Educating Moral People

In this collection of essential essays, Nel Noddings examines alternatives to prevailing models of character education—a sympathetic approach based on an ethic of care. Covering both stories in the classroom and controversial issues in education, Noddings describes the similarities and differences between character education and care ethics…examines how moral education might be infused throughout the curriculum…and calls for greater cooperation across fields and more attention to the practical problems of everyday teaching.

Nel Noddings is Lee Jacks Professor of Education, Emerita, at Stanford University. Her books include Education and Democracy in the 21st Century, When School Reform Goes Wrong, The Challenge to Care in Schools, Educating Citizens for Global Awareness, Educating for Intelligent Belief or Unbelief, and Educating Moral People.

"Nel Noddings provides a powerful educational answer to the classic dilemma of narrowing the gap between moral and ethical principle and human behavior. She moves caring from an admirable trait of individual character to a necessary cultural condition---'an environment in which moral life can flourish.'"
—John I. Goodlad, President, Institute for Educational Inquiry

"This is a revolutionary book, and everyone concerned with issues of moral education had better read it. Noddings’ views are strong and original but carefully thought through and expressed with precision. A spirited and original contribution!"
—John W. Gardner, former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare

"With these wonderfully provocative essays, Nel Noddings confirms her status as one of our most important educational theorists. She thinks deeply and writes clearly about issues that are both timely, given the current popularity of character education, and timeless, given her invigorating way of connecting classroom practice to the big questions of human life."
—Alfie Kohn, author of The Schools Our Children Deserve