considering the aims for the teaching of Religious and Moral Education based on the Revised Syllabus of 2008 issued by the Curriculum, Research and Development Division (CRDD) of the Ghana Education Service (GES). We shall examine Micheal Grimmits (1978) three criteria for teaching Religious and Moral Education. We shall also discuss the rationale for the teaching of religious and moral education in Ghanaian schools and well as the General Aims for the teaching of the subject particularly at the basic level of education. You are welcome once again. But before then, let us try to capture our chapter objectives.
state at least three justifications for the inclusion of RME in the Ghanaian school curriculum. explain the four aims for the teaching of RME in Basic schools in Ghana. describe two values pupils develop as they study RME. mention at least three moral issues that confront humankind today. state two rationale for the introduction of RME in schools.
Now read on... For us to engage in any serious discussiion on the aims for the teaching of Religious and moral Education, it is important to draw attention to Micheal Grimmits work What can I do in R.E.? (1978). In his book, he emphasized that in the consideration of the aims of religious education, we need to bear in mind the three educational criteria.
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The three criterial include: 1. Does this subject incorporate a unique mode of thought and awareness which is worthwhile to mans understanding of himself and his situation? 2. Does this subject serve to widen and deepen the childs cognitive perspective in a unique and valuable way and so contribute to his total development as a person? 3. Can this subject be taught in ways which ensure understanding and actively foster the childs capacity to think for himself/herself?
The above criteria need to be considered well by the teachers so that in drawing up syllabuses, schemes of work and lesson plans, we shall be impacting positively on the learners. We should note that in the past, the inclusion of religious teaching in the schools curriculum included other aims tht were not necessarily educational. These aims which could be described as non-educational aims were ecclesiastical or spiritual, historical, moral and cultural. Those who advocated for such aims gave the following reasons as justifying explanations for inclusion of Religious Education in the school curriculum:
1. It was the only way of reaching a compromise between the church and state in the late 19th century. 2. It was only reasonable that in a Christian country, every child should be brought up in a Christian faith. 3. Christianity as a religion is true and without acknowledge of it, humans will live impoverished lives. 4. A child who has a religious faith is more likely to behave in moral way than the child who has not.
A careful look at the above reasons, which are ecclesiastical, historical, cultural and moral justifications, made the teaching of religions in schools obvious.
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The above aims should be taken into consideration by teachers of Religious Education as we prepare to teach the aims that are outlined in the Basic Religious and Moral Education syllabus. Let us now turn our atrtention to the Basic R.M.E. Syllabus, first the rationale.
RATIONALE
Religious and Moral Education is a vital and indispensable part of human growth and development in the Ghanaian society. It is considered as the vehicle for national development, especially in times like these, where moral decadence is on the ascendancy. The subject reinforces the informal religious and moral training young people acquire from their homes. Some homes may not be able to provide this type of training adequately. It therefore becomes the responsibility of the school to provide this type of education in order to provide a need, without which the young person may not grow up into a religious, moral and responsible adult. The spread of education across all sectors of the Ghanaian society, and the changes in the way of life of people as a result of education, population growth, and contacts with the outside world, tend to introduce influences, good or bad to children if they do not have proper guidance. It becomes important that society provides them with a type of education that will make them acquire sound moral principles, and also develop appropriate attitudes and values that will help them to make the correct choices and decisions in their growth towards adulthood.
The above is part of the general introduction to the Basic syllabus designed for Ghanaian schools, and it serves as a main term of reference in the teaching of Religious and Moral Education in Ghana, which spells out the rationale for teaching the subject.
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GENERAL AIMS
Now let us try to consider the general aims of Religious and Moral Education in Ghanaian schools as highlighted by the Ghana Education Service Religious and Moral Education syllabus issued by the C.R.D.D.:
i)
To develop an awareness of their creator and the purpose of their existence. To develop an understanding and tolerance of other peoples faith.
ii)
iii)
To understand the difference between acceptable and unacceptable behaviours so that they can make the right decisions in any situation and thus become responsible citizens.
iv)
To acquire the socio-cultural values inherent in the three major religions in Ghana (ie. Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religion) whixh will help them cope with the variety of moral choices they have to face in todays rapidly changing world. Let us try to look at the aims one after the other.
1. To develop an awareness of their creator and the purpose of their very existence
It is necessary to study Religious and Moral Education at all the educational levels in order for students to develop the awareness of their creator. All the major religions in Ghana acknowledge the existence of God and moreover believe that God is the creator of the universe. So in teaching Religious and Moral Education, people will get to know that there is a Supreme God who created them and as such develop strong love for Him and obey His directives by knowing the purpose of creation, and their very existence. For example the individual will come to realization that he/she has been created to take good care of the environment and with this notion people will not
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degrade the environment in which they find themselves but keep it for generations yet unborn. 2. To develop an understanding and tolerance of other peoples faith
Ghana is a country, which accepts religious pluralism. That is, several religions are practised in Ghana. There are different people with different religious persuasions. It is enshrined or encoded in the national constitution that Ghanaians have the freedom to practise any religion. Apart from the three major religions namely Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religion, there are other religions operating in the country. For example Buddhism, Hinduism etc. which are gradually gaining roots in Ghana. The doctrines and practices of some of these religions are in sharp contrast to others. The religions Oppose each other in the propagation of their message. This sometimes results in conflicts in the country. During such conflicts, people perish or lose their lives and valuable items are destroyed. For instance in 2001, there was conflict between a Christian church and Traditionalists during Homowo festival in Ghana. Again in 1999 there were intra-religious conflict among Muslims at Atebubu and Wenchi, which led to the loss of lives and property. When pupils and students are taken through Religious and Moral Education, it helps them to acquire insights into other religious practices. Consequently, the study inculcates in them the habit of religious tolerance. This helps them to accommodate religious practices and then live in social harmony and peaceful co-existence among people who belong to other religions. This will do away with religious conflict and its consequences.
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3. To help to understand the difference between acceptable and unacceptable behaviours so that they can make the right decisions in any situation and thus become responsible citizens. Religious and Moral Education helps individuals in making decisions which are very crucial. There are many contemporary issues, which confront man. When one is faced with such issues he or she is guided by his or her own moral principle to come out with the right decision. For example, a moral issues such as, is abortion right or wrong? Is it always wrong to take human life?, Prejudice and discrimination, euthanasia (MERCY Killing), self-defence and family planning, same sex marriages etc. All the above are examples of contemporary moral issues facing the present generation. They are subjects of discussion in many religious circles. Religious leaders debate on whether one must subscribe to or abstain from these practices. One can make the right decision only when one applies his or her religious and moral principles and judgements. In conclusion we are saying Religious and Moral Education enables individual to reach the autonomous morality stage where he or she is able to take decision for him or herself. The person may have to consider the effect of his or her actions. Ponder over the scenario below and let us know your positions:
What should I do? Im 18 and I was looking forward to starting the university at the end of September. Now I dont know what to do because last week I discovered that I am pregnant. My boyfriend, Owusu, is 19 and weve had a relationship for over a year. Neither of us is ready for this. Owusu says that he will stand by me, but I know he really wants me to have an abortion. Im worried that, if I do, Ill not be able to live with myself afterward. I dread telling Mum. I know that she will be so angry and she has so much to do since Dad walked out on us. She has a full-time job and already has to cope with my younger brother and sister in a single bed roomed terrace house.
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Please help me. I dont know what to do. Im willing to consider any sensible advice, Fausty. The above dilemma is one such problem that needs a decision backed by moral judgement and Religious and Moral Education helps to address such issues.
4. To acquire the socio-cultural values inherent in the three major religions in Ghana (ie. Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religion) whixh will help them cope with the variety of moral choices they have to face in todays rapidly changing world.
NB: Please try to identify topics in the Basic Religious and Moral Education Syllabus that can be used to achieve the above aims set out in the syllabus. In this chapter, we have discussed Micheal Grimmits three educational criteria for consideration when dealing with the aims of religious education. We said the criteria should be considered by teachers in drawing up syllabuses, schemes of work and lesson plans in order to impact positively on learners. We have also discussed the rationale for the teaching of RME. Among other things, we said the subject reinforces the moral training pupils receive at home which may be inadequate and so is supplemented by the school. We have also examined the four aims for the teaching of RME in basic schools in Ghana based on the 2008 revised syllabus of the CRDD of GES. How did you find this chapter. Interesting, isnt it? Now focus your attention on the activities provided for you at the end of the chapter and test yourself. See you in Chapter Five.
GENERAL QUESTIONS
1. State any 2 aims of teaching Religious and Moral Education. 2. What shows that Ghana is a religiously pluralistic society? 3. State any two negative effect of religious conflict
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4. Mention any three contemporary moral issues that confront human kind. How can we use our principle to make a decision on each of these issues? 5. List any two values that students develop as a result of studying Religious and Moral Education. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Explain the justifications for the inclusion of Religious and Moral Education in the school curriculum? 2. Discuss the aims of teaching Religious and Moral Education in Ghanaian Basic Schools. 3. In what way can the Religious and Moral Education syllabus help achieve these aims?
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CHAPTER FIVE
INDOCTRINATION IN RELIGIOUS AND MORAL EDUCATION
Dear Student, you are welcome to Chapter Five of the course. In last chapter, we discussed the rationale and aims for the teaching of Religious and Moral Education in Ghanaian basic schools. In this chapter, we shall examine the issue of indoctrination in the teaching of RME. This is because many teachers handling the subject, particularly at the basic level are being accused of indoctrinating their pupils. This is probably so because many of these teachers have not received specialized training in the subject.
In this chapter, therefore, we shall attempt to deal with the meaning of indoctrination, the various ways pupils can be indoctrinated and then examine the reasons why it is considered wrong to indoctrinate pupils in your teaching of Religious and Moral Education. Before then, let us look at our chapter objectives.
explain the term indoctrination. identify the four main areas of teaching where indoctrination is possible. state at least 2 reasons why indoctrination is unacceptable in classroom teaching. explain four ways we can prevent RME teachers from indoctrinating their pupils. differentiate between education and indoctrination.
Now, just relax and read on ... The layman frequently pairs in his mind the terms conditioning and indoctrination. Both convey unpleasant ideas, which make him unwilling to come to grips with and define the precise logical geography of each term.
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Let us try to explain the term or concept indoctrination and how it affects the teaching and learning process. Indoctrination has been described as the intentional implanting of belief so that it will stick by non rational means: It is also seen as the passing on of a body of belief which rest on assumption to which no publicly acceptable evidence can be provided.
In general, the term indoctrination can be explained as the process of imposing or forcing someone to accept your religion or faith which the person is not convinced of. According to one school of thought, the general view of education must be morally acceptable. To teach to convert or indoctrinate is to deny the child the right to decide what religious or faith he / she should uphold. It is to deny his autonomy i.e. freedom to choose.
Another scholar has identified four main areas in the teaching learning process where indoctrination is used. These areas are: a) The content b) The methods of teaching c) The intention of the teacher d) The moral aim of the subject.
Let us consider these areas in detail.
A) CONTENT OR MATERIAL SELECTED FOR TEACHING AS A MEANS OF INDOCTRINATION
According to one of the scholars, it is the content which determines the nature of indoctrination because indoctrination necessarily involves the inculcation of specific kinds of doctrines as unshakable beliefs in a case where such beliefs are not true by ordinary standard known by the public. One school of thought also argues that indoctrination refers to the passing on of a body of belief, which rests on assumptions which are either false or
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for which no publicly acceptable evidence is or can be provided. The person argues that doctrine is not a set of beliefs which are publicly testable but rather the belief that restricts a number of people. The restriction being a necessary consequence of the inability of those who hold the belief to publicly demonstrate their truth.
Another authority who supports the content also stresses content as a distinguishing means of indoctrination. He argues that the model cases of indoctrination are obvious: brainwashing people to believe in communism, teaching Christianity by the threat of torture or damnation by forcing people by early training to accept social role. This shows that we indoctrinate people by using torture and other unorthodox means.
B) METHODS OR TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING INDOCTRINATION:
AS
A MEANS OF
No one would suggest that true teaching could ever be confused with brainwashing. But there are certain areas where, it is suggested, indoctrination can take place as part of teaching. One of these is the area of religious teaching. It is often suggested that there should be no religious teaching in schools because although parents are given the option of removing their children from religious teaching lessons, some children who remain will be indoctrinated. But is it fair to say that the teacher who, as a committed Christian, attempts to tell the pupils of his or her religious experience is attempting indoctrination? We must moreover, distinguish between the teacher who, out of religious fervour, puts forward beliefs emphatically without rational argument. One can argue that the teacher who relies on personal fervour leaves himself or herself open to criticism for not supporting his or her fervour with rational argument. But this is not the same as saying that merely omitting to support ones beliefs with evidence is indoctrinating. Robin Barrow shifts the content to method by drawing attention to the techniques used in teaching. Barrow argues that if indoctrination is the intentional implanting of belief so that it will stick by non-rational means then important element in deciding whether something indoctrinating is intentional is to
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get a belief to be true or false by using non-rational means. He therefore rejects the idea that only:
Doctrinal belief and unprovable propositions can be indoctrinated.
Barrow therefore defines indoctrination as the use of non-rational means with the intention of implanting beliefs unshakeably. To forestall indoctrination in teaching, the teacher can less use the lecture method which reduces students to mere listeners.
Another scholar also picks out method as major characteristic of indoctrination. He argues that education involves two elements in teaching that (theories of proposition) and teaching how (Practical Skills).
Education is a process, which involves instruction and training, both of which use reason and understanding. Whereas education teaches the person as an end in himself, indoctrination exploits the person as a means for further end and this is morally unacceptable.
C) INTENTION OF THE TEACHER AS A MEANS OF INDOCTRINATION
One school of thought also emphasises Intention as one means of indoctrination. To them indoctrination is definable only in terms of intention. It is the intention, which decides whether a process is indoctrination or not. Indoctrinating someone is trying to get him or her to believe that something is true in such a way that nothing will shake that belief. They argue that a difficulty in Religious Education is that if the teacher denies having the intention, it is hard to see what other intention he might have which is compatible with there being such a subject as R. E. This argument is buttressed by the support of moral aim of education, which puts emphasis on the development of personal autonomy where the individual is treated as an end to himself and not a means to an end.
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They believe that, it is impossible to teach religion without indoctrinating the learner. However, people should be treated as ends rather than means to an end.
Indoctrination therefore abuses the moral Principle by exploiting people, using them as means thereby diminishing their responsibility as individuals. D) USING THE MORAL AIMS OF TEACHING THE SUBJECT AS A MEANS OF INDOCTRINATION Some schools of thought, on the other hand, places emphasis on the moral aim on education by arguing that children are potential persons and as a person is an autonomous being; indoctrination is educationally unacceptable. The moral propriety of educational activity resides in the contribution, which makes it personal autonomy. Being autonomous is part of the concept Person. To take away the possibility of a childs becoming autonomous is immoral. They, however, argue against the abolishing of teaching of religion just because of the fear of indoctrination. To label R. E. unfairly as indoctrination and therefore to campaign for its removal from an educational curriculum is to embrace a form of socialization which in itself is indoctrination, and this is morally irresponsible
INDOCTRINATION AND EDUCATION
1. Education seeks to open the mind, but indoctrination attempts to close it. 2. Education promotes critical thinking, but indoctrination discourages critical thinking. 3. Education promotes understanding, but indoctrination denies
understanding. 4. Education is based on evidence, but indoctrination lacks evidence. 5. Education encourages reason and rationality, but indoctrination
deliberately suppresses reason. 6. Education promotes freedom and personal liberty, but indoctrination is authoritarian.
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7. Education encourages the use of appropriate teaching strategies, but indoctrination uses crude and unprofessional methods. 8. Education seeks to transmit knowledge which is worthwhile, but indoctrination denies knowledge.
HOW CAN WE TEACH TO AVOID INDOCTRINATION? To avoid indoctrination in our teaching and learning process the following criteria should be adopted or encouraged:
(i) Competent or qualified Religious and Moral Education teachers should be made to teach or handle the subject.
(ii) Teachers should be very objective and open in their lesson presentation in the classroom as well as in any place where learning can take place.
(iii) The methods or techniques used in teaching the diversity of beliefs should be practical and easy to understand.
(iv) Teachers should use appropriate TLMS to support and demonstrate abstract facts.
(v) In teaching the content of religion, belief of any kind must be backed by publicly accepted evidence and also what believers like to consider as evidence. (vi) The teaching of religious beliefs should aim at training pupils to reflect on their moral judgements and actions. (vii) Teachers should desist from imposing on pupils beliefs they dont understand.
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(viii)
In teaching diversity of beliefs, freedom of pupils should not be violated.
Pupils or learners should be encouraged to participate in Religious and Moral Education lessons through questioning and discussions.
In this chapter, we have discussed the issue of indoctrination which we said is the intentional implanting of belief in a person so that it will stick through irritational means. We also indentified four main areas through which teachers can indoctrinate their pupils in teaching: ie through content, method of teaching, intention of the teacher and the moral aim of the subject. We have also examined the relationship that exist between education and indoctrination. We indicated that whiles education opens the mind and makes the person critical, indoctrination closes the mind of the person and suppresses his critical thinking. Finally, we have also of pupils in the teaching of RME. Now turn your attention to the activities section and try your hands on the questions given. We believe they were manageable. Brawo! See you in Chapter Six.
GENERAL QUESTIONS 1. Explain the terms indoctrination and conditioning .
2. Identify four main areas in teaching where indoctrination is used.
3. Why is indoctrination not acceptable in teaching? Give three reasons.
4. What is the difference between indoctrination and conditioning?
5. State two difference between indoctrination and education.
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1. How can we teach Religious and Moral Education without indoctrinating the pupils / students? 2. Indoctrination has been described as the intentional implanting of belief so that it may stick by non-rational means. Explain.
3. Describe the relationship between Education and Indoctrination.
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CHAPTER SIX
CONTRIBUTIONS OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGIST TO R.M.E
THE CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENT:
Dear Student, you are warmly welcome to Chapter Six. This chapter and the next six chapters would be taking us into an area we may describe as a bit technical, in that they deal with research works of renowned scholars on human development. We shall focus on the various theories they have propounded on religious and moral development. It is important to stress that scholars differ in their views about how human beings and particularly children acquire their religious and moral understanding and behaviours. In the theories, the scholars presented their research methods with their findings and so made recommendations for us as RME teachers. In this chapter, we shall first examine the concept of development and how it unfolds in human beings in term of moral development. We shall then move on to discuss the Cognitive theory of Jean Piaget. In doing this we shall discuss his method of research, findings and the value of the research to moral development and to teachers of RME.
Before then, let us look at our objectives.
state one major concern of the development theorists.
explain the concept Cognitive development. identify any two strategies Piaget used to test childrens reasoning about moralilty. identify the three stages of Piagets moral development. state two educatiional implications of Piagets theory to the RME teacher. state one criticism leveled against Piagets theory.
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Now read on...
Experience, empirical research as well as developmental theory, reveal that work for children should be based on their developmental stages. Children are not miniature adults. This means inappropriate choice of materials and methods of teaching may leave on one hand rote learning or complete incomprehension resulting in a rejection of school work or feelings of failure which have a detrimental effect on the childs self image, motivation and development in school.
On the other hand, where the material is too simple, boredom and frustration may ensue and the learner may regard schooling as a complete waste of time. The promotion of Moral education, whether formal or informal, requires a similar understanding of the childs level of development and the make up of his or her personality.
What then is development? How does development of the human being differ from other beings? Given appropriate environmental conditions, a caterpillar will develop through specific stages into a butterfly. To some extent, this model of development which takes place in plants and animals can apply to some aspects of mans biological development. However, it may not apply to mans social, intellectual, and moral growth, precisely because of certain factors which distinguish human beings from other organisms. In other words, human beings do not simply unfold without outside influences. Social interaction and adult attention are necessary factors in the development factors. It is therefore very difficult to predict how every individual might turn out, given the various human variables.
Secondly, human beings are active agents capable of making choices and interpreting their experiences in a unique way. Unlike other organisms, he is not at the mercy of genetic factors neither is he socially subjected to cultural
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pressures. In conclusion development can be explained as irreversible progressive change towards some more complex levels. Developing a Religious and Moral understanding is a gradual process. It takes a person to go through a process to attain maturity in religious and moral understanding. Just as a growing childs progress is affected by the adults around him, so also is the development of religious and moral growth. The childs mental, emotional, religious and moral developments are affected by the environment and other experiences he or she encounters. In the Holy Bible, the Apostle Paul referred to this development when he said, When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. (1 Corinthians 13:11). The significance of Pauls assertion can be linked to religious and moral development. A man needs to grow from being religious and moral babies to being full grown in powers of religious and moral understanding. How can this be achieved? Many developmental psychologists have taken the trouble to research into the process of religious and moral development of the human person and have made very useful conclusions which are very relevant to the teacher and more especially to the teacher of Religious and Moral Education.
It is important for the teacher to ensure that in planning his or her Religious and Moral Education lessons, he or she should take into consideration the needs, interests and experiences of the children in the class so that he or she can devise experiential experiences which are relevant to the development of the children. As a teacher, he or she should be aware of the various ways children think at different stages of their development. This will enable him to select contents and methods, which will not only have meaning to the children but will also help to ensure better religious and moral development.
The work of the developmental psychologists whose work we are going to study are categorized with two main groups: the religious developmentalist and the moral developmentalist. Whilst the former focused on the study of how people
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acquire religious understanding and concepts, the latter were more interested in how human beings acquire their moral concept and understanding. The Religious developmentalists for our study are: 1. Ronald Goldman The childs Religious Thinking (from Childhood to Adolescence) 2. 3. Harold Loukes - Teenage Religion Richard Acland - We teach them wrong
The Moral developmentalists for our study on the other hand are: Jean Piaget - cognitive theory of moral development Lawrence Kohlberg - cognitive theory of moral development Sigmund Freud - The psychoanalytic theory of moral development B.F. Skinner - Behavioural/learning theory of moral development
1. 2. 3. 4.
Please, note that both Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg undertook a research into similar areas - the cognitive development of morality and so we call them the cognitive theorists.
What then is the cognitive theory of moral development?
1. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES Cognitive Development is concerned with the study of the child as a thinker. It is the study of our mental process: thinking, feeling, learning, remembering etc. According to the cognitive psychologist, human behaviour is not simply a response to stimuli but goes beyond that; through the stimuli, we try to understand our response in relation to future behaviour. They were therefore interested in the ways in which we perceive, interpret, store and retrieve information.
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Many different theoretical accounts on how the childs thinking develops have been put forward. According to Jean Piaget, Cognitive development occurs through the interaction of innate capacities with environmental events and progresses through a series of hierarchical, qualitatively different stages. He thinks that all children pass through the stages in the same sequence without skipping any or except in the case of brain damage, regressing to earlier ones. He believes that the stages are also the same for everyone irrespective of the persons culture. Piagets findings, which he links to moral development, took the centre stage and dominated research on moral development. He postulated that the childs ability to think about moral issues is linked to their ability to think in general. He asserted that the childs thinking develops in stages so that older children are able to think and make moral judgements in more matured ways than younger children.
Lawrence Kohlberg is another psychologist who is closely connected with the cognitive moral development. Indeed, he maintained that the stages of moral reasoning developed in a sequence, each developing out of the previous one and each in a more complex form than the one before.
Let us now examine the work of these cognitive psychologists.
COGNITIVE THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT - JEAN PIAGET
Piaget
argued
that
morality
develops
gradually
during
childhood
and
adolescence. Even though it was recognised that the changes occur at different stages of moral development, Piaget did not clearly use the concept of developmental stages, which he identified with cognitive human development in general. He rather differentiated between two types of moral development, namely, HETERONOMOUS and AUTONOMOUS MORALITY. Instead of seeing morality as a form of cognition, Piaget discussed moral development in the context of affects and feelings.
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PIAGETS METHODOLOGY (RESEARCH) In his attempt to investigate how moral understanding and knowledge change with age, Piaget started by looking at childrens ideas about rules. He used two interacting strategies to test childrens reasoning about morality. First he played games of marbles with them and later told them stories. USING MARBLE GAME TO DETERMINE CHILDRENS PERCEPTION OF MORALITY Piaget strongly believed that the essence of morality lies in rules so he used the game of marbles, which has a number of rules to determine the childrens moral perception. In the game of marbles, children create and enforce their own rules without the influence of adults. He felt that by using this method, he could discover how childrens moral knowledge in general develops. Initially, Piaget pretended he did not know the rules so he asked the children to explain the rules to him in the course of the game. They were to tell him the source of the rules; who made them, where they came from and if they could be changed. He wanted to develop insight into their understanding of rules, wrong acts, justice and punishment. FINDINGS
Piaget discovered that children aged between 5 and 9 or 10 tended to believe that the rules about the game had always existed in their present form; and that they were created by older children, adults or even God. As far as the children were concerned, the rules were sacred and therefore could not be changed in any way. Thus the rules were considered as external law. Unfortunately, the children, in the course of the game unashamedly broke them to suit themselves. In fact they did not see anything wrong for wanting to break the laws in order to win.
Piaget later took children aged 10 and above to go through a similar game and exercise. He discovered that the older children understood the rules of the game to have been invented by children themselves and that the rules could be changed but should be changed only when all the players agreed. They could
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indicate that the function of the rules was to prevent quarreling and ensure fairness. Piaget also discovered that the older children adhered strictly to the rules and discussed openly the implications of any changes they made. He called this moral orientation towards co-operation with peers as MUTUAL RESPECT, which he contrasted with the UNILATERAL RESPECT, which was shown by the younger children towards older children and authority of adults.
USE OF PAIRS OF STORIES TO DETERMINE MORAL PERCEPTION As a second research, Piaget told the children pairs of stories in which accidents happen or children behave badly. He then asked them questions in which he sought the judgement of the children on the accidents and behaviour. The stories were hypothetical.
EXAMPLES OF PAIRS OF STORIES USED BY PIAGET First Pair of story: 1. (a): A little boy called John was in his room. He was called to dinner and he went into the dining room. Behind the door there was a c h a i r and on the chair there was a tray with 15 cups on it. John couldnt have known that the chair was behind the door, and as he entered the dining room, the door knocked against the tray and the tray fell on the floor, breaking all the cups. (b) One day, a little boy called Henry tried to get some jam out of a cupboard when his mother was out. He climbed onto a chair and stretched out his arm. The jam was too high up, and he couldnt reach it. But while he was trying to get it, he knocked over a cup. The cup fell down and broke.
Second Pair of story: 2. (a): A little girl called Marie wanted to give her mother a nice surprise and so she cut out a piece of sewing for her. But she didnt know how to use the scissors properly and she cut a big hole in her dress.
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(b) A little girl called Margaret went and took her mothers scissors one day when her mother was out. She played with them for a bit and then, as she didnt know how to use them properly, she made a hole in her dress.
MORAL JUDGEMENT OF THE CHILDREN ON THE STORIES
RESPONSE OF CHILDREN AGED 5 TO 9 OR 10 IN THE CASE OF JOHN (1A) AND MARIE (2A)
Piaget then asked the children above which of the children was the naughtier and should be punished more. He was more interested in the reasons the children gave for their answer than the answers themselves. The 5 to 9 or 10 year olds, even though were able to distinguish between an intentional act from an unintentional one, based their judgement on the severity or amount of damage done. To them, John and Marie were judged to be naughtier because John broke many more cups and Marie made a bigger hole in the dress.
Regarding punishment, these younger children believed that naughty people should pay for their crimes. Normally, we tend to think that the greater the suffering the better. The children therefore concluded that paying the penalty punishment is seen as decreed by authority and accepted as just because of its source. (moral realism) .
This idea can be compared to the situation when a child in a class does not admit to a misdeed and the rest of the class does not identify the offender so the entire class is punished. The younger children saw such a collective punishment as acceptable. To the younger children, a misfortune that happens to someone who had behaved naughtily and got away with it is seen as a punishment for the misdeed. This can be described as Immanent Justice. For example, a child who lied but was not found out but later fell and broke his arm, is interpreted as being punished for the lie. To the younger children, God (or an equivalent force) is in
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league with those in authority to ensure that the naughty child will be caught in the end.
RESPONSE OF CHILDREN AGED ABOVE 10 YEARS IN THE CASE OF HENRY (1B) AD MARGARET (2B)
In contrast to the opinion of the younger children, the older children aged 10 and above, judged Henry and Margaret to be naughtier. They strongly saw that they were both doing something they should not have done. Although they accepted that the damage they caused was accidental, they saw the motive or intention behind the act as being more important in determining the level of naughtiness. (This could be described as internal responsibility. Regarding punishment, the older children saw it as making the offender realize the nature of the offence and also serving as a deterrent to behaving wrongly in the future. On the issue of collective punishment, the older children saw it as wrong. They saw that punishment should be made to fit the offence. For example, if one child steals the pen of another child, the offender should be made to hand over his own pen to the victim. Where the offender has no pen, then he should be punished in another way deemed appropriate. This is the principle of reciprocity. These older children did not see justice as tied to an authority who is in league with some external force (moral relativism) and so did not accept the belief in immanent justice. On the basis of these findings, Piaget developed his stages of moral development. PIAGETS STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT Piaget emphasized on two stages heteronomous moral stage and autonomous moral stage but since the research was based on 5 year olds and above, we can identify the early years as one stage, which we can call amoral stage. Let us now consider these stages: AMORAL STAGE The Amoral Stage is the age from birth up to about 4 years. Children at this stage do not understand what constitutes rules. They are unable to make judgements
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and do not see anything wrong at breaking rules. Their cognitive level cannot reason about morality. We can describe them as neither moral nor immoral. They are amoral. HETERONOMOUS MORALITY STAGE
Piaget, after the study called the morality of the children aged 5 to 10 as Heteronomous stage. He concluded that even though the children at this stage developed a good understanding of rules, they believed that the rules came from outside i.e. from an external authority like God, parents, teachers or older siblings. He also discovered that the children had the idea that when the rules were changed, it will incur the displeasure of these authorities. They saw rules to be fixed and to be followed. Rules were subject to anothers laws or rules.
At this stage, the children accepted the fact that when you break the rules, you deserve to be punished. They also thought that punishment should be severe so that it will forestall future occurrence. They believed that misfortunes come in the way of a person because he has done something bad, (expiatory principle) due punishment for committing an offence. To these children, it is impossible to escape punishment. You are soon to be found out and punished - immanent justice. Children at this stage are moral realists. They judge something based on action. AUTONOMOUS MORALITY STAGE
Piaget called the stage of the older children (aged 10 and above) as the autonomous morality stage. He believed that at this stage, there was a shift from the heteronomous to autonomous as there was a shift from egocentric to operational thought at age 7 on wards. At this stage the older children recognised that the rules were not so fixed, but were to some extent arbitrary ways of regulating human interaction. They also recognised the fact that rules were put in place for a purpose but were not imposed by an external force. As far as they were concerned, rules are made to be changed to suit the times and whether they are broken or changed is not a decision that is external, but is something
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that can be done based on mutual respect and agreement of all the parties involved.
At this stage, therefore, the children leave the state of moral realism, which is seen as crude to moral relativism, which judges an action as moral or immoral depending upon the intention behind it. Autonomous morality therefore is subject to ones own laws or rules. It sees rules as the product of social agreements rather than as sacred and unchangeable laws. We can call it morality of cooperation. At this stage, children believe in moral relativism where they judge something based on intention. THE VALUE OF PIAGETS THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT Piagets theory has drawn attention to very important ideas about moral development which is more of a process. Firstly, he observes that very young children have the notion that rules are sacred and must be obeyed to please older people in the community. He also appreciated the fact that childrens concept of justice which involves right and wrong gradually moves from a rigid position which they learn from their parents to the one that provides a sense of equity in moral judgement. As children grow older, there is a shift from rigid position to a more flexible one and they tend to understand that there are exceptions to many rules. Again, as they become members of the larger society and interact with more varied peer groups, their moral judgement become less absolute and depends more on the agreements that are mutually reached in the group. Another important debt we owe to Piaget is his suggestion that the childs moral reasoning is closely tied to the development of his cognitive perspective. In the light of this, educational planners need to consider these findings so as to guide them in formulating educational programmes.
Lastly, the theory serves as a guide to the teacher of Religious and Moral Education in selecting teaching material or content for the children in the school
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or class. The teacher has insight into what is achievable or unachievable in relation to the level of development of the children in a particular class. CRITICISM AGAINST PIAGETS THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Even though Piaget has made very usefully observation about moral development which is of importance to educational planning and particularly to the teaching and learning of Religious and Moral Education, a number of criticisms have been made against his findings and conclusion.
Firstly, Piaget is criticized for depending on his own interpretation of the childrens responses which is therefore very subjective. He should have made the children to justify the moral interpretation of their own responses.
Secondly, it has been discovered by other research works (by Bandura) that developmental stages can easily be altered by existing adult models. This is possible if the children discover that there is a consistent moral orientation which run counter to their own. Changing and adopting those of the adults can be readily done.
Thirdly, Piagets view that all younger children are moral realists has also been challenged. It is seen that Piaget based his view mainly on the way the children reacted to the stories they were told instead of pointing out the intention of the offender. It is pointed out by other researchers that when younger children are told stories that are narrated in simple and clear terms, they (three year olds) will be able to state the intention behind the actions described in the stories. This suggests that three-year-olds are only less proficient than older children at discriminating intention from consequences, and in using these separate pieces of information to make moral judgements. Lastly, other research works (Durkin) have also found out that older adolescent boys still form their judgement based on material consequences and paid no more attention to motives or intentions than younger children. This suggests that
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at least childrens understanding of intention is much more complex than Piaget believed. In our next chapter, we shall consider another psychologist who researched into the cognitive development theory. Lawrence Kohlberg.
In this chapter, you have been introduced to some scholars who made very useful contributions through their research into Religious and Moral development. We have also done a detailed discussion of Jean Piagets Cognitive theory of moral development. In the research, he indentified three stages of moral development which he named heteronomous, autonomous and amoral. He made this conclusion by making children of different age brackets to play games of marble and also listen to pairs of stories in which judgements are made. Based on the responses of the different groups of children, he came out with the three stages of moral development.
We also discussed the usefulness of the theory to the RME teacher and some criticisms other scholars have against the research. We hope you have enjoyed every bit of the chapter. See you in Chapter Seven.
GENERAL QUESTIONS 1. Explain the concept cognitive development. 2. List any two psychologists who are connected with the theory of cognitive moral development 3. Identify any two strategies that Piaget used to test childrens reasoning about morality. 4. Explain the following terms: (i) Moral realism (ii) Moral relativism 5. Identify the 3 stages of Piagets moral development. 6. In a sentence explain Heteronomous morality 7. Give one feature of Amoral morality stage. 8. In a sentence explain the meaning of autonomous morality. 9. What is meant by immanent justice?
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10. State any one implication of Piagets theory of moral development to a classroom teacher 11. Mention any two criticisms levelled against Piagets theory of moral development. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. (a) Explain two strengths and two weaknesses of Piagets cognitive theory. (b) What three lessons can moral educators learn from the theory? 2. (a) Discuss the three stages of Piagets moral development. (b) To what extent do the stages affect the teaching of Religious and Moral Education?
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CHAPTER SEVEN
COGNITIVE THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT -LAWRENCE KOHLBERG
Dear Student, you are warmly welcome to chapter 7 of this course. In the last chapter, we discussed the research of Jean Piaget. In this chapter, we going to discuss the work of another developmental psychologist, Lawrence Kohlberg, who followed Piagets work from a different angle and made very useful contribution to developmental process of morality. In Lawrence Kohlbergs research, he concentrated largely on individualss moral judgement and set out to show that moral judgement developed as children grow older but that development depended much on environmental and social conditions. But let us first look at our objectives for the chapter.
state the method Kohlberg used to assess the moral reasoning of children. mention the levels of moral reasoning he identified. explain the stages under each of the levels. state two importance of the theory to the teacher. state two weaknesses of the theory. explain two lessons moral educators can learn from the research.
Now, relax and read on ...
In last chapter, we discussed the work of the pioneer of Cognitive Moral Development Jean Piaget. In this chapter we are going to discuss the work of another developmental psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg who followed Piagets research from another perspective and made very useful suggestions.
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One of the Psychologists closely connected with cognitive moral development is Lawrence Kohlberg. Lawrence Kohlberg studied a childs moral development during his doctoral work at the University of Chicago. Kohlberg (1927- 1987) attempted to apply Piagets cognitive rationale to moral development. His doctoral dissertation forced a rethinking of the traditional ideas on moral development. After teaching atthe University of Chicago for six years, Kohlberg accepted an invitation to join the Harvard Faculty where he continued studies of moral development until his death. Kohlberg believed that moral development is primarily based on moral reasoning and unfolds in a series of stages. He arrived at his view after extensively interviewing children about moral dilemmas and then asking them what they would do and why they would do it. The dilemmas were imaginary conflicts that forced children to make decisions based on their moral reason. RESEARCH APPROACH MORAL DILEMMAS Kohlberg assessed peoples moral reasoning through the use of moral dilemmas. Essentially, these involved a choice between two alternatives, both of which would be considered socially and ethically unacceptable. One of the most famous of these dilemmas concerned a man called Heinz. HEINZS DILEMMA In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that the druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $400 for the radium and charged $4000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick womans husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get about $2000, which was half of what the drug cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said No, I discovered the drug and Im going to
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make money from it. So Heinz got desperate and considered breaking into the mans store to steal the drug for his wife.
The following questions are worth considering:
1. Should Heinz steal the drug? (Why or why not?) 2. Was stealing it right or wrong? (Why or why not?) 3. Is it a husbands duty to steal a drug for his wife if he can get it no other way? 4. Would a good husband steal? 5. Did the druggist have the right to charge that much when there was no law setting a limit on the price? (Why?)
Sources (From Kohlberg, 1984) Kohlberg was not interested in whether the boys thought Heinz was ritght or wrong: he was interested in the reason s the boys gave to justify their answer. He also went on to apply this theory to people from many different cultures and using their answers to the above and another dilemmas. He concluded that, the way people think about moral issues reflects their culture and their stage of development.
From the answers interviewees gave for this and other dilemmas, Kohlberg proposed or hypothesised three levels of moral development, each of which is characterized by two stages.
The three levels are: 1. Pre-conventional moral level. 2. Conventional moral level 3. Post - Conventional moral level. Level 1: Pre-conventional Morality (about 4 to 10 years, morality is based on external authority).
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During these years, children respond mainly to cultural control to avoid punishment an attain statisfaction. At this level, the individual shows no internalization of moral value. Moral reasoning is controlled by external rewards and punishment. There are two stages:
Stage 1: Punishment and Obedience/Heteronomous morality: Children obey rules and orders to avoid punishment. They do as they are told because they fear punishment.
Stage 2: Child acts to gain reward. Children obey rules but only for pure selfinterest. Kohlberg introduces the notion of reciprocity here You scratch my back, I will scratch yours.
Level 2: Conventional Morality: (about 10 to 13 years, morality is based on judgements about expectations of others). During these years, children desire approval, both from individuals and society. They not only conform, but actively support societys standards. Children at the conventional level are concerned about what other people think of them and their behaviour is largely otherdirected. Judgements are internalized and show respect for others such as parents and society at large. There are two stages: Stage 3: Children wish to please others and be thought of as nice, a good boy or good girl. Children seek their parents approval by being nice. Here they begin to judge behaviour by intention. She meant to do well.
Stage 4: Law and order mentality: Children are concerned with authority and maintaining the social order. Correct behaviours is doing ones duty. For example, adolescents may say that for a community to work effectively., it needs to be protected by laws that are adhered to by its members.
Level 3: Post-Conventional (13 years and over, based on self-chosen ethical principle). It is the highest level in Kohlbergs theory of moral development. At this level,
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morality is completely internalized and is not based on others standards. The individual recognises alternative moral course, explores the options, and then decides on a personal moral code. Here individual does not appeal to other people for moral decisions. These decisions are made by enlightened conscience. There are two stages:
Stage 5: An individual makes moral decisions legalistically or contractually; that is, the best values are those supported by law because they have been accepted by the whole society. If there is conflict between human need and the law, individuals should work to change the law.
Stage 6: An informed conscience defining what is right. People act, not from fear, approval, or law but from their own internalized standards of right and wrong. Reason is based on universal principles, which show respect for life. This final stage is not usually attained by the majority of people.
Kohlberg believed that these levels and stages occur in a sequence and are age related. Before age 9, most children reason about more dilemmas in a preconventional way; by early adolescence, they reason in more conventional ways; by early adulthood, a small number of people reason in post-conventional ways. Kohlberg went further to stress that everyone developes reasoning in the same way and progresses in stages in the same order. The ability to reason about morality is linked to general reasoning ability.
According to Kohlberg, exposure to the moral reasoning in the stage above our own can help us to understand the failings in our current reasoning and so help us to develop the reasoning of the next stage. Kohlbergs stage-theory, like that of Piaget, implies a cognitive restructuring and reordering as the individual matures morality. Thus, each stage of development allows a better and more cognitive grasp than the one before it. This is called the One Stage above principle, that is, elements of the earlier stage are taken account of but are transformed in the light of later understanding and more complex mutual structure.
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THE STRENGTH OF KOHLBERGS THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT: 1. We know that all things being equal, older persons are able to reason better than younger person, so that there is a link between moral reasoning and mental development (cognitive). A look at Kohlbergs one stage above principle enables us to realise that each stage of development allows a better grasp of understanding than the stage before it. 2. Kohlbergs theory explains the individual differences in the nature of adults which are dependant on environmental and social conditions.
3. The theory has provided Educational Planners and Policy Makers with a guide to plan curriculum to suit the cognitive developmental stage of learners at any stage of education. 4. To the teacher in the classroom, the knowledge of Kohlbergs theory will guide him or her to provide different task to children if he or she finds our that the moral development level of some of the children are such that they cannot reason in abstract terms as their colleagues. Here one can support the point by saying that the teacher will know that a load for a giant cannot be given to a dwarf. 5. The theory enables the teacher in the classroom to know what to teach when to teach and how to teach. The teacher will base the childrens knowledge to know these things.
6. The theory will help the teacher to select appropriate teaching and learning materials.
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CRITICISMS AGAINST KOHLBERGS THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Although Kohlberg has provided us with some guide to help us determine cognitive moral development, his theory has been criticized on many grounds. Some of the criticisms are as follows: 1. Kohlbergs study has shown that principles of moral judgement develop gradually as children grow older, but his theory is highly dependent on environmental and social conditions.
2. Again, his work has been criticized for his emphasis on moral thinking based on quite unusual hypothetical dilemmas. According to Gibbs & Schnell, (1989), moral behaviour and reasoning are not necessarily correlated. They realise that moral reasoning may determine moral talk, talk is cheep, and what we say and what we do when faced with a moral dilemma often differ. In this sense, it is good or proper that moral development research should really look at what people do, rather than what they say they will do when faced with a dilemma. In effect, Kohlberg should have recognized that it is more important to emphasize what one will do rather than justify the behaviour of others. 3. It is also observed that the higher stages in Kohlbergs theory are associated with education and verbal ability. While well - educated people give higher level and more matured explanations of moral decisions, it does not make them more moral than the non-educated. The former may simply be just more proficient in language. 4. Furthermore, Kohlbergs theory generally focused on wrong doing (for example, stealing). In contract to this approach, Eisenberg et al (1990) gave children series of stories in which they could judge between self-interest and helping another person.
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5. More so, Kohlberg is also criticized for using artificial stories, which were just hypothetical. Moreover, the boys he used for the research were young people who had not had any experience in marriage hence their responses were also hypothetical. 6. Kohlbergs theory has been criticized for placing too much emphasis on moral thought and not enough emphasis on moral behaviour. Moral reasons can sometimes be a shelter for immoral behaviour. Eg. The cheaters and thieves may know what is right, yet still do what is wrong. 7. In addition to the above, another criticism levelled against Kohlbergs theory is that parenting practices make a major difference in a childs moral development. Parent who listened to their children and discuss moral matters with them have children who proceed to higher levels of moral development than do children who have parents who yell and threaten their children (Walker and Taylor, 1991) BENEFITS OF KOHLBERGS THEORY TO THE MORAL EDUCATOR IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF RME
1. It has the capacity to help the moral educator to understand the cognitive development levels of pupils so that they would appreciate the way children behave at different levels of moral development. Understanding the behaviour of pupils is a necessary tool every teacher needs for effective teaching and learning. 2. Good knowledge of Kohlbergs theory would enable and guide the moral educator to set tasks or give assignments that would match the cognitive development levels of pupils. 3. As moral educators studying the theory and its various stages, would help them to encourage their pupils to respect and safeguard the rights of other pupils since the theory draws attention to the rights and feelings of others and ones own behaviour towards them.
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4. The theory would also help moral educators to make their lessons livelier through the selection of appropriate language for different levels in the teaching of moral principles. 5. One important benefit of the theory to the moral educator is that, in the decision making processes, he/she would base decisions on reasons children give to justify their actions and not on what the children do or would do. 6. In the classroom, the moral educator, with the knowledge of the theory, would use appropriate teaching techniques depending on the cognitive level of pupils. 7. In a situation where the moral educator has the freehand to decide on what to teach, the knowledge of the theory would help him/her to select appropriate content material, which would be easily understood by pupils. 8. With good understanding of Kohlbergs theory, moral educators would realise that childrens thinking reflect their culture, social background and their stage of moral development. This knowledge would enable the moral educator to appreciate the behaviour patterns that would be exhibited by different children in the classroom. 9. Finally, with the knowledge of this theory, the moral educator is given the opportunity to encourage his/her pupils to use rational thinking in decision making (i.e. the reasons behind an action and not the action itself).
Introductory sentence: Lawrence Kohlbergs theory has a lot of benefits to the Moral Educator when it is studied and applied in the teaching and learning of Religious and Moral Education. The following are the benefits of the theory:
In this chapter, we discussed the Cognitive theory of moral development by Lawrence Kohlberg. We had a look at his research strategy, the use of moral dilemmas (Heinzs dilemma) to test childrens moral reasoning. We also examined the six stages of moral reasoning he identified which he maintained span three levels and concluded that cognitive
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development is tied to moral development. At the same time he insisted that such a development depended on environmental and social conditions within which the individual is brought up. Finally, we discussed the importance of the theory to the teaching of RME and also had a look at some criticisms levelled against him.
GENERAL QUESTION
1. What instrument did Kohlberg use to assess the moral reasoning of the children? 2. How many stages of moral development did Lawrence Kohlberg identify? 3. How many levels of moral development did Kohlberg infer? 4. What names are given by Kohlberg to the three levels of development? 5. Which level of morality are children concerned with whatever other people may think about them? 6. Name the level of morality where individuals act according to their conscience? 7. Is it true that older people are able to reason better than younger persons? State the reason for your answer. 8. Identify any one of the weaknesses of Kohlbergs cognitive theory of moral development. 9. State any one of the strengths of Kohlbergs cognitive theory of moral development
1. (a) Explain three strengths and two weaknesses of Kohlbergs cognitive theory (b) What three lessons can moral educators learn from the theory?
2. (a) Discuss the three levels of Kohlbergs moral development. (b) To what extent are the levels relevant to planners and classroom teachers?
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CHAPTER EIGHT
THE PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT SIGMUND FREUD Dear Student, you are warmly welcome to chapter 8 of this course. In the last two chapters, we discussed the works of the Cognitive moral developmentalist, Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg. In this chapter, we are going to discuss another research into moral development. This is the work of Sigmund Freud who focused on the influence of emotions in moral development. His work bears the title Psychoanalytic theory of moral development and in this discussion, we shall look at how our emotions affect our moral behaviour.
Let us first consider our objectives for this chapter.
state the three systems of human personality as given by Sigmund Freud. outline at least 3 characteristics of each system of the human personality. explain three importance of the theory to moral development. identify two weaknesses associated with the theory. state three values of the theory to the RME teacher.
Now read on Sigmund Freud, a medical doctor, propounded the Psychoanalytic Theory of Moral development from his study of mental patients. He considered personality to be like the tip of an ice-berg, just as the massive part of the ice-berg is beneath the surface of the water. According to Freud, our behaviour is triggered
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off largely by powerful forces, within our personality for which we are not aware. According to him, the human personality is made up of three major elements. These are Id, Ego and superego. Human behaviour is the interaction of these 3 systems. Rarely does one system operate to the exclusion of the other two. Let us look at the diagram below.
Diagram One (1)
Personality
ID
Biological part of personality
EGO
Executive part of personality
SUPEREGO
Moral/Judicial part of personality
Pleasure Principle
Reality Principle
Ideal Principle (Conscience and Ego Ideal)
The ID is the original system of the personality through which the ego and superego are initiated. It contains everything that is inherited. It is present at birth, and contain all drives and instincts. There are two instincts: the life and death instincts. The life instinct (or Eros) includes all of our drives for survival e.g. finding food, warmth and sexual gratification or satisfaction. The energy associated with life instinct is called libido (sexuality). According to Freud, the death instinct (or thanatos) is a destructive instinct. The energy associated with this instinct is Aggression. The wishes and impulses arising from the bodys needs build up a pressure or tension, which demand
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immediate release or satisfaction. Since the ids sole aim is to reduce excitation to a minimum, its said to be governed by the pleasure principle.
When the tension level of the organism is raised, either as a result of external stimulation or internally produced emotion, the Id functions in such a manner as to discharge the tension immediately and returns the organism to a comfortable and low energy level. This is called pleasure principle.
For example, a hungry person is provided with a mental picture of food. This hallucinatory experience in which a desire object is present in the form of a memory image is called wish-fulfillment. This wish fulfilling mental image is the only realization that the Id knows. The characteristics of the Id therefore are summed up thus: The Id is described as biological drives which arise from our basic physiological needs for food, water, sexual gratification, avoidance of pain among others. It seeks to satisfying the bodily needs without regard for logic or reason. The Id is governed or controlled by pleasure principle.
EGO According to Freud, the Ego is the second part of the personality. It can be thought of as the executive part of the personality; planning, decision-making, reasoning and logic part of us. It enables us to distinguish between a wish and reality. It is governed by the reality principle. While the Id demands immediate satisfaction of our needs and impulses, the ego will postpone satisfaction until the appropriate time and place. In other words it defers gratification. It seeks the best time to obtain the maximum pleasure with the least pain or damage to the self. It should be noted that the ego cannot dismiss the Id entirely. Rather, like a patient mother, it seeks to restrain, divert and protect the Id. The Ego serves as a mediator between the Id and reality.
SUPEREGO This is the third and the last system of the personality. According to Freud, it develops at the age of four. It is the internal representation of the traditional
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values and ideals of society as interpreted to the child by his/ her parents and enforced by means of rewards and punishment imposed upon the child. In other words, it represents the internalization of parents and social moral values. It observes the ego, gives it orders, judges it and threatens it with punishment, as parents do. It may be described as the moral arm of the personality and represents the ideal rather than the real and also strives for perfection rather than pleasure. Its main function is to decide whether something is right or wrong so that it can act in accordance with the moral standards authorized by agent of society. As the internalized moral Judge of conduct, the superego develops in response to reward and punishment given out by parents. The superego consists of two parts namely the conscience and the ego ideal. The conscience contains all things we should not do and if we do wrong, our conscience punishes us with guilt. That is, it threatens the ego with punishment for bad behaviour. The ego ideal on the other hand contains all the things we should do. We are thus rewarded with a feeling of self-esteem or approved when we are good or behave well. In other words, the superego promises the ego rewards for good behaviour.
Diagram Two (2) Personality
Id (Pleasure Principle)
Ego Superego (Reality Principle)
Conscience Ego Ideal (Ideal Principle)
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In summation, the main functions of the superego are the following:
1. To inhibit the impulses of the Id particularly those of sexual and aggressive nature since these are impulses whose expression is most highly condemned by society. 2. It persuades the ego to substitute moralistic goals for realistic ones. 3. It strives for perfection. 4. A childs conscience is formed by means of identification with his or her parents and the internalization on their moral standards. Now, let us recap the salient points under each element.
The Id: It is the biological part of personality. It contains the life and death instincts. It is ruled by pleasure principle Its sole aim is to reduce tension related to hunger, sex, aggregation, and irrational impulse. It seeks its own pleasure and cannot tolerate frustration of any kind. It is illogical. The Ego: It is the second and executive part of the personality. It is the human aspect of the personality. It seeks to find safe and socially accepted ways of satisfying the basic needs and drives of id. It operates on the reality principle. It is rational and logical in its nature. The Superego: It represents the moral social part of the personality. It operates on moral principle/Ideal principle. It is the third and final part of the personality. It represents the right and wrong of society. It observes and directs the activities of the ego.
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It is made up of conscience and the ego ideal.
STRENGTHS OF THE PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY BY SIGMUND FREUD
1. The value lies in the fact that the theory draws our attention to the importance of both the aggression and attachment during the early years of our development. His theory deals not only with the negative notion of developing emotion into our personality but also the positive idea of modeling our behaviour on that of the pleasant admirable figure
2. His theory stresses the importance of appropriate love relationship with parents in the early years of the childs development.
3. Freud draws our attention to the irrational level of rule following suggestions that such people had their development arrested through fixation at such critical stage of Psychosexual development (during the first five or six years of life).
WEAKNESSES: 1. Freuds theory and concepts have been criticized as unscientific and not testable. That is, there is no empirical evidence. That is to say, there is no evidence of Id, ego and the superego. 2. Freuds theory implies that children from single parents families should have poorer moral development. Again, there is no evidence to support this. 3. There is little evidence to show that children are morally mature by around six years of age. Some younger children do show some sense of good and bad 4. The link between parents and children morality can be explained in other ways; for example in terms of learning theory.
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BENEFITS OF THE FREUDIAN THEORY TO THE MORAL EDUCATOR Sigmund Freuds theory is highly beneficial to the Moral Educator when it is applied in the teaching and learning of Religious and Moral Education. The following benefits are available to the moral educator: 1. the moral educator can serve as a role model for his/her pupils to emulate if he/she is able to control his/her emotions appropriately and is not overtaken by the tension generated by the instincts. 2. the concept of individual differences is clearly explained in the Freudian theory. A knowledge of the theory would, therefore, help moral educators to understand the differences in their pupils behaviour and are in a better position to help to correct those who are deviants. 3. effective teaching requires the use of appropriate Teaching and Learning Materials. The theory generally would help moral educators to select appropriate TLMS when it is applied in the teaching and learning of RME. 4. the theory draws the moral educators attention to the fact that they need to express love to pupils at the initial stages of their development. This would foster healthy personality development in the individual children. 5. it also helps moral educators to know the tension and aggressive nature of pupils at the early stages of their development. This knowledge can enable them to manage well the behaviour the pupils put up at all times. 6. finally, knowledge of the theory helps teachers to issue appropriate rewards and punishment to pupils.
In the next chapter, we shall be considering one major theory, the social learning or behaviour theory of moral development
propounded by B.F. Skinner. In this chapter, we have discussed the psychoanalytic theory of moral development by Sigmund Freud in which he identified three systems in the human personality that influence human behaviour. He identifies the systems as Id, Ego and Superego. He indicated that the Id thrives on pleasure and will always demand immediate satisfaction to its needs. He also claimed that the Ego
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is the element that draws attention of the Id to reality of situation in relation to demands, and further explains that the Superego is the moral aim of the personality that deals with the traditional values or ideals of the society as given by parents which are enforced through rewards and punishment. We have also examined the importance of the theory to moral development and the shortcomings in the theory. As usual, we expect you to try your hands on the activities set out below to test your understanding of the chapter.
GENERAL QUESTIONS
1. Which theory of moral development stresses the importance of the emotions? 2. Identify the two main components of the superego. 3. According to Sigmund Freud, human Personality consists of how many systems? 4. Which part of the personality is ruled by the pleasure principle? 5. What are the energies associated with the life and death instincts? 6. 6. Name the three systems of human personality. 7. Name the part of the personality which is governed by the reality principle. 8. State one function of each of the following: (i) Id (ii) Ego (iii) Superego
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. (a) Summarize the Psychoanalytic approach to moral development. (b) Give two examples each of its strengths and weaknesses? 2. Explain the significance of Freuds theory of moral development to the classroom teacher 3. Outline 5 characteristics of the Id. How would your knowledge of the Freudian theory of moral development help you as a teacher?
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CHAPTER NINE
BEHAVIOURAL / LEARNING THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT B. F. SKINNER Dear Student, you are warmly welcome to chapter 9 of this course. In the last chapter, we discussed the psychoanalytic theory of moral development by Sigmund Freud. It is true that we learnt some very useful ideas in the theory, but this has been dismissed by the Social Learning theory which we shall discuss in this lesson. The Social Learning Theory is also known as the Behavioural Theory and the exponent of this theory is B.F. Skinner. Before we go deeper into the social learning or behaviour theory let us first look at our objectives.
identify the three mechanisms through which behaviour can be shaped as given by B.F. Skinner. state two instruments that can be used to change or shape behaviour. mention three importance of the social learning theory. list three weaknesses of the theory. give three moral lessons we can learn from the theory. state two advantages the theory have for parents and teachers.
Now read on...
The greatest exponent of the social or behavioural learning theory is B. F. Skinner. This theory dismisses the psychoanalytical approach to moral
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development because it claims it is built on hypothetical structures. (No one can go into the human body to identify Id, ego and superego). In the view of the social learning theorists, moral behaviour can be explained through three main mechanisms. These are:
(i) Reinforcement and Reward (ii) Punishment or the threat of it. (iii) Modelling or imitation.
Reinforcement and Rewards: The theory is based on Skinners theory of operant conditioning under which there is the assumption that behaviour can be modified or changed through reinforcement techniques. The assumption is that rewards increase the probability of a desired response or unit of behaviour. Children, according to Skinner, can be taught to adopt a kind of conduct their parents deem desirable or morally upright such as telling the truth, being respectful, being honest, helping others, through parental praise or approval. However, if bad behaviour is punished, then bad behaviour is associated with unpleasant feelings and will not to be repeated. This is known as learned avoidable reaction. This principle points to the fact that behaviours, which are reinforced or rewarded will tend to be repeated and those which are not will die out. Praises and attention can also serve as reinforcement for our children. If we encourage and praise our children for their good behaviours then they are more likely to repeat such behaviours in future.
Punishment or threat of it
Similarly, behaviour can also be shaped through the use of negative reinforcement or punishment in the form of physical punishment, verbal rebuke, sarcasm, or withdrawal of privileges or any treatment, which the child finds disagreeable or unpleasant.
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The effect of punishment is either to inhibit the undesired behaviour or to arouse feelings associated with pain, fear or anxiety in the hope that, by association, the undesired behaviour will in future not be repeated. It has been suggested that learning of any moral values should be based on modern learning theory in terms of conditioning responses build up during the formative years. Having known the effect of punishment, it would be interesting to know that warm and loving parents who relied mainly on what is termed inductive discipline tended to have children who were morally mature. Induction simply means using reason and argument to point out to the child that certain forms of behaviours are wrong and persuading them to change their behaviour because of their unpleasant consequences.
Modelling or imitation:
According to Behaviourist view, children also learn to adopt acceptable behaviours through imitation or modelling that is by watching either their parents or other people. For example, children learn to adopt sex-linked occupational and domestic roles typical of their environment or culture, by observing their elders behaviour rather than through deliberate instruction.
Thus children do not learn only from what they are told to do by adults but also from what they see the adults doing. I.e. learning takes place through imitation and modelling. Again, symbolic models in films, televisions, or books can also have a similar effect on children.
Children learn kinds of behaviours as a result of imitating others. Children who are exposed to aggressive models subsequently display far more aggressive responses than have possibly done without the exposure. In other words, exposure to uninhibited aggressive behaviours may release responses, which have hitherto been latent or forgotten. This model therefore appears to have a disinhibitory or releasing effect of violence on TV on childrens behaviour. Secondly, studies in modelling and imitations reveal the vicarious effect.
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STRENGTHS OF THE BEHAVIOURAL OR LEARNING THEORY: 1. The theory provides a good explanation for why people may be inconsistent in their standards and behave sometimes but not always. 2. Research suggests that children can develop an understanding of moral rules from TV programmes. This supports the idea that models have an impact on behaviours. 3. The differences in people learning history are a good explanation for the wide variety of moral codes at both the individual and cultural levels. 4. Parents punish and praise their children for their good and bad behaviour in the belief that it will teach them to behave properly. 5. Children learn by imitation so teachers should set good example.
Weaknesses of social learning theory 1. The emphasis is on conduct or behaviour, there seems to be no reference to moral feeling, moral reasoning or judgment.
2. The explanation of the theory seems to be mechanistic because children are regarded as passive learners responding or reacting to the influence of others rather than acting or interpreting the experiences around them and progressively learning to form their own principles according to the demands of prevailing circumstance.
3. It is difficult to test the theory in the real world. People with apparently similar background can behave in different ways.
4. The social learning theory places little emphasis on the maturational factor such as the development of the brain and changing in cognition in moral development.
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LESSONS MORAL EDUCATORS CAN LEARN FROM SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY OF B.F. SKINNER Teachers should use rewards if they want to increase desired response or unit of behaviour. Teachers should use punishment (e.g. verbal rebuke or withholding of privileges) if they want to discourage unpleasant behaviour. Teachers should use both rewards and punishment to help children acquire habits and moral conduct that will guide them. Moral educators should draw attention to the unintended outcomes of their own actions because of the effects they have on children. They should inculcate certain good standards in children to help them form moral principles and habits, which will guide their behaviour, because if the supporting authority figure is withdrawn, the individual is bound to feel lost. Learning which relies mainly on rewards and punishment will arrest real moral thinking of children. Moral educators should offer children responses and explanations appropriate to their level of understanding e.g. they should avoid engaging children in high level reasoning over moral issues. Having understood the theory of social learning, we shall look at Goldmans idea about the childs religious thinking in the next chapter. In this chapter, we have examined the Social Learning or Behaviour Theory of B.F. Skinner. We realised that he came out
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with three mechanisms through which behaviour of children can be changed or modified. These mechanism are reinforcement or rewards, punishment or the threat of it and modelling or imitation. We also discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the theory and further dealt with the importance of the theory to the RME teacher. We hope you can easily recall the salient points at your finger tips. As usual, try your hands on the activities designed for you. See you in the next chapter.
GENERAL QUESTIONS 1. Who is the exponent of the social learning theory that stresses modeling / imitation, punishment and reward? 2. Identify any 3 mechanisms by which behaviour can be shaped or changed. 3. What happens to children if they are praised or encouraged for their good behaviours? 4. Mention any two instruments of punishment that can be used to change or shape the behaviour of children. 5. State in a sentence what you consider to be the desired effect of punishment. 6. What is meant by the phrase learned avoidable reaction? 7. In your own words explain the meaning of inductive discipline. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. (a) Explain the strengths and weaknesses of the social learning or behavioural theory. (b) What three lessons can moral educators learn from the above theory?
2. What is the relevance of the social learning theory to the moral educator?
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CHAPTER TEN
THE WORK OF THE RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENTALIST
Dear Student, you are warmly welcome to chapter 10 of this course. In the last chapter, we discussed the social learning or behaviour theory of B.F. Skinner. That chapter concluded the research works of scholars who investigated into moral development of the child. We are now moving into another area: religious development and understanding of the child. This chapter and the next two will focus on the research of scholars whose interest was the religious development of the child. ie investigation into the way a child develops his or her religious thinking. The scholars, who we can describe as religious developmentalist selected are Ronald Goldman, Harold Loukes and Richard Acland. In this chapter, we shall focus our attention on the work of Ronald Goldman, who published his findings in a book titled The Childs Religious Thinking: From Childhood to Adolescence in 1964. Before we go into the research, let us look at our objectives for this chapter.
state the research approach adopted by Goldman. identify the various stages of the childs religious thinking. mention at least 3 characteristics of each stage. state at least 3 suggestions Goldman gave to teachers of Religious Education. state 3 criticisms leveled against Goldmans research. mention two ways this research is relevant to RME teachers.
Now read on ...
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THE CHILDS RELIGIOUS THINKING (FROM CHILDHOOD TO ADOLESCENCE) - RONALD GOLDMAN Ronald Goldman based his work on the Psychology of religious thinking of childhood to adolescence. He applied Piagets theory of mental development in children to the development of their religious thinking. In 1964, he published the findings of his research entitled Religious Thinking-From Childhood to Adolescence.
Goldman set out to make an objective examination of the concepts of children. At the same time, he sought to discover if there was any sequence or other by which religious thought progresses through childhood to adolescence and whether factors like home influence, religious affiliations of parents and children and the chronological and mental age have an effect on religious thinking. His research covered ages 6 to 17 and IQ from 76 to 140.
RESEARCH APPROACH
As a professional psychologist, Dr. Goldman worked out his method of approach by holding trial discussion sessions with a pilot group. He initially decided to use the clinical interview method since that does not involve problems of literacy but verbal responses and evidence of understanding or misunderstanding of religious language would remain. The work with this pilot group made him to concentrate on a technique which involved showing each child three pictures and asking certain questions about them and then getting the children to listen to the three Bible stories frequently used in the agreed syllabuses and finally asking questions about them. In each case it was to help them to believe that the conversation did not produce wrong answers. The pictures were the father and the mother about to enter a church with their child, a girl or boy praying privately at the bedside, a boy or girl looking at a large family, the Bible which had been torn and scribbled on by a younger brother or sister. The stories told were Moses and the Burning Bush (Exodus 3: 1-6), crossing the Red Sea (Exodus 14) and the temptations of Jesus (Matt. 4:1-11,
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Luke 4:1-13). There is no doubt that each of these stories require a process of considerable interpretation if it is to become meaningful to a reader of any age. Ronald Goldman then analysed the recorded responses according to the stories of the children. He examined such concepts as God, his nature, his Holiness, his Powers over nature, his relationship with man, divine communication, concept of Jesus, his humanity and powers, concept of the church, concept of marriage, concept of prayer and concept of the Bible. The work was not done by Goldman alone. He and two panels comprising more than forty theological and educational psychologists conversant with Piagets level of thinking did the analysis of the responses of the children. His findings led him to propound the theory of the childs Religious thinking which he put into five stages.
THE VARIOUS STAGES OF RELIGIOUS THINKING Stage one: Pre-Religious thinking (5 7+ years)
This is the stage of intuitive religious thinking, the ages fall within 5 to 7 years. At this stage the child has no real insight into a religious view of life. The child at this stage lacks the experience and mental capacity to think in any logical manner about religious ideas. The child cannot go beyond literal understanding and beyond egocentric concerns. The childs thinking is inconsistent and illogical. He cannot reverse his thoughts at this stage and he or she is unable to check any evidence in the light of conclusions made. It should be noted that the child at this stage is incapable of arriving at any religious meaning contained in the stories they read or hear.
Other characteristics of children at this stage are that prayer is magical, Religious words are used without understanding, God is man-like; he is seen in purely physical and human terms. One child when asked why Moses was afraid to look at God replied that it was because God had a funny face.
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Stage two: Sub Religious thought I (7 9+ years)
Children at this stage struggle to break out of the limitation of intuitive thinking. They lack experience and are still unable to produce logical explanations. Other characteristics of children at this stage are: Jesus and God are frequently confused. Their names are used interchangeably. God is seen as a large man with a beard in long white robes. Prayer is egocentric and materialistic but an important and pleasurable experience. The Bible at this stage is taken as literal truth that is including images and metaphor. The Bible is a book of stories of long ago and far away and has nothing to do with today. The Religious and the real world are separate; the religious is also separated from other experience. A child who was asked why the ground Moses stood was holy responded that it was holy because the story said it was so? When the child was asked why, he responded by saying that because God blessed it. Stage three: Sub-Religious thinking stage II (9 11+ years)
This stage can be considered as concrete operational thinking. Religious statements from the Bible are interpreted in a literal manner. Logical thinking is possible, but it is limited to thinking about visible and tangible objects and the limits of the childs own experience. Children at this stage cannot generalize from one concrete incident to another. They cannot also escape the limitation of their egocentrism. Other characteristics at this stage include the following: The child does not see the symbolic dimension of the story of the burning bush. Again God speaks with a physical voice. Also, there is a great deal of intellectual confusion especially over Gods transcendence. Furthermore, there is awareness of conflict between religious ideas and the world of reality (e.g. the problem of miracles). When a child was asked why Jesus refused to change the stones into bread, he said Jesus had a lot of work to do. It should be ruled that children at this stage are still not able to get the deeper explanation and meaning of the religious stories. For example, the answer to the phrase Man shall not live by bread alone, was crudely misunderstood by children whose mental age was 10. One
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child said: God said that if you ate bread alone you wouldnt live. You should eat something else with it butter. Stage four: Personal Religious Thought stage I (11 13+ years) This is an intermediate stage between the concrete and Abstract Religious thinking. Children at this stage attempt to do some form of abstract thinking with religious concepts. They engage in more logical thinking but they are still held back by the concrete elements of thought. According to Ronald Goldman, many people do not appear to advance beyond this traditional stage and they fail to arrive at a truly religious stage of thinking. At this stage belief is stronger than unbelief, but that is the beginning of real doubts. There is a guilt feeling that arises from the idea of a God of vengeance rather than a God of Love. They consider prayer as altruistic which involves selfexamination. Here, magical elements still persist and they tend to think of God in heaven. They are also conscious of the absence of God. They still have a feeling that God should be active today. They also consider Jesus in a more realistic way; a normal boy who was rather serious-minded. Children at this stage attempt to go beyond a story to form a hypothesis. For example a child, who was asked why Moses was afraid to look upon God, replied that Moses had killed a man. Here the child was able to analyse the story and came out with a tangible reason or answer. Stage five: Personal Religious Thought stage II (13 14+ years)
This is the stage of abstract operational thought. He or she can think in abstract and religious terms. The childs thinking is logical and consistent because he can detect contradictions and explores the implications of a statement back to the original argument. The child can now think hypothetically and deductively. That is to say, he or she can make inference. Other characteristics at this stage include the following: God is unseen and unseable. Divine communication is mental, internal and subjective (the voice of conscience) symbols are seen as symbols and there is consciousness of
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unanswered prayer. A child at this stage replied that Moses feared to look upon God because Moses might be frightened of Gods greatness. The children also saw the burning bush as some phenomenon within Moses himself. Comments Implications:
1.
The research findings of Goldman is very unique because of his emphasis on when a child is actually mentally ready to imbibe concepts in the Bible material. He pointed out that such material is unsuitable because it is unintelligible in terms of their experience, and presupposed capacities for thought and understanding not possessed by most children until a later age. Goldman argued that children are not intellectually ready for religious thinking in the adult sense until they have developed the capacity for abstract thought.
2.
3.
In fact, he asserted that it is not until a child reaches the period of adolescence that he or she is intellectually ready to apprehend what is the Christian faith.
4. 5.
Thinking power is limited if children are not sufficiently developed. The needs and interest of the child should be the first concern of every educator, he must consider the things children often see and wonder about.
6.
There must be awareness of the developmental limits in religious growth of children.
7.
Religion should not be taught for a missionary purpose.
Goldmans conclusions:
His main conclusions are stated below:
1. Up to about the mental age of thirteen, children think in a concrete way. As a result, children are not capable of that abstract thought which is necessary if theological concepts are to be understood.
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2. Much traditional religious education in the Primary school is an attempt to teach too much, too soon. 3. In his later work, Readiness for Religion, (1965), Goldman suggested that, it is impossible to teach the Bible as such, to children before adolescence.
4. Religious education in the primary schools should be designed to make the child ready for the teaching he would receive in the secondary school
According to Goldman, teachers fail in teaching religious education due to the following reasons:
1. Teachers, according to him, demonstrate ignorance of the processes of intellectual development. Consequently, they tend to teach too much too soon. 2. Again, they are guilty of trying to present biblical and theological materials to children whose intellectual equipment is inadequate to comprehend it.
3. Another reason for failure, according Goldman, is the diet of Bible study, which has become boring. Furthermore, the impression that religion is irrelevant to real life has been confirmed by the constant reference to an ancient book and an ancient order of society.
4. He claimed that the needs of the child is not really understood. In his view the child has no specifically religious needs. Rather he needs security and standard behaviour in addition to his emotional, physical and intellectual needs, which cannot be described as religious in the true sense of the word.
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Suggested Solutions:
Let us consider the suggested solutions offered by Goldman
1. He
advocates,
the
experimentally
based,
and
where
possible,
spontaneous worship as probably the most effective form of religious education at this age.
2. The Bible should be used to illustrate things arising from experimental work. It should never form the basic content of religious education at this age. More specific Bible teaching should be left till a later junior stage. He however, had no objection to the discussion of life in Bible.
3. He proposes an across subject approach in the education of young children. This means, religious education lessons disappear and all work becomes the exploration of life themes. The religious element is taken care of by relating the whole world of experience and discovery to the basic idea that this world is Gods world. 4. A specially prepared syllabus taking all the above-mentioned points into consideration is called for. Criticism of Goldmans Research: Goldmans work did not go uncriticized. In fact, it provoked a prolonged and stormy controversy. His work was criticized on educational and psychological grounds. 1. Goldman failed to take into account or consideration of the affective dimension of mans existence.
2. Goldman failed to distinguish between his research findings and his own opinions.
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3. He has been criticized about the choice of stories he used for his research. Some scholars argue that the stories were difficult and have little connection with the ordinary life of the child. Examples: the crossing of the Red Sea or the burning bush.
4. Goldman is criticized for accepting the modern critical view of the scriptures, which sees the meaning of many scriptural passages not in their literal meaning, but in the deeper or symbolic meaning of the passage. Conservative or fundamental Christians would find it difficult to accept many of the conclusions and findings of Goldmans research because they accept the Bible as the accurate word of God. BENEFITS OF GOLDMANS THEORY TO THE MORAL EDUCATOR
Despite the above criticisms, there is so much that religious and moral educators can learn from Goldmans research. Goldman himself has highlighted these benefits in his book Readiness For Religion. Here are some of the benefits of the theory to the RME teacher:
1. through this research, Goldman has made moral educators to understand that the thinking power of children are not developed sufficiently. We must, therefore, base what we teach upon the nature and level of children; that we should always consider the needs and interest of children first and not the needs of the church or parents who would usually pressure teachers of RME to reinforce parental and church values. 2. again, the moral educator is called upon to give the needs and interests of the children a priority and not the needs of the content or curriculum of religious and moral education. Since the curriculum may be developed without necessarily taking into consideration the needs of the children but that of the larger society. i.e. teaching should be individualised as much as possible. 3. he has also drawn attention of the moral educator to the fact that in teaching Religious and Moral Education, he/she should begin from the things children
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often see and wonder about and not what is perceived as the content they need to know at their level. For this reason it is advisable for religious and moral educators to listen to children recount their experiences and gradually help them to appreciate the deeper, religious and spiritual significance of these experiences. (teaching from known to unknown) i.e. Moral educators should as much as possible observe and respect what the child already knows in order to help build upon it. 4. Furthermore, he impressed upon religious and moral educators to be conscious of the developmental limits of childrens religious growth which is affected by their intellectual development especially in religious thinking. For this reason, the teacher should be guided by this research when selecting content material for children. 5. another benefit of the research is that Goldman draws attention to the Bible which is usually used as a textbook for Religious Education. (His research was principally connected with development of religious understanding). He emphasised that the Bible and all other scriptures were originally designed as textbooks of religious instruction for it uses all manner of literature and language as well as myths, legends, poetry and verbatim reports. He emphasised that even though children may be able to repeat symbolic words and phrases in the Bible and the Quran they may not necessarily understand them or be able to explain them to other people. The theory thus guides moral educators to be versatile in the presentation of lessons so that children would see real meaning in what they read from the scriptures and relate it to real life experiences (lesson should therefore be full of activities and vitality). 6. added to the above, Goldmans research made it clear that children have very limited experience upon which to base their religious understanding, as a result of the limitation of their age and environment. In the light of this, it is expected that religious and moral educators would make sure that their teaching would mean something realistic to the particular age of children for whom that material is meant. The theory therefore, encourages teachers not to teach in abstraction especially at the primary level.
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7. the research further brings to the fore the aims of Religious Education. He stresses that religious education should not only aim at inculcating moral principles into children but emphasised that when we are careful with the material we select for children in Religious education (one, which caters for their needs and interests of children), moral values may result from such a religious education. 8. related to the above point, Goldman has indicated that religion should not be taught for a missionary purpose (i.e. convert children into a Christian religious community) but should be helped to understand what Christianity is all about. Any attempt in this way, without addressing the needs and interests of the children would be dangerous in a society like ours which is pluralistically religious.
Goldman based his work on the psychology of religious thinking from childhood to adolescence. His main conclusions was that up to the mental age of thirteen, children think in concrete ways and they are therefore incapable of abstract thought which is necessary for the understanding of theological concepts. He also asserted that much traditional religious education in the primary school is an attempt to teach too much too soon. That it is an impossible task to teach the Bible to children before adolescence. He suggested that religious education at this level should focus on life themes which means using the Bible sparingly so that children could relate religion to life themes and enjoy their lessons; that is using the thematic approach. In this chapter, we have discussed Ronald Goldmans research into the religious thinking of the child from childhood to adolescence. He conducted the research through the use of Biblical stories and Biblical pictures, which were told and shown to children of different age brackets. He, together with 2 panels, then analysed their responses and came out with five stages of religious development. He maintained that religious understanding develops in stages which are similar to Piagets mental development theory. We also discussed the implications of the theory to teachers of Religious and Moral Education. He asserted that to teach too much traditional religious
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education is not good enough so teachers should be concerned with the stages of children when selecting material for them. He also suggested that religious education should focus on life themes to impact well on children. As usual, move to the activities section and try your hands on the questions.
GENERAL QUESTIONS
1. In a sentence state the benefit you derived from learning Goldmans theory of Religious thinking. 2. Mention one of the stages of Religious thinking according to Roland Goldman. 3. At what stage of Goldmans theory do children go beyond a story to form a hypothesis? 4. What stage of religious development do children consider prayer as magical and God as a human being? 5. State any two limitations each of the first two stages of Religious development
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. (a) What were the main findings of Goldmans research? (b) Of what influence is his research to the Ghanaian teacher of religious education? 2. Identify the five stages of Goldmans religious thinking (b) State three characteristics of each stage.
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CHAPTER ELEVEN HAROLD LOUKES TEENAGE RELIGION
Dear Student, you are warmly welcome to chapter eleven of this course. In the last chapter, we discussed the research of Ronald Goldman on his Religious Thinking of the Child: From Childhood to Adolescence. In this chapter, we going to examine another work of a religious developmentalist: Harold Loukes whose research is titled Teenage Religion.
Before we do this, let us first capture our objectives.
give two reasons that led to the setting up of the Harold Loukes committee
state any two methods the committee adopted to arrive at their findings. mention three recommendations Harold Loukes made to teachers of Religious Education. state three ways the research has influenced the Basic RME syllabus in Ghana. List three importance of the research to teachers of RME.
Now, relax and read on ...
In 1958 the Study and Research Committee of the Institute of Christian Education in Britain instituted a committee. The group was concerned with the extent Christianity makes sense to the school leaver and helps him or her to make life. The committee was made up of headteachers, specialists in secondary schools and others who knew the problems and opportunities of modern
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secondary schools. The group worked under the chairmanship of Mr. Harold Loukes PROBLEMS
The committee was set up to find out what children received from their religious instruction in school and what went on in their minds. The group was concerned with knowing how far Christianity makes sense to adolescents. It was believed that R. E. was not making the necessary impact on school leavers because as it were, R. I was simply imposed on schools by the act of Parliament therefore both teachers and pupils had no option but to study it. Thus the committee was obliged to inquire into the approach to Religious Education in non-selective secondary schools.
Specifically, the committee had the following terms of reference:
(a) What the pupils receive from their Religious Instruction in school. (b) What went on in their minds. (c) How far Christianity made sense to them.
METHODOLOGY (Research)
In their bid to find out the relevance of Christianity to life, the committee was set up with no intention of using the question method. Instead, the children were made to speak for themselves through interviews, where discussions were recorded on tapes.
Secondly, some students were asked to comment on writings on selected statements from the tape recorder. The discussion covered subject such as creation, belief in the Bible, character of God, belief in Jesus Christ; is Christianity worth dying for, is it boring to be good? Is there any life after death? The problem of suffering, the usefulness of prayer. Other questions bothered on going to church and the relevance of religious instructions. The respondents were between the ages of 14 and 15.
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The findings of the research
1. The research showed that students had various shades of opinion ranging from orthodoxy, unorthodoxy and agnosticism.
2. Again, there was a degree of personal constituency of adolescent and Loukes attributed this to varying methods of teaching especially the uncritical acceptance of good teaching from a faithful priest or a rationalist father.
3. Again, the study found out that the adolescents were interested in religious issues, however they yearned for more matured thinking.
4. Again they wanted to be sincere about religious beliefs and not just copying from the chalkboard what the teacher has written and have them in their note books blindly. It was also discovered that adolescents underwent religious rebellion at the age of 15 for the boys and 14 for girls though such conflicts were resolved at the age of 20 leading to religious stability. 5. Furthermore the research identified 3 major problem areas which adolescents faced. These were:
a) Problems of Personal Relations (a) Authority of parents and teachers (b) Peer / age groups / friendship (c) Sex / marriage / family life (d) Snobbery
b) Problem of Personal responsibility: This includes the use of money, leisure work, prayer.
c) Problem of meaning: - Suffering
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- Death - Life after death - Learning
Recommendations
Having analysed the findings critically, the following recommendations were made with the aim of generating interest of students in the learning of Religious education. 1. Loukes maintained that Christianity, if it is to be relevant to the life of the teenager must be seen to bear on these problems not in the spirit of negation or repression but in the illumination of their meanings and help their solution. He therefore proposed a problem syllabus and a problem method. According to him the R E syllabus must be made up of life themes like families, bridges, barriers related to adolescent problems and the method to be used should be the problem method. He suggested that the teacher must raise the theme; a theme which is related to one of the problems of the adolescent. The teacher should then guide the child in the proper discussion of the problems. After the discussion the Christian judgement of the theme should be considered.
2. Again, the students in the class should be assisted to apply the judgement to everyday life. The stages of the problem approach therefore follow the sequence below:
(i) Raising the problem (ii) Analysing the problem (iii) Finding the Christian interpretation (iv) Applying to personal life
3. Another major recommendation was that students should be encouraged to discuss issues. The outcome of such group discussion may give the following results:
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(i) A fact is grasped more clearly because it has been viewed from many angles. (ii) A mind is enlarged because it has taken in something usable and relevant. (iii) A new dimension has been opened up by the discovery that the idea can carry has different meaning to different people and an insight to otherness of other people which brings a new depth to human intercourse. (iv) The best discussion represents the achievement of the free spirit and the sense of worth for contributing to the development of ideas.
However, for a discussion to be positive the members must be well informed and should be faced with specific issues to be examined. In personal terms there must be a teacher who knows the subject and can expand it with sufficient understanding and knowledge to contribute to specific points. Discussion however should not lead to discursiveness.
In this chapter, we discussed the research of Harold Loukes, which was conducted together with a committee set up by the Research Committee of the Institute of Christian Education in Britain in 1958. At the end of the research, Harold Loukes advocated that the Bible centered approach very much in use be replaced with the problem-centered approach. He argued that this approach provides opportunities for pupils to discuss a variety of problems such as personal, political, economic, social and moral problems in the light of Christian insight and experience. Let us recap the salient points so far.
Harold therefore recommends copious discussion. He emphasized that the discussion method was an ideal teaching method and not just an opportunity for an exchange of mutual mystification between the teacher and his class. Harold Loukes, therefore, advocates learning through experience. For Loukes, good teaching is a process of dialogue about experience. It is an avenue for the young and old to meet and discuss what the whole of life is about.
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According to Loukes, Religious Education methods must show awareness of the changing society with its various religions. It must also be informed by the climate of scientific and technological advancement. Harold Loukes work greatly influenced religious education and focused attention on the need for opportunities to be created for learners to constantly relate religion to their own lives.
Loukes saw that religious education that leaves a child at the end of his course with hardly any knowledge of the relevance of the Bible cannot be considered successful. We hope you have enjoyed this chapter. Without any hesitation, move to attempt the activities section and see how you fare. See you in the next chapter.
GENERAL QUESTIONS 1. Identify any two groups that were represented in the committee.
2. Identify any two objectives of the committee of the Institute of Christian Education set up.
3. Name any two methods the committee used to get their findings
4. Outline any three findings of the research made by the committee, which was headed by Harold Loukes.
5. According to the committee set by the Institute of Christian Education, what are the three major problem areas adolescents face?
6. Identify any 3 recommendations made by Harold Loukes.
7. What does Loukes mean by saying that discussion should not lead to discursiveness?
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1. Analyse the findings and recommendations made by Harold Loukes in his research. 2. Discuss in detail the main ideas Harold Loukes is trying to put across to teachers of religious education. 3. Describe how you would use the problem-centred approach in teaching a topic from either the primary or JSS Religious and Moral Education syllabus. 4. What is the relevance of Harold Loukes Teenage Religion to the teacher of Religious and Moral Education in Ghana? 5. In what three ways has Loukes research influenced the preparation of the Basic Religious and Moral Education syllabus in Ghana?
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CHAPTER TWELVE WE TEACH THEM WRONG - RICHARD ACLAND
Dear Student, you are warmly welcome to chapter twelve of this course. This is the last chapter in which we are discussing the work of the religious developmentalist, having already looked at Ronald Goldman and Harold Loukes. In this chapter, we shall examine the work of Richard Acland, who like Harold Loukes, sought to find out the extent religious education impacted on students in Britain. His findings was published in his book entitled We Teach Them Wrong.
But before we go into detailed study of the work, let us first get our objectives.
state the main reason why Acland undertook the research. state any three findings of Richard Acland. mention any three recommendations Acland made for the effective teaching of Religous Education. state one comment each Acland made on the syllabus and the time table. identify two criticisms leveled against Richard Aclands research.
Now read on ...
BACKGROUND
Sir, Richard Acland was a Labour MP in the House of commons from 1947 1955. He resigned from both parliament and his party for the decision to manufacture Hydrogen Bomb and joined the teaching profession because he had a good degree.
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The experiences he encountered as an unprofessional teacher led him to enter into a teacher training college where he acquired the skills of teaching. In his book We teach them wrong., he published the problems he encountered in the classroom and the solutions he envisaged. He published his findings in his book We teach them wrong.
METHODOLOGY
From his own experience as a teacher, he realised the lack of interest of students in Religious Education classes. He backed up his observation with the research conducted by Institute of Basic Education. Questions were set to 564 pupils in modern schools, 202 in Technical and 547 in grammar schools. The number of boys and girls in all cases were almost equal. An example of one of the questions asked was Name two prophets who gave their names to books in the Old Testament. The following were the result: 86% of modern boys, 72% modern girls, 90% Technical boys, 7% Technical girls, 77% of grammar boys, 64% of grammar girls could not provide the appropriate answers.
FINDINGS Richard Aclands experience and the research of Institute of Education in Sheffield, U. K. confirmed the fact that Religious Education made little impact on the students to the extend that they could not answer simple questions based on the Bible. Acland accepted that students alone should not be blamed. To Acland, we must examine the timetable, the teacher, the syllabus, the scheme of work and the subject itself. For example during his time, R E appeared on the timetable once a week and this affected the competency and the seriousness of students.
According to Acland, children of yesterday are different from children of today. E.g. while the former lived in the pre-scientific era, the latter are living in a scientific age. Schooling for instance is compulsory (e.g. there was a clause which could make a student be suspended as he absented himself from class for
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twenty-eight days (28 days). However, church going was not compulsory. As a result, adolescents of today could not take the mythological and metaphorical language of the bible as presented to them by teachers. Hence we have the problem of literalism of trying to interpret the Bible without recourse to their basic meaning. We should therefore find a new way of teaching religion to school children of this scientific age.
RECOMMENDATIONS
According to Acland we should encourage children to question, explore and challenge issues that confront them everyday. The same should be applied to the study of religion. He argues that if we start our critical approach in the teaching of religion at the earlier stage by the time they reach adolescent stage, they would have known something about the picture language through which religious ideas have been expressed.
Miracles: In dealing with miracles, Acland suggested that teachers should be bold to tell students that the truth of the Christian religion does not depend upon the historicity of a number of wonder stories.
Whereas in earlier times, the miracles proved the heavenly origin of Jesus and the gospel; the present day tend to doubt the ultimate truth of what the gospel is saying. According to Acland, it would be a religious gain if children could come to see (realise) that the miracle is really to be sought in the spiritual insight which is invoked rather than in the story of physical wonder. Teachers, according to Acland should make children aware that Christians inherited from the Jewish belief that God is a living God who is active in His creation and in His people. This, according to Acland, will help children to recognise in the miracle stories some aspects of that truth. Then they will not be prepared to dismiss the miracle stories outright.
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Aclands comment on the Syllabus
Acland felt that the then agreed syllabus were over loaded with Hebrew history, Old Testament prophets, the journey of St. Paul, the gospel with the complex issue of the synoptic problem (as we have in the SSS Christian Religious Studies Syllabus).
According to Acland, Bible study, which is not supported by a systematic attempt to relate it to the realities of life and the problems of personal ethics, will never lead automatically to a wholesale adoption of the Christian way of life.
Acland therefore concluded that we should: (a) Look at the syllabus (b) Get rid of material which is not necessary (c) Relate Bible Studies to the life situation of the students. Aclands Comment on the Teaching Methods Acland suggests that The approach to religion in general and to Christianity in particular does not start from the Bible; it does not even start from Christ. Our ultimate aim of teaching religion, according to Acland, is to help children to a realization of the truth about God, which is revealed in Jesus Christ. However, in no subject do we start from the conclusion we hope to achieve. (i.e. God). Rather, we start from the known (i.e. human kind) and work towards the unknown (God).
In the teaching of religion, we cannot expect children to start with the unknown God when they understand so little about themselves and life. Religion, he argues is not about a body of knowledge. Religion is about relationship; relationship between oneself and life.
Acland suggests that the more realistic starting point in Religious Education in this century is the point at which the children are in relationship with each other
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and the nature of the society in which they are growing up. In other words, a course in schools should be centred on our students their needs and interests rather than on a body of religious knowledge.
He calls for a revolution in teaching methods because text books on R E are almost all based on the assumption that the first and indeed the only job to be done in R E is to offer the Bible; God and Christ to the learners. Acland suggests that we should place interest on the children. We should use the discussion method and raise daily problems about life and what we teach should have greater relevance to daily life situations.
However, discussion should not degenerate into expression of personal opinion but should lead to the discovery of what is right in Christian view. In conclusion, he suggests that children at the primary stage may be perfectly happy with the mythological expression of religion because they are still in the state of pre-scientific age and they have not lost their fundamental religious outlook. He is however concerned with the children of secondary schools who are matured and prepared to discuss issues. We should search for the religious characteristics of adolescents and find ways of addressing their needs and interest.
In sum, we should adopt methods that will relate religion to life. It should be childcentred and not teacher centred. Aclands comment on the Time Table
Acland believes that the subject ought to be accorded more time in the schools and that it should be entitled. Religion and life Discussion Period. He seems to be suggesting that the best way to reach the centre is to approach from the circumference i.e. the need for child-centred Religious Education. Thus in teaching the adolescent about religion, we should do well to start with their lives.
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CRITICISMS
1. The tittle he suggested for the subject (Religion and Life Discussion) was too cumbersome.
2. There is too much emphasis on the Christian religion at the expense of other religions e.g. Islam, African Traditional Religion. This is not acceptable.
3. The view that Religious Education teachers must necessarily go to church is immeasurable. Aim of teaching Religion in public schools is not confessional. The teacher should not indoctrinate or preach. He or she should be seen to be teaching. Church attendance should not be made a pre-requisite for teaching in Religious and Moral Education. Then also there is no need for prayers before the commencement of lessons.
4. His suggestion, that students should be made to test religious facts as done in other subjects, could be dangerous. The object, which is at the centre of religion, is irreducible. However, since religion is about life, there is need for rationality as we prepare our religious guest.
In this chapter, we have discussed the work of Richard Acland whose research is titled We Teach Them Wrong. He has succeeded in turning our attention to the influence of contemporary culture on the thoughts and attitudes of young people. In this age of science and technology, our children are no longer like the children of yesteryears . They have wide variety of exposure within the society (e.g. The use of computers in searching for information, etc). According to Richland Acland we are confronted with a different kind of animal..one whose basic culture is technological, urban and scientific. In other words, we are in the age of Prove it, an age when children are no longer passive listeners.
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Acland, like Loukes, believed in holding discussions with pupils to ensure that they understand the material and are also able to make useful contributions. He even felt that religious education should be called Religious and life discussions.
He advocated structuring the materials to fit the children of the scientific age. Materials should not only be graded but should be so carefully selected for the classroom work. The syllabus has to be relevant for the age of the children we teach.
Acland stressed the need for teachers to adopt new methods so as to make children understand and enjoy their Religious Education lessons. This chapter has brought us to the end of the research works or theories of Religious and Moral Education. As you try your hands on the activities section, it is our hope that you will find them manageable. See you in the next and last chapter of the course.
GENERAL QUESTIONS 1. State any three findings of Richard Aclands research
2. Mention any two recommendations made by Richard Acland
3. In a sentence describe how Acland commented on the syllabus for RI. 4. According to Richard Acland there is no subject that we start from conclusion. What does this statement mean?
5. What suggestion did Acland make to the teaching of Religious Instruction?
6.
According to Acland, what should be the title for RI?
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7. According to Acland we are confronted with a different kind of animal not one whose culture is technological urban and scientific. What does this statement mean?
1. Discuss the recommendations of Acland in terms of the in Religious Education Syllabus and teaching methods.
2. (a) What was seen as wrong by Acland as far as the teaching of in Religious Education was concerned?
(b) How does it differ from the scientific age with reference to Ghanaian school system? 3. .Do you agree that anybody at all can teach in Religious and Moral Education? Give reasons for your answer.
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CHAPTER THIRTEEN
FACTORS AFFECTING THE TEACHING OF RELIGIOUS AND MORAL EDUCATION
Dear Student, you are warmly welcome to chapter thirteen and the last chapter of this course. In the last chapter, we discussed the research work of Richard Acland, which happened to be the last of the theories of moral education selected for the course. In this chapter we are going to discuss another interesting area - the factors that affect the moral development of the child. We are aware that many factors work together for character formation of any individual. We shall examine these factors closely and see how, as teachers, we can consider them in moulding the character of our learners through the teaching of Religious and Moral Education.
But, first, let us look at our objectives
explain the term moral development. identify five major factors that influence moral development. state why human development is different from other forms of development in other organisms. state 2 reasons why the home is the foundation of morality. mention 2 proverbs that tie moral development to the home. identify 3 parenting techniques parents use to modify their childrens moral development. identify 3 forms of parenting styles. explain 3 ways the school influence moral development state 2 ways the mass media affect moral development.
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Now, relax and read this last chapter of the course. From the very day we are born, we begin the process of acquiring moral values and the experience we go through is the driving force that make us what we become as moral beings. The first kind of moral education is the one we acquire at home. When we enter the formal school system, the system also tries to reinforce the values we have acquired at home so that we can apply those values more forcefully in life. Indeed, some homes may not be able to provide this type of training adequately. The school therefore takes the responsibility to provide this type of education in order to fulfil a need without which the young person may not grow up into a religious, moral and responsible adult. Many factors may account for the success or failure of the intended purpose of the subject and a close examination of these factors can help the teacher to device the right strategies in his teaching so as to derive the maximum results. The factors that are worth examining are the following: 1. Religion 2. Home environment 3. The school 4. The teacher 5. The Mass Media Let us now discuss these factors one after the other and see how the teacher of Religious and Moral Education can use these to chalk a lot of success in his teaching.
RELIGIOUS FACTOR
Ghana is a pluralistic society culturally and religiously. A Ghanaian may belong to one of the three major religions in Ghana, namely Christianity, Islam or African Traditional Religion. The concept of God is seen as an innate quality of man. They agree that there is no need to show God to the child because this knowledge is within the Ghanaian. In the study of Religious and Moral Education, the pupils or student comes in with some professed leaning on one of the above religions mentioned.
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In Ghana, religious freedom is generally observed. Religion and state are separate institutions. No religion has been adopted as a state religion. Every religion, (including those minor ones like Hinduism, Bahai, Buddhism, etc) therefore gets the opportunity to make more converts without hindrance provided the conversion is done within the framework of peace and stability. Indeed, what we may call alien religions have taken advantage of the fertile grounds to make larger following without hindrance, such is the situation in Ghana. It is important to note also, that in Ghana, learning religion and moral training together provided the basis for formal education. The inclusion of religious education in the schools curriculum was not based only on educational grounds but was on ecclesiastical and moral grounds. To add to all that have been said, let us consider other underpinning factors.
LEADERSHIP QUALITIES
In all the major religions in Ghana, there are various small identifiable groups with leaders to direct the affairs of their group members. This gives both the children and adults some sense of responsibilities when they interact with their peers and other members in the performance of their duties. Leadership quality is also one of the moral values.
VARIOUS ACTIVITIES THAT GO ON IN THE VARIOUS RELIGIONS
Activities such as pilgrimage, evangelism, celebration of festival, camp meeting, worship together, attending of marriage ceremony, going to funerals etc are factors, which affect the teaching and learning of religious and moral education. In all the above activities, believers share ideas, socialize, learn from each other to help shape the moral life of the individuals.
THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
The various religions provide their adherents beliefs which go a long way to affect the members both positively and negatively. Belief of a religious group is a
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major factor which determines the dress code, the food they will eat, the work they will do, where to live and the general attitudes of the people. As said already, the pupils and students who are studying Religious and Moral Education may belong to any one of the main religions in Ghana. They come to school with some level of religious understanding based on their respective beliefs. But this understanding is usually an avowed one. Within the family, the child is exposed to a particular religious faith to the extent that he or she would take a defensive position which may not allow him or her to put the three main religions in Ghana at the same level. In this way the child is likely to condemn the other religions and brand them as bad ones. This situation becomes more compounded if the teacher of Religious and Moral Education resorts to the confessional approach in teaching the subject. In the light of the above, it behoves on both the teacher and the student to teach and learn religion in a non-confessional manner. The study of religion implies the study of man. Religion is a human activity. Without man we cannot know anything about religion. Man provides the vehicle for religion, which is essentially centred on the sacred or the supernatural.
THE HOME ENVIRONMENT FACTOR: Another factor that affects the teaching of Religious and Moral Education is the home environment of the pupil or student. With respect to the home, there is an adage, which says that charity begins at home. In seeking to trace the source of moral development we should consider key variables like relationship in the home, the pattern of discipline in the home, as well as the school environment. In an attempt to incorporate this into the teaching of Religious and Moral Education, we should bear in mind that the above saying means that the foundation of morality are laid in the home. All pupils and students in the school are born into a home so they grow up as part and parcel of the religious faith and moral virtues of that home. They may be exposed to specific moral principles, by which they live and conduct themselves. According to Kwame Gyekye, the home serves as an effective instrument for moral education and thus, the development and inculcation of moral values; but it
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does play an important role also in the practical moral life of individual members which includes the children born into the family. The truth in these assertion lies in the fact that in some homes, children are consciously taught many ways of behaving either in private or in public. They are taught as to how to talk to adults, how to address people in courteous manner, and how to relate with people. Some are given specific rules to follow at home. For example, some homes have specific times that children should go to bed and when to wake up. Indeed, some homes are very particular about dress codes of members especially the adolescents in the family. According to Norman Bull, the greatest influence upon the childs moral development is the home. He contents that the type of parenting a child receives from the home can even change his or her congenital temperaments. He further argues that if a child sees his world (home) as rejecting, unloving, uncaring, hostile, then what he considers a childs greatest enemy anxiety will be harmful to the speech, behaviour, ability to relate and to learn.
The anonymous article below sums upon the type of influence that a child receives from the home based on how he experiences his/her life in the home. If a child lives with criticism, He learns to condemn; If a child lives with hostility, He learns to fight; If a child lives with ridicule, He learns to be shy; If a child lives with shame, He learns to feel guilty; But if a child lives with tolerance He learns to be patient; If a child lives with encouragement, He learns to be confident; If a child lives with fairness,
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He learns to be just; If a child lives with security , He learns to have faith; If a child lives with approval He learns to like himself; If a child lives with acceptance and friendship , He learns to find love in the world.
The above article corroborates the Akan proverb that s wo didi w fie na s woamme a na wok ahwa. (i.e. it is only when you are not satisfied in the home that you go abegging. They also say that s[ wore p[ ade[ w] fie na s[ wonnya bi a na wok] ab]nten (i.e. one only goes outside the home for help when he or she does not get it from the home). These presuppose that if the home plays its function well, the effects of other factors or socialising agencies, if any at all, will be insignificant. In effect, we can say that if the home fails to play its role well, other factors will take over the mantle and the result may be disastrous and damaging.
The moral foundations are therefore laid in the home. Children carry the traits the home has provided to the school and to the classroom, which gives the opportunity to the teacher to develop them further. The background training acquired at home is the starting point in the teaching and learning of Religious and Moral Education for the children. The teacher must listen to the pupils/ Students as they recount their experiences, so that he or she can gradually assist them to appreciate the deeper spiritual and the religious meanings of these experiences. Not only should students develop moral principles, they should be encouraged to put them into practice. It behoves on the home and the teacher to help children resolve moral problems and also take responsibility for their actions. At home therefore, children should be given responsibilities that would make them appreciate the consequences of behaviours.
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All these should be incorporated and brought to the fore in the teaching of Religious and Moral Education so that the children will understand the relationship between what they are taught in school and how it is translated into real life situation at the home.
HOW PARENTS AND PEERS AFFECT MORAL DEVELOPMENT AT HOME
Concerning the home environment both Piaget and Kohlberg believe that parents are responsible for providing general role taking opportunities and cognitive conflict, but they reserve the primary role in moral development for peers. Earlier research has revealed that both parents and peers contribute to childrens moral maturity. In this section, we are focusing more on parental and peers and their role in moral development and then draw some conclusions about parents and moral peers in development. Child developmentalists who have studied child-rearing techniques and moral development have focused on parental discipline techniques. These include love withdrawal, power assertion, and induction.
Love withdrawal comes closer to the psychoanalytic emphasis on fear of punishment and of losing parent love. Love withdrawal is a discipline technique in which a parent withholds attention or love from the child, as when the parent refuses to talk to the child or states a dislike for the child. For example, the parent might say, Im going to leave you if you do that again, or I dont like you when you do that.
Power assertion is also one way a parent adopt to ensure discipline. It is a technique in which a parent attempts to gain control over the child or the childs resources. Example includes spanking, threatening or removing privileges.
Induction is the discipline technique in which a parent uses reason and explanation of the consequences for others of the childs action. Examples of induction include, Dont hit him. He was only trying to help and Why are you yelling at her? She didnt mean to trip you.
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Moral development theorist believes that any discipline produces arousal on the childs part. Love withdrawal and power assertions are likely to evoke a very high level of arousal, with love withdrawal generating considerable anxiety and power assertion considerable hostility. Induction is more likely to produce a moderate level of arousal in children, a level that permits them to attend to the cognitive rationale parents offer. When a parent uses power assertion and love withdrawal, the child may be so aroused that even if the parent gives accompanying explanations about the consequences for others of the childs actions, the child might not attend to them. Power assertion presents parents as weak models of self-control-as individuals who cannot control their feelings. Accordingly, children may imitate this model of poor self-control when they face stressful circumstances. The use of induction, however, focus the childs attention on the actions consequences for others, not on the childs own shortcomings. For this reason some people believe that parents should use induction to encourage childrens moral development. In research on parenting techniques, induction is more positively related to moral development than love withdrawal or power assertion; although the findings vary according to childrens development level and socio-economic status. Induction works better with elementary school age children than with preschool children and better with secondary school than with basic children. Older children are probably better able to understand the reasons given to them and are better at perspective taking. In the home, parental discipline contributes significantly to childrens moral development, but there are other aspects of parenting that also play an important role, such as providing opportunities for perspective behaviour and thinking. The following are tools parents can use to enhance effective moral development of their children at home: Moral children tend to have parents who:
(i) Are warm and supportive rather than punitive
(ii) Use inductive discipline (iii) Provide opportunities for the children to learn about others perspectives and
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feelings.
(iv)
Involve children in family decision making and in the process of thinking about moral decisions.
(v)
Model
moral
behaviours
and
thinking
themselves
and
provide
opportunities for their children to model such moral behaviours and thinking.
Parents who show this configuration of behaviours are likely to foster the development of concern and caring; a positive parent-child relationship. These parents can also provide information about what behaviours are expected of the child and why and promote an internal rather than an external sense of morality. Let us also consider other styles of parenting as propounded by some scholars.
OTHER PARENTING STYLES These include: (1) Authoritarian parenting (2) Authoritative parenting Neglectful parenting
(3) Permissive parenting
Indulgent parenting
Authoritarian Parenting:
This is a restrictive, punitive style in which the parent exhorts the child to follow the parents directions and to respect their work and effort. Firm limits and controls are placed on the child, and little verbal exchange is allowed. This style is associated with childrens socially incompetent behaviour. For example, an authoritarian parent might say You do it my way or else. There will be no discussion! Children of authoritarian parents are often anxious about social comparison. They fail to initiate activity and they have poor communication skills.
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Harsh discipline may be associated with child aggression, as a study have shown. Authoritarian parents are quick at blaming their children for their own faults. Even though they do not respect the rights of their children, they expect their children to give them maximum respect in whatever way possible. Children in such homes may develop fear, hostility and anxiety. In most cases they may copy blindly from their parents model. Since firm controls are placed on them, they may lack initiative and would usually look timid and lacking self-esteem. They are constantly discouraged and they experience a high level of inferiority complex.
Authoritative parenting:
This style encourages children to be independent but still place limits and controls on their actions. Extensive verbal give-and-take is allowed, and parents are warm and nurturant toward the child. This style is associated with childrens socially competent behaviour. For example an authoritative parent might put his arm around the child in a comforting way and say, You know you should not have done that; lets talk about how you can handle the situation better next time. Children whose parents are authoritative are socially competent, selfreliant and socially responsible.
In a home with authoritative parenting style, children are likely to become indisciplined in the absence of parents. They may show disrespect for rules and regulations or go wayward in the absence of parents. Such children may be difficult to control; all the same they may show signs of timidity and fear amongst their peers.
Permissive parenting:
This comes in two forms (a) neglectful and (b) indulgent parenting
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(a) Neglectful Parenting This is a style in which the parent is very uninvolved in the childs life. It is associated with childrens social incompetence, especially a lack of self control. This parent cannot answer the question, it is 10pm. Do you know where your child is? Children have a strong need for parents to care about them; children whose parents are permissive indifferent, develop the sense that other aspects of the parents lives are more important than they are. Children whose parents are neglectful are socially incompetent. They show poor self-control and do not handle independence well. (b) Indulgent Parenting: This is a style of parenting in which parents are highly involved with their children but place few demands or controls on them. Indulgent parenting is associated with childrens social competence, especially lack of self-control. They let their children do what they want, and the result is the children never learn to control their own behaviour and always expect to get their way. Some parents deliberately rear their children in this way because they believe the combination of warm involvement with few restraints will produce a creative, confident child. A boy whose parents deliberately reared him in an indulgent manner moved his parents out of their bedroom suit and took it over for himself. Even at age 18, he has not learned to control his behaviour. When he cant get something he wants, he still throws temper tantrums. This boy is not very popular with his peers. Children whose parents are indulgent rarely learn respect for others and have difficulty controlling their behaviour.
As explained already Permissive parenting comes in two forms: neglectful and indulgent parenting. We should note that in either case, this style of parenting can affect the childs moral development quite negatively. Children of such parents may be social deviants or corrupt. They may show a lot of disrespect and may be difficult to control. They find it difficult to co-operate with others and may not fit well in society.
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INFLUENCE OF PEERS ON MORAL DEVELOPMENT
A peer group by definition consists of children roughly of the same age. Along with parents, brothers and sisters, peers also play an important socialising role in a childs life. Siblings are more than occasional playmates they constitute a younger childs first peer group. Like parents, they act as powerful model. Indirectly, or directly, older siblings teach motor skills and language to their younger brothers and sisters. They show them how to play with toys or put on clothes or answer the telephone. And if siblings are close in age (and especially if they are of the same sex), they also provide the child first experience with competition as they struggle to establish their own identities and outdo the other.
Not all children have siblings, but virtually all do have some contact with playmates and friends before going to school. At the school, all children leave the protection of home and family for the New World of school. The influence of peers is strongest during the school years, and successful peer relations are a factor in popularity. The school environment calls upon children to develop the social skills needed to cope with a variety of peers. As we have seen peers begin to have influence on a childs social development as early as late infancy, but their influence is strongest at the time when children begin to take on more definite roles in the schools setting and thus exert greater control over one another. There is far more pressure than before to cooperate with ones peers and feel accepted by them. Studies of school children have shown that the way in which children relate to their peers is an important eterminant of popularity. For example some studies have confirmed that popular children have the ability to initiate friendship and to communicate effectively and positively with other children. The importance of being accepted by ones school peer shows up strongly when psychologists study unpopularity and its effects. Children without the acceptance of peers tend to be socially withdrawn and unhappy and may lack selfconfidence. And isolated children are more likely to have significant social problems later on, ranging from emotional difficulties to dropping out of school.
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Thus, childrens relationship with their peers are important in reinforcing a sense of belonging and providing the opportunity to develop competence in social roles.
THE SCHOOL FACTOR
How does the school system affect the teaching and learning of the subject? The school provides character education, which is a direct approach that involves teaching students a basic moral literacy to prevent them from engaging in immoral behaviour and doing harm to themselves or to others. The argument is that such behaviours as lying, stealing, and cheating are wrong and student should be taught this throughout their education. Every school is expected to have an explicit moral code that is clearly communicated to students.
It seems apart from the content of the school curriculum, there are other unplanned activities in the school which contribute to the moral development of our children. This can be explained in terms of hidden curriculum. Let us try to understand the concept curriculum. Curriculum has been explained by some scholars as a systematically planned programme of activities guided and organised in an attempt to communicate the essential principles and features of an education proposal in such a form that it is open to critical scrutiny and capable of effective translation into practice. What then is hidden curriculum?
It can, therefore, be seen as any other experiences that a student goes through in school in addition to the actual curriculum. Here more is learnt from the way in which teachers organise the work of their students, react to the behaviours of individuals, use punishment, exercise discipline, achieve control and in general, approach their students, handle their classes and manage the classroom. Thus, moral attitudes are acquired from every interaction of teachers and student since these interactions are moral. Let us see other areas that the school contributes to the moral development of pupils or students.
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The Prefect System
This is an aspect of school administration where students are entrusted with some leadership responsibilities. Prefect system offers the adolescent the opportunity to discuss school matters, make suggestions, help actively in the running of the school, participation in school councils, all indicating to the child or adolescent that he or she is a member of a real community, not a cipher upon whom the community is imposed. Here it can be said that the prefect system offers to the life of the pupil or student and contributes to his or her growth and development.
The School Climate
Some schools may be authoritarian, others democratic and others will display a spirit of laissez-faire. All the above different characteristics of school have influence on the moral attitudes and values displayed by their hidden curriculum for the moral development of the adolescent. The democratic system presents the school with a description of a familiar model. Here both students and teachers can offer suggestions which in the nutshell will show their commitment to the issues in the school.
Games and Sports
Sport has been considered to offer the following virtues for human development, character building, discipline, competition, physical fitness, mental fitness and nationalism. It can be seen that character building here refers to socially desirable personality traits like integrity, responsibility, maturity, honesty, and cleanliness. Discipline in terms of sports means self and social control which is important element in moral education. In the area of mental fitness, it derives its basis from physical fitness; for a sound body is a sound mind. For the virtues of nationalism we can say that sport reinforces patriotism, especially, during Olympic games. It can be seen that participating in sports aids the individual in gaining control of his or her aggressive habits, in developing poise under
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pressure, in using leisure time more efficiently, and in building character. In sports the athletes develop qualities such as courage, endurance, and patience. All the above virtues and qualities are found in the sports and games organised in schools.
Rules and Regulations
Rules and regulations are a set of principles formed to protect society or some other group. In other words they are ordinances that govern the activity of things and people. We can also say that they are means to govern and direct the individual to achieve a more meaningful life. From these explanations it can be deduced that rules and regulations are made to serve the good of those for whom they are promulgated. It is in the light of this that rules and regulations in school must be seen to enhance the good and development of the students but not merely as punitive measures.
Counselling
Counselling has been used to denote a wide range of procedures including advice giving, support in times of trouble or need, encouragement, information giving and test interpretation (of J. O. Oladele 1987). In general terms, counselling can be explained as a process in which the counsellor assists the counsellee to make interpretations of facts relating to a choice, plan or adjustment. This assistance may be educational, vocational, social, personal, emotional or moral. People argue that counselling should be seen not just as a mechanism for dealing with individual problems but again as part of the moral education of pupils. Here the task of teacher or counsellor is that of providing student with continuously developing moral code which will govern their day-to-day behaviour, in short, to provide a content for their moral development in response to their emotional, personal, psychological, social, religious, physical and educational experiences.
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Teachers Personality
The teachers possess all the advantages for fulfilling their role as moral educators. Studies have shown that a teachers personality is the most potent environmental force in the school. The greatest influence for effective moral development is apparently exercised by teachers who care for their students and speak as mature integrated persons to less mature person. Here we are saying that the total life style in and outside the school is a great influence on the moral development of the children. For example a wellcomposed and affable teacher by his or her behaviour teaches the virtue of patience and tolerance. A teacher who is also duty conscious serves as a role model for hard work.
Open Days
Pupils or students come together to interact with each other. Here both students and pupils feel proud in their perfomance at school, they are normally rewarded for their good behaviour, hard work, partrotic attitute which enhance their image and promote good moral development. Peer Group
(Readers are advised to read notes on home environment).
Conclusion
Discipline is a hallmark of a sound society. So when the school system, puts in place good structures and mechanisms as discussed above, they would be exploiting opportunities to check deviant behaviour without which moral or disciplinary problems cannot be tackled. At the school, certain forms of behaviour are branded as morally acceptable and others unacceptable. This serves as the yardstick to measure the conduct of students in the school. Unacceptable behaviour is determined by the school authorities based on the cultural context in which the school operates. Any conduct, which is seen as unacceptable, gives
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the school authorities the chance to enforce moral principles. The offender is brought to book and it provides a way of making the students aware that certain forms of behaviour are unacceptable and must be corrected and punished to serve as deterrant to others. What are some of the regulations the school can put in place to ensure an acceptable atmosphere for teaching and learning to take place as well as inculcate good values among students? They are many and varied. Much depends on the cultural context of the school and the aspirations of the community at large, but the bottom line is that the school is one factor that affects moral development and everything should be done by the school to enhance moral upbringing of children in general.
THE TEACHER FACTOR
The teacher of Religious and Moral Education himself or herself is another major factor that affects the achievement or otherwise of the goals for the subject. The teaching of Religious and Moral Education has a dual purpose: to enhance positive development of moral principles and also as an academic discipline. As a subject that affects the attitude of learners, there is the need for the teacher to grasp certain principles so that he can work towards the achievement of the goals of the subjects.
Students generally and especially those at the basic level have certain needs the teacher should attend to in teaching Religious and Moral Education. Firstly, the teacher should, as a matter of fact, develop interest in the way the students feel about other religions; how they regard people who do not fellowship with them and so belong to different religions or faiths. The teacher can ensure this by putting the students from different social backgrounds to work together ingroups. This approach will enable the teacher to deal with their prejudices, suspicions and misunderstandings against each other. The group work will bring the students into contact with those outside their own circles who they discriminate against and may start to empathize with them as they identify with their needs and discover that they are in the same boat. For this to work
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effectively depends on the teachers own attitude to other religions outside his or her own.
The second important point by which the teacher can affect the teaching Religious and Moral Education is having insight into the rationale for the teaching of the subject. This factor is very important considering the fact that the way the curriculum is organised can help or hinder the success of the subject. Religious and Moral Education has a clearly stated rationale for its teaching. The rationale is stated as follow: 1. Develop an understanding and tolerance of other peoples faith.
2. Understand
the
difference
between
acceptable
and
unacceptable
behaviours so that they can make the right decisions in many situations that will confront them
3. Develop an awareness of their creator, and the purpose of their very existence.
4. Become good and useful citizens of this country, capable of maintaining peace, understanding and order in their lives and in the lives of their families.
It is a fact that the above rationale has been identified to meet the needs and aspirations of the country as a religiously pluralistic society. For the above goals to be achieved, much depends on the attitude of the teacher. As a matter of fact, the teacher is expected to have these goals at the back of the mind at all times and must consciously work towards it always. The teachers posture in the class by way of his or her own conduct, comments and attitudes can affect the subject. Students would want to identify good conduct with the moral teacher. He or she will be expected to put up very decent behaviour in language and in moral judgements and conduct. He or she should
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be a good example of emulation for the students so that through his own attitude and conduct the subject can be made more meaningful to the students. To be able to do this effectively, he or she needs to expose the students to a wide range of moral codes and issues and genuinely live his or her life by them. The exposure will go a long way in giving the students a broad spectrum of comparative moral principles, which will make it possible for them to employ them in making moral decisions.
An occasional discussion of topical moral issues cropping up in the community and their teachers own judgement on such issues contribute a lot to the interest of students in the subject. Indeed, the teacher should not only help the students to develop moral principles but should encourage them to put those principles into practice. They need to practice making moral resolutions, and the act of facing up to challenges. The teacher should give the students responsibilities and let them take responsibility for their actions.
Another equally important point is the attitude of the teacher in the delivery of lessons. It has always been emphasized that Ghana is a religiously pluralistic society with three dominant religions. Religious and Moral Education as a subject recognizes that each of the three main religions in Ghana Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religion has something of value to offer the society. The teaching of Religious and Moral Education therefore aims at helping students to understand the phenomenon of religion and morality and how it affects people through the study of examples drawn from the major religions. It also aims at developing the students Religious and Moral Sensitivities, which is central to the general aim of education. Such an approach seeks to treat all the major religions as equal in status. The teacher should therefore not use any of the religions as yardstick to measure the others. As a pluralistic society, it is morally wrong to teach one religion and its beliefs as indisputable truth. When this is done we deny the students their educational right
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to study religion and understand pluralistic religions and moral environment within which they live and operate.
Teachers are therefore required to study and teach all the religions with the major educational aim of helping the students to understand and appreciate the beliefs and practices of the religions. This will rule out any possibility to induce students to subscribe to any particular religion. In conclusion, teachers serve as models of ethical and unethical behaviour so their lifestyle can affect the teaching of Religious and Moral Education. NB: Readers are advised to read for more information under school factor.
THE MASS MEDIA
HOW DOES MASS MEDIA AFFECT THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF RELIGIOUS AND MORAL EDUCATION
In an attempt to find out how the mass media affects the teaching and learning of religious and moral education, the questions we all need to ask are what is meant by mass media, what are its components and identification. By mass media we refer to systems or ways by which information is communicated to the people. These include the television, radio, films, video, newspapers, magazines etc. which are read or watched by many people.
Televisions as a components of mass media; Recent evidence makes it clear that the television has become a second school system. Children under 10 years watch television on average of 30 to 35 hours a week or about one fifth of their waking hours.
There are people who do not however see the television as a second school system. On the contrary, they hold the view that mass media is the first curriculum because they appear to be affecting the way children develop learning skills and acquire knowledge and understanding.
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Again, the mass media in the form of films perhaps has a very great influence on children since the ideas that they present to people can be very seductive. Audio-visual mass media is at present an extremely influential sources of social behaviour patterns because of the amount of time most young people spend watching films and listening to the radio.
There are various television and radio programmes which are both good and bad for the young ones. In addition to that there are a lot of sexy films, pornographic films, and photograph concerning sex which are published in various newspapers and magazines.
Scholars have put into three categories, the effects that the mass media has on people as a result of investigations and experiments they conducted. The first effect, which they call the modeling effect, has to do with the learning of new responses. The second is the inhibitory or disinhibitory effect in which case the response being inhibited or disinhibited already exists in the subjects repertory. The third effect is the eliciting effect where a previously learnt matching response in the observer is activated or released.
It follows that a child or an adolescent who watches a movie may learn a new moral act, stamp out or maintain an existing ones. (Bandura and Walters 1963)
According to scholars learning takes place in both children and adolescents as a result of engaging in mass media activities such as watching television, listening to radio, using the internet, etc. These invariably influence their moral behaviours positively or negatively.
Furthermore, let us look at some of the ways mass media affects religious and moral education both positively and negatively.
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Research findings show that repeated exposure to violence on television promotes a tendency to engage in aggressive behaviour such as getting into fights. It is also known that as youngsters grew up to engage in the most aggressive behaviour including spouse battering and drunk driving. Television viewing does not only increase aggressiveness in children but also it influences their sexual behaviour. (Allan C. Ornstein). In the area of academics, most data suggests that watching television more than five hours a day is partly responsible for lowering students achievement in reading and mathematics. The reason is that television detracts studying at home as it competes with homework time and study time.
However, not all research supports negative conclusions about the impact of the mass media on students conduct and attitudes. If utilized properly the mass media can have a positive influence on socialization and learning as it can serve as a vehicle for information, dissemination, education, news and consumer literacy.
In Ghana, studies indicates that selected programmes for school children such as By The Fire Side, Kwasasa Show Time, Cartoon, Kiddie Quiz, Science and Mathematics Quiz and others are associated with improved cooperative behaviour and cognitive skills. To adults, programmes like Agenda on T.V.3 which highlights social, political and moral life of the people in the society, Love Web by Opanin Kwadwo Kyere on T.V.3 educate the youth on the dangers involved in engaging in sexual promiscuity, preaching of sermons on T.V. and radio to draw individuals attention to what is good and bad is very educative and affects the moral life of people positively.
In this chapter, we have examined the factors that affect or influence the moral development of the child. We considered the factor of religion, the home environment, the school environment, the influence of the teacher as well as peers and the mass media.
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In all the cases, we said that each of the factors had significant contribution in developing moral or character traits of children. As parents and teachers, therefore, we should consider these factors as we try to impact on our childrens behaviour. Children are leaders of tomorrow and so our ability to show interest in their moral development is a sure way of building effective leadership for the future of Ghana.
GENERAL QUESTIONS
1. 1.Where does moral training of children begin? 2. Mention 2 ways by which religion can negatively affect the teaching of Religious and Moral Education. 3. State the reason why Ghana has not adopted a state religion. 4. What is a confessional approach to the teaching of Religious and Moral Education? 5. State 2 ways the home affects the moral development of the child. 6. How does the school check deviant behaviour? 7. State two ways the teachers attitude can negatively affect the teaching of Religious and Moral Education. 8. Mention one way the teacher can sustain the interest of his students in Religious and Moral Education as a subject. 9. Why should the teacher of Religious and Moral Education not use one religion as yardstick to measure others. 10. Mention any 2 parenting styles you know. 11. Name two (2) types of permissive parenting. 12. 12 State three ways by which peers help in the moral development of children. 13. State any 2 tools parents can used to enhance their childrens moral development.
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1. To what extent can we say that religion, the home, school and the teacher can affect the effective teaching of Religious and Moral Education? 2. Charity begins at home? How can we link this adage to moral development of the child? 3. How can the teachers attitude affect the successful teaching of Religious and Moral Education. 4. Discuss four ways by which we can generate interest of students in the study of Religious and Moral Education. 5. Explain the following terms: (i) Authoritarian parenting (ii) Authoritative parenting (iii) Permissive parenting (b) Why should the Religious and Moral Education teacher know the above terms? 6. How does the school affect the teaching of Religious and Moral Education? 7. Explain the following techniques: (i) Power Assertion (ii) Inductive discipline (iii) Love withdrawal COURSE CLOSURE
Congratulations! Do you realise how interesting the course FDC 119 had been? We believe strongly that you have learnt a great deal of many new concepts about Religious and Moral Education. Do you also realise how these concepts will help you to teach the subject RME to your basic school pupils effectively.
Now let us recall the salient concepts that were discussed in this course. In this course, we have examined the concepts and postulations below and how they help to inculcate religious and moral values and principles in our children:
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Religious and Moral Education deals with the basic concepts: Religion, Morality, and Education. We have looked at the relationship that exist between these concepts and how they collectively help us to inculcate religious and moral principles in children. The various sources /instruments of morality as it pertains in the three main religions practiced in Ghana: Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religion, and how these instruments are employed to guide the behaviour and conduct of their believers. The subject also aims at helping to develope a well educated moral person whose contribution and far reaching. A number of psychologists whose research had been studied to support the argument that moral development is tied to factors such as intellectual o r mental level fo children as well as childrens understanding of religious concepts. The home environment made up of parents, siblings, peers, and how they all influence the moral development of children. The school system also plays important role in moral development through instruments like the prefect system, counselling services, sports and games as well as the use of rules and regulations. The Mass Media also have a lot of influence on moral development through the print and electronic media.
Dear Student, all too soon, we have come to the end of the course FDC 119. Remember that at the end of each chapter, you were requested to try your hands on the activities section that follow the chapter. We believe you did well on that. At this stage, we would like you to compare the answers you had with those we have provided at the appendix. This can serve as a form of revision for you as
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you prepare for your end of semester examination, particularly the Section A part of the paper.
We believe you have enjoyed every bit of the course. We shall see you in year two for another interesting Content and Methods in RME.
Bye for now.
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APPENDIX In this section, we have provided you with answers to the General Questions that follow at the end of each chapter. We shall encourage you to work your way through these questions and compare your answers with those provided here.
CHAPTER ONE MEANING AND SCOPE OF RELIGIOUS AND MORAL EDUCATION ANSWERS TO GENERAL QUESTIONS
1. Religion can be explained as a system of beliefs, ethics, doctrines and a way of life, aim at enlightenment, deliverance and salvation.
2. (a) According to Paul Tillich, Religion is the ultimate concern of man. (b) According to Emile Durkheim, Religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things. 3. The six dimensions of religion by Ninian Smart are doctrinal, ritual, mythological, experiential, ethical and societal.
4. Three functions of Religion are (a) It fosters unity among people with common faith. (b) Religion creates job opportunities for the people. (c) Religion exposes human beings to their creator.
5. Any three dysfunctions of Religion are: (a) Religion at times creates tension and conflict among people who do not share common faith. (b) Religion at times retards maturation and human initiative. (c) Religion also reduces productivity.
6. Five characteristics of a religious person are: (a) A religious person has faith in a superior being
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(b) The persons moral conduct is in accordance with the wishes of his or her object of worship. (c) The person observe the necessary rituals as an expression of his or her faith. (d) He or she strives to live peacefully with others, even non-members of his faith. (e) The person shows considerable amount of commitment to the superior power. 7. Morality is a standard of behaviour that the people in society accept as good or bad. 8. Something that attracts price at the market. 9. Any six moral values are: Honesty, Patience, faithfulness, obedience, hospitality and self-control. 10. According to R.S. Peters education is an initiation into worthwhile pursuits. 11. The definition of R.S. Peters gives room for individuals to understand and values what he or she is been initiated into, while indoctrination and condition do not cater for understanding and the person will not value any new idea. 12. The means by which we can provide education are school and Home. 13. The three componens of Religion are: Code, Creed and cult. 14. The concept Religious and Moral Education is a subject or discipline that provides learners with both sound religious and Moral training as well as appropriate attitudes and values that enable individuals to make correct choices and decisions in life. 15. The basic concepts involved in Religious and Moral Education are: Religion,
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CHAPTER TWO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGION AND MORALITY ANSWERS TO GENERAL QUESTIONS 1. In many ways, a persons moral behaviour is measured as moral or immoral upon the recognition of God or a spiritual force as the source of morality. 2. Autonomous morality is when a person depends on his own conscience to justify his actions without the influence any external forces. 3. (a) Reporting a church member to the police for committing a criminal offence. (b) Arranging your mother before the law court for living in an insanitary environment. 4(i) Religion deals with faith whilst morality deals with ethical standards set by the society in any particular religion. (ii) People can be moral without necessarily being religious. (iii) Moral values of some religions vary from others and so it is difficult to use a religion as the basis for morality. (v) Most decisions in life are taken on account of our conscience and not necessarily what religion teaches us. 5. Four characteristics of rationality are: (i) Coherence (ii) Generalization (iii) Public verification (iv) Appropriate evidence 6. The two concepts aim at achieving the same goals. 7. (i) There should be appropriate evidence. (ii) There should be coherence in the assertion made. (iii) The evidence should be verified.
CHAPTER THREE SOURCES FOR THE STUDY OF RELIGIOUS AND MORAL EDUCATION ANSWERS TO GENERAL QUESTIONS 1. Every society has a code of ethics that regulates the behaviour of members so that the society will enjoy stability.
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2. According to Asare Opoku the main source of morality is religion 3. A moralist is a person who lives his life on the accepted norms and ethics of the society not necessarily on religious basis 4. (i) Home, (ii) School (iii) Constitution of the state, (iv) Charter of the U.N.O. (v) Conscience 5. (i) Belief in God (ii) The life and teachings of Jesus Christ (iii) The writings of the Apostles (iv) The work of the Prophets (i) Belief in judgment day 6. (i) Honour your father and mother that your days may be long in the land which your Lord, your God gave you. (ii) You shall not bear false witness against your neigbhour. (iii) You shall not steal (i) You shall not commit adultery. 7. You shall not covert your neighbours house, his wife or anything that belongs to your neighbour. 8. (i) Belief in Allah (ii) Belief in the Holy Quran (iii) Belief in the five pillars of Islam (iv) Belief in the Hadith literature. 9. The Holy Quran is said to be the unadulterated word of Allah and he Hadith is the direct preaching and sayings of the Holy Prophets Mohammed. 10. (i) The belief in the Supreme Being. (ii) The belief in the Ancestors (iii)The belief in the lesser gods / deities (iv) Customs and traditions 11. The Supreme Being. 12. Any one of the following: dress code, talking to elderly ones, when to go to bed and when to wake up, etc. 13. All the actions of the ruler and the ruled are regulated by the constitution.
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14. When the pupil violates the rules and regulations of the school. CHAPTER FOUR CONSIDERATION OF THE AIMS OF RELIGIOUS AND MORAL EDUCATION ANSWERS TO GENERAL QUESTIONS 1. (i) To develop an understanding and tolerance of other peoples faith. (ii) To help to become good and useful citizens, who are capable of maintaining peace, understanding and order in the society. 2. There are three major religions in Ghana namely Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religion and many less known ones such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Bahai, etc. This makes Ghana a religiously pluralistic society. 3. i. It can lead to loss of life and destruction of property. ii. It can bring about hatred among the people in the society. 4. Unexpected pregnancy, remaining chaste until marriage, adoption of children, etc. Through the study of Religious and Moral Education 5. (i) Students are exposed to other religions and it enable them to understand better the relationship between the different religions and their own religions. (ii) It also teaches them to develop respect for the other religions and encourage them to peacefully co-exist with them.
CHAPTER FIVE INDOCTRINATION AND COMMITMENT IN RELIGIOUS AND MORAL EDUCATION ANSWERS TO GENERAL QUESTIONS 1. Indoctrination: Is the intentional implanting of beliefs in a person so that it will stick by non-rational means. Conditioning: 2. (i) Content or material (ii) Methods or techniques (iii) Intention of the teacher (iv) The moral aims of the subject 3. (i) It does not make the individual critical in his thinking
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(ii) It denies the liberty of the individual. (iii) It removes understanding. (iv) It is not concerned with facts but only beliefs (v) It closes the mind to reasoning. 4. Indoctrination is using irrational means to inculcate a religious belief in a person whilst conditioning is the process of conscientizing the mind of an individual to the extent that persons mind is tune to that idea without question. 5. (a) Education accepts the process of liberalization while indoctrination denies liberty of individuals. (b) Education promotes critical thinking in the individual whilst indoctrination removes understanding. CHAPTER SIX COGNITIVE THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT - JEAN PIAGET ANSWERS TO GENERAL QUESTIONS 1. Cognitive development is the study of our mental process, that is, thinking, feeling learning, remembering, etc. 2. Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg. 3. Playing games of marbles and telling of pairs of stories, 4. (i) Moral realism is where a person judges a behaviour on the basis of an action. (ii) Moral relativity is where a person judges an action as moral or immoral (iii) depending upon the intention behind it. 5. The three stages of Piagets moral development are: (i) Amoral stage (ii) Heteronomous morality stage (iii) Autonomous morality stage. 6. Heteronomous morality is the stage where children believe that rules come from outside, they see rules to be fixed and to be followed 7. Any one of the following: (i) Children do not understand what rules are.
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(ii) Children are unable to make judgements and do not see anything wrong at breaking rules. (iii) Their cognitive level cannot reason about morality. (iv) Children are neither moral or immoral. 7. Autonomous morality is where a person becomes aware that rules and laws are created by people and that, in judging an action, one should consider the actors intentions as well as the consequences.
8. Immanent justice is a concept, which says that individual cannot escape justice and that punishment will automatically follow when an offence is committed.
CHAPTER SEVEN COGNITIVE THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT - LAWRENCE KOHLBERG.
ANSWERS TO GENERAL QUESTIONS
1. Kohlberg used moral dilemmas 2. He identified six stages of moral development. 3. He inferred three levels of moral development. 4. Kohlberg gave the following names to the three levels. i. Pre-conventional level. ii. Conventional level. iii. Post-conventional level. 5. The conventional level. 6. The-post conventional level. 7. Yes, this is because older persons are able to use their experiences to bear on the reasons they give for existing situations. 8. Any of the following provides the answer: i. The theory emphasized on education and verbal ability and not moral explanations or reasoning
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ii. The theory focused on wrong doings instead of positive the dilemmas iii. Moral thinking was based on highly hypothetical dilemmas whichreceived hypothetical answers instead of what people would really do when faced with a problem. iv. The boys he used for the research were too young to understand the concept of marriage and so were hypothetical in their responses to the dilemmas. 9. The theory serves as a guide to educational planners and curriculum developers as they recognize the cognitive level of development of children at any stage so as to determine the material suitable for each level 10. The theory enables the teacher to select teaching material or content for children in a school or class since the teacher has insight into what is achievable in relation to the cognitive level of the child. 11. i. Piaget depended on his own interpretation of the childrens responses which is very subjective. ii. Piaget based his view mainly on the way the children reacted to the stories they were told instead of point ing out the intention of the offender.
CHAPTER EIGHT THE PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT - SIGMUND FREUD ANSWERS TO GENERAL QUESTIONS 1. The psychoanalytic theory of moral development. 2. The two main components of the Superego are (i) Ego ideal (ii) Conscience 3. The human personality consists of three systems. 4. The Id. 5. Libido and aggression. 6. The 3 systems of human personality are (I) Id (ii) the Ego (iii) Superego 7. The ego 8. (i) Id: It seeks to satisfy the bodily needs without regard for reason.
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(ii) Ego: It enables individuals to distinguish between a wish and reality. Or It seeks to restrain, divert and protect the Id. (iii) Superego: It persuades the ego to substitute moralistic goals for realistic ones. CHAPTER NINE BEHAVIOURAL / LEARNING THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT B. F. SKINNER ANSWERS TO GENERAL QUESTIONS 1. B. F. Skinner. 2. Through: (i) Reinforcement and reward. (ii) Punishment and threat of it. (iii) Modelling or imitation 3. Children are likely to repeat such behaviours in future. 4. (i) Verbal rebuke (ii) Withdrawal of privileges which the child finds unpleasant. 5. The desired effect of punishment is either to inhibit the undesired behaviour or to arouse feeling associated with pain, fear or anxiety in the hope that by such association, the undesired behaviour would in future not be repeated 6. The phrase learned avoidable reaction means avoiding a bad behaviour as a result of unpleasant feelings meted previously. 7. Inductive discipline is whereby a parent uses reasons and arguments to point out to the child that certain forms of behaviour are wrong and persuading them to change because of the consequences that may follow. CHAPTER TEN THE CHILDS RELIGIOUS THINKING (From Childhood to Adolescence) ROLAND GOLDMAN ANSWERS TO GENERAL QUESTIONS 1. The teacher becomes aware of the developmental limits in religious growth of children and it enables him to select the content he or she is supposed to teach. 2. Any one of the following stages: (i) Pre-religious thinking stage.
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(ii) Sub-religious thinking stage. (iii) Sub-religious thinking stage II (iv) Personal religious thought stage I (v) Personal religious thought stage II 3. Personal religious thought stage I. (11 - 13 years) 4. Pre- religious thinking stage. 5. The limitations are the following: a. Pre-religious thinking stage (a) The childs thinking is inconsistent and illogical. (b) Religious words are used without understanding. b. Religious thought Stage I 1. (a) Children lack experience and are still unable to produce logical explanations. (b) Prayer is egocentric and materialistic. CHAPTER ELEVEN TEENAGE RELIGION HAROLD LOUKES ANSWERS TO GENERAL QUESTIONS 1. Headteachers and Specialists in Secondary Schools. 2. The committees main objectives were (a) To find out from the children the extend of benefit they received from their Religious Education lessons in schools. (b) How far Christianity made sense to them. 3. The two methods they employed were: (a) Through recorded interviews (b) Commenting on selected statements on writing. 4. Three findings of the committee were (a) The research showed that the students were interested in religious issues but more importantly they were yearning for more matured thinking. (b) The children also underwent religion rebellion at the age of 15 for boys and 14 for girls. (c) They also wanted to be sincere about religious beliefs and not just
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copying from the chalkboard in their note books blindly. 5. The childrens major problems were: (a) Problem of personal relations. (b) Problem of personal responsibility (c) Problem of meaning to hard facts of life. 6. Three of the recommendations were: (a) The syllabus must be made up of life themes. E.g. families, bridges, barriers related to adolescent problems etc. (b) Teachers should assist students to apply judgements to their everyday life. (c) Religious Education must be taught by specialists who can expand the content sufficient understanding and knowledge and so contribute to religious development of children. 7. Discursiveness here means digressing from the religious issues at stake.
CHAPTER TWELVE WE TEACH THEM WRONG : RICHARD ACLAND ANSWERS TO GENERAL QUESTIONS 1. Three findings of Richard Acland were: (a) Children were unable to answer simple questions based on the Bible (b) Children of today are different from those of yester years so a new approach should be adopted in handling them. (c) He saw the need for the review of the syllabus, timetable, the scheme of work and the teachers approach. 2. The two recommendations Acland made were: (a) That children should be exposed to the critical approach method at the early stages. (b) Teachers should be bold to tell students the truth of the Christian religion does not depend upon the history of the number of wonder stories. 3. He commented that the syllabus was overloaded with Hebrew history, old Testament Prophets, etc which were unnecessary and so we should include topics that are related to the life situations of students.
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4. This implies that in teaching any concept, it is better to start from the known to the unknown; the simple to complex; concrete to abstract. 5. Any one of the following: (a) Acland suggested that there should be a revolution in teachings methods since textbooks on Religious Education are based on assumption that we cannot avoid the use of the Bible. (b) Discussion should not degenerate into expression of personal opinion but should lead to the discovery of what is right in Christian view. (c) Teachers should use discussion method and raise daily problem about life and what we teach should have greater relevance to daily life situations. (d) Teachers should search for the religious characteristics of adolescents and find ways of addressing their needs and interests. 6. The title of Religious Education should be Religion and life Discussion period. 7. This implies that the Religious Education student of today is more sophisticated in his or her thinking and therefore question every religious information. CHAPTER THIRTEEN FACTORS AFFECTING THE TEACHING OF RELIGIOUS AND MORAL EDUCATION ANSWER TO GENERAL QUESTIONS 1. The home 2. (i) Religious fanaticism (ii) Religious intolerance 3. Ghana is a religiously pluralistic society 4. Teaching with the aim of converting students to a particular religion. 5. The home affects the childs moral development in the following ways: (i) Parental absolutes (ii) Peer influence 6. Through the use of various forms of punishment 7. The teachers attitude negatively affects the teaching of Religious and Moral Education by
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(i) Leading a life of questionable behaviour (ii) Using unguarded statement about certain religions 8. The teacher can sustain interest of students in Religious and Moral Education by being objective ad neutral in his or her teaching. 9. All the religions are considered equally important 10. Any two of the following: (i) Authoritarian parenting (ii) Authoritative parenting (iii) Neglectful parenting (iv) Indulgent parenting 11. These are indulgent and neglectful parenting 12. Children help their peers socialize and feel accepted. ii. Teaching them what is right or wrong 13. Parents can enhance their childrens moral development by the following means: (i) Giving warm and supportive reception (ii) Using inductive discipline. (iii) Providing opportunities for the children to learn about others perspectives and feelings. (iv) Involving them in family decisions. (v) Involving them in the discussion of moral behaviours and thinking.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Awuah, G. Jnr. (2000) Religious and Moral Edu cation: Foundation Studies Henisac Ltd. Kumasi 2. Downey, M. and Kelley A. V. ( 1978) Moral Education Practice: London Harper and Row 3. Goldman, R. J. (1964) Religious Thinking From Childhood to adolescence Routledg and Kegan Paul London 4. Goldman, R.J (1965) Readiness for Religion Routledge and Kegan Paul London. 5. Grimmit, M. (1978), What Can I do in RE?, Mayhew Mc Crimmon Ltd. Englaing 6. Grimmit, M. (1987) Religious Education and Human Development. Essex Meccrimmon. 7. John, W. S. (2001) Child development University of Texas Mc Graw-Hill Companies New York 8. Anti, K. K. & Anum, E.B. Religious and Moral Education for Centre for continuing Education. University of Cape Coast 9. Anti,K. K., Ntreh, B. A. & Sey, M. (2001). Religious and Moral Education Pupils Book 2 unimax Macmillan Ltd. Accra 10. Mathews, N. F. (1969), Revolution in Religious Education, A commentary, Lox and Wayman Ltd. London, Reading and Fakenham 11. Owusu A, (2003) Moralman Series, Johnsteyns Printing Press Kumasi. 12. Peter, R.S. (1966), Ethics and Education 13. Richard, G. (2001) Psychology, The Science of mind and Behaviour fouth edition Hodder & Sloughtou 14. Thomas, K. C., Sally, K. & David M. P. (1997) Educational Psychology: Windows on Teaching times Mirror Higher education Group U.S.A.
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General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

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General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

THE NATURE OR DEFINITION OF RELIGION

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

THE RELIGIOUS PERSON

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

WHAT ARE MORAL VALUES?

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

EXAMPLES OF MORAL VALUES

1. Honesty 2. Love 3. Tolerance 4. Patience 5. Kindness 6. Faithfulness 7. Humility 8. Obedience

EXAMPLES OF IMMORAL BEHAVIOURS

1. Robbery 2. Bribery 3. Hatred 4. Cheating 5. Pride 6. Corruption

7. Murder 8. Selfishness 9. Greed 10. Deceit 11. Jealousy 12. Backbiting

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

Anti - Education Fig. II

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

WHAT IS RELIGIOUS EDUCATION?

WHAT IS MORAL EDUCATION?

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGION AND MORALITY

Before that, let us look at the objectives for this chapter.

By the end of this Chapter, you will be able to:

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

PRECEDENCE OF MORALITY OVER RELIGION

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

13. It may lead to indoctrination.

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

CHARACTERISTICS OR FEATURES OF RATIONALITY

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

SOURCES FOR THE STUDY OF RELIGIOUS AND MORAL EDUCATION

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

state two reasons why morality is a religious phenomenon.

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

MORALITY AS A RELIGIOUS PHENOMENON

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

MORALITY AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON

General Introduction to Religious and Moral Education

African Traditional Religion