Abstract

Moral education as practiced in schools today roughly falls into two kinds, either taught as an independent subject or practiced as a form of school-wide social learning. Dewey’s criticism of rigid moral training in traditional schools gives credence to the latter trend. For instance, in 2000 Taiwan’s Ministry of Education decided to eliminate moral education as a required subject from the national school curriculum and suggested that all schools and teachers should infuse morality into the school culture as a whole. More than a decade has passed, and many people question whether schools have been infused with morality. Some even suggest that not teaching morality in schools has led to an eroding of moral standards in society at large. In light of this controversy, in this paper, I take a close look at Dewey’s conception of the nature of morality, and in particular, his distinction between reflective and customary morality. Drawing on Dewey’s own moral struggles in life to illustrate his major contentions, I explore what Dewey means by moral reflection, dramatic rehearsal, and growth. Finally, I argue for the importance of committed moral values as the foundation for realizing Dewey’s ideal of reflective intelligence. Overall, I aim to unpack the underlying assumptions in Dewey’s ideas in order to renew his lessons for moral education today.