| Why
Weed Moral Education?
Beyond
the question of "Whose job is it (home, church, or
school) to teach ethics and morality?" is the reality
that there are titles on this topic in every school library
media center.  If
you have them, you must also weed and replace them to keep
them relevant.
Suggested
Dewey Numbers to Check:
Most
of the titles on this subject area will be found with the
170s materials on ethics. You may also have titles that
cover this subject in the 150s (individual psychology),
the beginning of the 300s (sociology), and in the 370s (specific
to the social aspect of education). Overall, you will most
likely find the bulk of these titles in the professional
and AV collections, but remember to also check the general
and reference collections.
Specific
Criteria for Weeding:
While
the basic messages of morality and ethics may stay very
close to the same over the generations, the trappings of
those messages become critical in reaching the intended
audience.  Peer
pressure may not be recognized by today's students if it
is dressed in the fashions of the 1960s and 1970s--especially
if it is represented as current by the title or the narrator.
Test your titles by ignoring the content and just look at
the visuals since that is how many students approach different
media--books or AV.
Specific
moral choices and decisions have changed drastically over
the years. For example, access to computers and the Internet
have had great impact on ethical decisions for students
in completing homework and projects for school. Our global
community expands the range of choices and experiences for
students, both the good and the bad. Check your titles to
see if they accurately reflect the world of today.
Consider
Weeding Titles Like These:
- Blueprint
for teenage living, 1958.
- But
it isn’t yours [filmstrip], 1972.
- Coping
with peer pressure : getting along without going along [videorecording],
1976.
- Crises
youth face today, 1973.
- Dare
to be different : dealing with peer pressure, 1980.
- Deciding
right from wrong : the dilemma of morality today [filmstrip],
1974.
- Donald
Duck’s elementary guidance series [filmstrip], 1977.
- Helping
children accept themselves and others, 1959.
- Life
goals : setting personal priorities [filmstrip], 1976.
- Making
value judgments : decisions for today, 1972.
- The
school’s role as moral authority, 1977.
- Sex
and the new morality, 1968
- The
teenager and the new morality, 1970.
- Turning
points : new developments, new directions in values clarification,
1978.
- Values,
rights, and the new morality : do they conflict?, 1977.
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