ArticleChildren Must be Taught to Tell Right from Wrong William KilpatrickMany of today 's young people have a difficult time seeing any moral dimension （ 道德层面 ）to their actions. There are a number of reasons why that 's true, but none more prominent thana failed system of education that eschews （ 回避 ） teaching children the traditional moral values that bind Americans together as a society and a culture. That failed approach, called “decision - making, ” wasintroduced in schools 25 years ago. It tells children to decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong. It replaced “character education. （ 品格教育 ）”Character education didn 't ask children to reinvent the moral wheel （ 浪费时间重新发明早已存 在的道德标准）; instead, it encouraged them to practice habits of courage, justice and self-control.In the 1940s, when a character education approach prevailed,chewing gum; today they worry about robbery and rape. Decision-makingcurriculums pose thorny （ 棘手的 ） ethical dilemmas to students,with the impression that all morality is problematic and that all questions of right and wrongare in dispute. Youngsters are forced to question values and virtues they've never acquired in the first place or upon which they have only a tenuous （ 薄弱的 ） hold. The assumption behind this method is that students will arrive at good moral conclusions if only they are given the chance. But the actual result is moral confusion.For example, a recent national study of 1,700 sixth- to ninth-graders revealed that a majority of boysconsidered rape to be acceptable under certain conditions. Astoundingly, many of the girls agreed.This kind of moral illiteracy is further encouraged by values-education （价值观教育 ） programs thatare little more than courses in self-esteem （ 自尊 ）. These programs are based on thequestionable assumption that a child who feels good about himself or herself won't want to do anything wrong. But it is just as reasonable to make an opposite assumption: namely, that a child who hasuncritical self-regard w ill conclude that he or she can 't do anything bad. Such naive self-acceptance results in large part from the non-directive （无指导性的 ）,non-judgmental （ 无是非观的 ）, as-long-as-you-feel-comfortable-with-your-choices mentality （ 思 想） that has pervaded （ 渗透） public education for the last two and one-half decades. Many of today 's drug education, sex education and values -education courses are based on the same 1960s philosophy that helped fuel the explosion in teen drug use and sexual activity in the first place.Meanwhile, while educators are still fiddling with （ 胡乱摆弄 ） outdated “feel - good ”approaches, New York, Washington, and Los Angeles are burning. Youngsters are leaving school believing that matters of right and wrong are always merely subjective. If you pass a stranger on the street and decide to murder him because you need money —if it feels right—you go with that feeling. Clearly, murder is not taught in our schools, but such a conclusion—just aboutany conclusion —can be reached and justified using the decision-making method. It is time to consign （ 寄出 ） the fads （风尚 ） of “decision - making ” and “non-judgmentalism ” to the ash heap of failed policies, and return to a proved method. Character educationprovides a much more realistic approach to moral formation. It is built on an understanding that we learnmorality not by debating it but by practicing it.Sampleteachers worried about students leaving themSummary of “ Childre n Must be Taught to Tell Right from Wrong ”In his essay “ Children Must be Taught to Tell Right from Wrong __________ , ” William Kilpatrick argues ___ fervently that the “decision -making” approach to the moral education of American youth, whichreplaced “character education ”25 years ago, has prevented juveniles from behaving and thinkingin accorda nee with the traditi onal moral prin ciples that are fun dame ntal to America n society.According to Kilpatrick, decision-making methods in still in stude nts a wrong belief that all norms of morality are subjective con structs with only relative truth in them and therefore can be in terpreted flexibly and even questio ned. This belief deprives them of the cha nee to secure solid moral sta ndards and in duces misc on cepti ons about what should be clearly right or wrong.In parallel with this in adequacy of the “ decisi on -mak ing” approach are the un expected outcomes of those values-ed ucation programs focusing on students ' self -esteem that subscribe to the"non-judgmental ”mindset dominating “decision -making”curriculums . assumption that feeling good warrants morality excuses students from criticizing their own behaviors.Their mistake n and discipli ningBasing his con clusi on on his an alysis of the fun dame ntal flaws of the decisi on-mak ing approach,Kilpatrick fin ally proposes an immediate shift back to character educati on which he believes teaches morality more effectively by emphasiz ing practice in stead of discussi on.。