My sister Sarah and I are just waking up one morning when Mom comes into our room and opens the window. "Get your clothes on, you two," she says. "It is a beautiful day, and we're going on a walk." I'm too tired to go for a walk. I look over at Sarah, and I can tell she does not want to go either. "But mom," Sarah pleads, "every day is a beautiful day... and, besides, it's going to be just (...) as beautiful INSIDE as it will be OUTSIDE.". (shrink)

What role should discussion of morality play in the moral education of children? There seem to be good reasons to believe that they should play a very minor role at best. Engaging children in philosophical dialogue about values is useless, it may be contended, because children are not truly rational. Also we cannot, for example, convince someone to be caring. Such discussion might even be dangerous, it may be claimed, because it will lead children to despair or to skepticism. On (...) this view, what children need, rather, is something more akin to training or habituation. We should show them what is right and what is wrong. (shrink)