Brief history of Values Clarification: Origin, development, downfall, and reflections
Apuntes para una historia de la Clarificación de valores: origen, desarrollo, declive y reflexiones
Juan P. Dabdoub
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22550/REP79-2-2021-06
Education on moral values is an area that has caused controversy in the 20th and 21st centuries, in particular due to the social rejection of the possible indoctrination of students. Louis Raths’ Values Clarification methodology was one of the most represen-tative proposals that attempted to outline a moral education free of indoctrination. Without further examining philosophical arguments that have already been dealt with in numerous publications, this article holistically studies the history of this approach in order to learn from the efforts, challenges, victories, and failures of those who have preceded us in the task of educating citizens with moral convictions. The article begins by presenting the main points of psychologist Carl Rogers’ theory that most influenced the origin of this methodology. It then introduces the social context in which the Values Clarification programme arises, a detailed description of its key points, the warm reception it received and, finally, the criticism and assessments that led to its dizzying downfall. To conclude, three brief reflections on moral education are presented, which, although not new, are reinforced by the study undertaken in this article.
Please, cite this article as follows: Dabdoub, J. P. (2021). Apuntes para una historia de la Clarificación de valores: origen, desarrollo, declive y reflexiones | Brief history of Values Clarification: Origin, development, downfall, and reflections. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 79 (279), 289-304. https://doi.org/10.22550/REP79-2-2021-06
Berkowitz, M. (2012). You can’t Teach through a Rat and other Epiphanies for Educators. Character Development Group.
Bernal, A., González-Torres, M. C., & Naval, C. (2015). La Educación del carácter: Perspectivas internacionales [Character education. International perspectives]. Participación Educativa, 4 (6), 35-45.
Dabdoub, J. P. (2019). Educación moral y educación del carácter: estudio de las principales propuestas de los siglos xx y xxi en Estados Unidos a partir del pensamiento de Aristóteles y Kant [Moral education and character education: a study of the main proposals of the 20th and 21st centuries in the United States based on the thought of Aristotle and Kant]. [Unpublished doctoral thesis]. Universidad de Navarra.
Dabdoub, J. P., Naval, C., & Bernal, A. (2020). El declive de la educación del carácter en Estados Unidos durante el siglo xx [The decline of character education in the United States in the 20th century]. Pedagogia et vita, 78 (2), 92-109.
Damon, W. (Ed.) (2002). Bringing in a new era in character education. Hoover Institution Press.
Ellrod, F. (1992). Contemporary philosophies of moral education. In G. McLean & F. Ellrod (Eds.), Philosophical foundations for moral education and character development: act and agent (pp. 9-42). Council for Research in Values and Philosophy.
Escámez, J. (1996). Teorías contemporáneas sobre educación moral [Contemporary theories on moral education. A values world]. In A. Cortina (Ed.), Un mundo de valores (pp. 39-50). Generalitat Valenciana.
Fuentes, J. L. (2018). Educación del carácter en España: causas y evidencias de un débil desarrollo [Character education in Spain: Reasons and evidences of a weak development]. Estudios sobre educación, 35, 353-371. https://doi.org/10.15581/004.35.353-371
Gordillo, M. (1992). Desarrollo moral y educación [Moral development and education]. EUNSA.
Harmin, M. (1988). Value clarity, high morality: Let’s go for both. Educational Leadership, 45 (8), 24-30.
Harmin, M., & Simon, S. (1967). Values and teaching: A humane process. Educational Leadership, 24 (6), 517-525.
Hunter, J. D. (2000). The death of character: Moral education in an age without good or evil. Basic Books.
Kilpatrick, W. (1992). Why Johnny cant tell right from wrong and what we can do about it. Touchstone.
Kirschenbaum, H. (1973). Beyond Values Clarification. In H. Kirschenbaum & S. B. Simon (Eds.), Readings in Value Clarification (pp. 92-110). Winston Press.
Kirschenbaum, H. (1976). Clarifying Values Clarification: Some theoretical issues and a review of research. Group & Organization Studies, 1 (1), 99-116.
Kirschenbaum, H. (2000). From Values Clarification to character education: A personal journey. Journal of Humanistic Counseling Education and Development, 39 (1), 4-20.
Kirschenbaum, H., Harmin, M., Howe, L., & Simon, S. (1975). In defense of Values Clarification: A position paper (pp. 1-8). National Humanistic Education Center.
Kirschenbaum, H., & Simon, S. (1973). Values and the futures movement in education. In H. Kirschenbaum & S. Simon (Eds.), Readings in Value Clarification (pp. 17-30). Winston Press.
Kohlberg, L., & Simon, S. (1973). An exchange of opinion between Kohlberg and Simon. In H. Kirschenbaum & S. Simon (Eds.), Readings in Values Clarification (pp. 62-64). Winston Press.
Lickona, T. (1991). Educating for character: How our schools can teach respect and responsibility. Bantam Books.
Lipe, D. (1995). A critical analysis of values clarification. Apologetic Press.
Lockwood, A. (1978). The effects of Values Clarification and moral development curricula on school-age subjects: A critical review of recent research. Review of Educational Research, 48 (3), 325.
McClellan, B. E. (1999). Moral education in America: Schools and the shaping of character from colonial times to the present. Teachers College, Columbia University.
Medina, J. R. (2000). Educación moral: un estudio crítico de la «Clarificación de Valores» [Moral education: a critical study of “Values Clarification”]. A Parte Rei: Revista de filosofía, 9 (7), 1-33.
Nucci, L. P., Krettenauer, T., & Narváez, D. (2014). Handbook of moral and character education. Routledge.
Pascual, A. (2014). Clarificación de valores y desarrollo humano [Values clarification and human development]. Narcea Ediciones.
Raths, L., Harmin, M., & Simon, S. (1978). Values and teaching: Working with values in the classroom. Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company.
Rogers, C. (1964). Toward a modern approach to values: The Valuing process in the mature person. Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology, 68 (2), 160-167.
Rogers, C. (1973). Toward a modern approach to values: The valuing process in the mature person. In H. Kirschenbaum & S. Simon (Eds.), Readings in Values Clarification (pp. 75-91). Winston Press.
Rousseau, J. J. (2011). Emilio o la educación [Emile, or On education]. In S. Sevilla (Ed.), Obras Completas. Gredos.
Ryan, W. (1989). Incoherence and contradiction in the Values Clarification movement. McGill Journal of Education, 24 (2), 173-186.
Salls, H. S. (2007). Character education: Transforming values into virtue. University Press of America.
Sanderse, W. (2012). Character education: A Neo-Aristotelian approach to the philosophy, psychology and education of virtue. Eburon.
Sandin, R. (1992). The rehabilitation of virtue: Foundations of moral education. Praeger Publishers.
Juan P. Dabdoub. Assistant Professor in the School of Education and Psychology at the Universidad de Navarra, where he defended his doctoral thesis in 2019. He has been a member of the Education, Citizenship and Character Research Group since 2015. His research interests include the theory and practice of character education, educational leadership, and the design, implementation and evaluation of interventions that cultivate moral and civic virtue in school communities.
Data collected by PlumX Metrics. More information on the metrics collected can be found at https://plumanalytics.com/learn/about-metrics/