Assessing Students for Morality Education: A New Role for School Counselors.

Abstract

Violence in schools needs to be ameliorated by corrective measures that include morality education. School counselors, by their training in dealing with problems of students and their families, are the best qualified to teach the importance of values. Assessment of morality and vignettes on morality are provided. Instruments to measure spirituality and religiousness are also discussed. ********** Violence in the school has become an all too real tragedy. Alienation and lack of empathy in youth are factors strongly involved in the violent behavior of children and adolescents (Carlson, 2003; Rayburn & Richmond, 2001a; Raywid & Oshiyama, 2000; Sandhu, Arora, & Sandhu, 2001). An undeveloped or seriously damaged moral conscience and spiritual emptiness have been found in youth with violent behavior. Spiritual emptiness has been defined as absence of love, meaning, transcendence, hope, belonging, empathy, and completeness (Sandhu et al.). Angry, alienated youth have difficulty establishing trusting and therapeutic relationships (Sandhu, 2000). Schools have been envisioned as places in which significant nurturing of students occurs and where all aspects of the curriculum and environment emphasize valued human qualities. In the schools, ideally, focus is placed on mutual respect, support, cooperative individualism, and development of an atmosphere of trust and belief in the goodness of all persons (Sink & Rubel, 2001). School counselors have been well-trained to work with students to resolve problems, and it would be most feasible and beneficial for them to educate students in matters of morality. RELIGIOUSNESS, SPIRITUALITY, AND MORALITY Misbehavior is related to moral deficiency in individuals or in systems. When moral deficiencies such as bullying and violence are identified, corrective measures can be taken. Religiousness and spirituality are related to the moral development of college students (Parks, 1993; Serow & Dreyden, 1990). Educational institutions need to take a more active part in developing moral training for college students in order to fight moral decay. When students have more interest in the moral integrity, of society, they are more able to meaningfully and constructively shape society and promote social change (McCagg, 2003). Growth in moral values development has not kept pace with the increase in violence. Rather, it appears that society is living by a code of survival of the greediest. High acquisition of material goods achieves the status of power and all that is viewed as good and desirable. Conversely, peacefulness, spirituality, and morality are significantly related to loving concern or caring for others and having a sense of responsibility in protecting the environment (Rayburn & Richmond, 2001a). Spirituality and morality have at times been associated with religiousness, which has been defined as formal beliefs and creeds involving religious beliefs and spiritual growth, transcendence, caring for others, and forgiveness (Rayburn, 2001; Rayburn & Richmond, 2001a, b). These factors can be measured by the Inventory on Religiousness (Rayburn & Richmond, 1997). On the other hand, spirituality has been seen as caring for others, seeking goodness and truth, forgiveness, cooperation, peace, and transcendence. The Inventory on Spirituality (Rayburn & Richmond, 2003) can be used to measure this factor. Spirituality is not limited to theists but includes atheists, agnostics, and denominationally unaffiliated individuals. Morality involves ideas of right and wrong. While the tenets of religiousness and spirituality bear some relationship to those of morality, there are some significant differences. Caring for others appears to be vital to all three areas, as well as to peacefulness. At some basic level, however, morality involves an awareness and appreciation of what is acceptable and morally valued by both society and the truth and goodness-seeking self. …