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##  Values Education in the Two-Year Colleges. ERIC Digest.                      

Most of today's colleges convey goals of citizenship education and              the preparation of future leaders as prominent aims, but such ideals            are often left unsupported in the curriculum and in the classroom.              Postsecondary institutions continue to offer some courses in morals             and ethics, although often in the form of electives from an                     exhaustive list of unrelated courses labeled "humanities"                       or "humanistic inquiry". Such elective courses tend to enroll only a            small fraction of students, particularly at community colleges.                 Moreover, even among the limited ethics courses available, it has               been argued that many such courses fail to teach values as                      effectively as they tend to teach facts, concepts, and                          theories (Thomas, 1993). 
According to the National Council of                 Instructional Administrators (1992), successful students are defined            as follows: "Successful students are successful learners who                    identify, commit to, and attain their educational goals. They                   acquire and demonstrate the skills, knowledge, and attitudes and                self-direction needed to perform ethically and productively in                  society, to adapt to change, to appreciate diversity, and to make a             reasoned commitment on issues of importance" (p. 1). This position,             which has been adopted by the American Association of Community                 Colleges, clearly demonstrates the continuing importance of ethics              and moral development in contemporary higher education. Based upon              both theoretical approaches and contemporary examples, this Digest              offers possible approaches and examples of morals and values                    education in both the classroom and the curriculum. DOES VALUES               EDUCATION BELONG IN THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE?In practice, values               education is often peripheral to the core of the college curriculum             and instruction in values is often perceived as inappropriate for               community colleges. One challenge is how to acknowledge multiple                values, particularly given the diverse composition of today's                   community college students. The precarious nature of values                     education in the curriculum is also due to a concern that any                   possible indoctrination of values by a faculty member would be an               invasion of privacy and a retreat to in loco parentis. However, it              can also be argued that all higher education institutions ought to              prepare future leaders and citizens not only by testing concepts and            theories, but also by developing critical thinking skills through               making moral judgements. That is, colleges should consider how to               develop the necessary ethical reasoning that is required of all                 leaders and all professions. This can be accomplished by examining              the classic approaches that integrate values and moral thinking into            the classroom. CLASSIC APPROACHES TO VALUES EDUCATION IN THE                  COMMUNITY COLLEGE CLASSROOMSmith and Martin (1979) offer three              possible conceptual frameworks for incorporating values education.              First, the Values Clarification Approach (Raths et. al., 1966) is               widely practiced in public schools. According to this approach,                 students clarify their values without using a standard measure. The             objective is to encourage students to consider their values and to              reflect upon them. Here the focus is on the process of valuing, more            than the actual content. The three basic dimensions are described as            prizing one's beliefs and behaviors, choosing one's beliefs and                 behaviors, and acting on one's beliefs 
The Cognitive Development              Approach to moral education utilizes Kohlberg's theory of moral                 development. According to his view, by confronting moral issues,                students can develop higher levels of moral thinking. These stages              are: 
(1) Preconventional Level-student is responsive to rules                 dictating what is good and bad, but the student interprets these                rules according to the consequences or the power of those who                   enforce the rules. 
(2) Conventional Level-the student perceives               expectations apart from the consequences. In this level, students               are loyal to the group and identify with those involved. 
(3)                  Postconventional Level-the student makes a clear effort to define               moral values and principles apart from the persons holding these                principles. 
The Development Approach utilizes Perry's theory of               personality evolution. Like Kohlberg's moral development approach,              Perry's theory is also explained in a series of stages. Perry's                 study showed the wide range of ways that students construe the                  origin of values and the nature of knowledge. 
These three                     approaches can serve as models for values education in the                      classroom. In addition, Bok (1982) suggests that instructors take               greater responsibility in promoting more rigorous class discussion              that will engage students in confronting and resolving ethical                  dilemmas. Regardless of the discipline, Bok encourages instructors              to consider the practical implications of how the course content                relates to concrete cases in human affairs and the consequences of              one course of action over another. CURRENT EXAMPLES OF VALUES                 CURRICULUMBeyond the classroom, ways to emphasize values in the             curriculum require consensual institutional commitment. Community               college missions and curricula vary, which makes it difficult, if               not impossible, to present a theoretical values approach that will              encompass all institutions. However, observing curriculum examples              in practice will provide some insight into ways institutions can                incorporate values education. 
Broome Community College (New                   York) 
This institution established seven minimum requirements for             the Associate of Arts degree. These include Communicating                       Effectively, Acting Civically, Thinking Globally and                            Cross-Culturally, Thinking Critically, Reasoning Ethically,                     Understanding and Using Math, Science, and Technology, and                      Maintaining Good Health and Fitness. The six core courses that teach            Reasoning Ethically explore public policy issues relating to                    justice. Evaluation of student progress in moral reasoning is                   primarily based on classroom participation. One particular course,              Communicating About Ideas and Values, requires students to engage in            moral discourse on selected readings. 
Community College of                    Aurora (Colorado) 
Instructors at this college developed a program             entitled Integrating the Teaching of Ethics in the Community College            Curriculum. Eighty-four faculty members participated in a seminar on            integrating ethics into the curriculum, which was then implemented              into various courses, affecting approximately 1,700 students.                   Outcomes included: 
* An increased awareness of ethical issues 
*             Better interaction among students and instructors 
* Faculty and               students ability to better clarify their own values, integrate,                 understand, and apply the practical and theoretical aspects of their            discipline 
* More principled, moral reasoning 
The curricular                integration of ethics remains a permanent part of the instructional             repertoire. 
St. Vincent's College (Connecticut) 
As a means to               clarify how students of this college were meeting the stated goals              of its general education program, a task force developed the                    following educational outcomes: basic communication skills, basic               mathematical skills, basic research skills, critical thinking                   skills, an appreciation for the humanities and society, knowledge of            scientific principles, and ethics and values. In measuring                      development in ethics and values, students were expected to be able             to: 
* Examine, articulate and apply own ethical views 
*                     Understand and apply core concepts 
* Analyze and reflect on the               ethical dimensions of legal, social, and scientific issues 
*                  Identify personal values and then employ them in ethical                        decision-making 
Through surveys, syllabi review, and other                    methods, the task force ascertained that competency-based learning              experiences are being provided across the                                       curriculum. CONCLUSIONValues education is an important, yet               sometimes neglected subject area in today's classrooms and                      curriculum. Despite explicit statements demonstrating community                 colleges' positions on values development among students, the                   precarious nature of the topic makes values education difficult to              implement. However, as this Digest seeks to demonstrate, values                 education can be adequately addressed in both the classroom and                 college curriculum. Particularly with an increasingly diverse                   composition of students and faculty, recognizing, developing, and               communicating personal values, ethics, and morals cannot be ignored.            In sum, understanding both classic and contemporary approaches are              essential in creating a community that both acknowledges and                    appreciates diverse values and beliefs. REFERENCESBok,                    D. (1982). Beyond the University: Social Responsibilities of the                Modern University. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 
Lisman,               C.D. (1992). Integrating the Teaching of Ethics in the Community                College Curriculum. (ED 413 948) 
McCain, A.K., Hine, T., &                    Wolfertz, J. (1998). Educational Outcomes and Competencies across               the Curriculum. (ED 421 184) 
Romano, R.M. (1995). General                     Education at Broome Community College: Coherence and Purpose. In                Higginbottom, G. & Romano, R.M. (Ed.), Curriculum Models for General            Education. (pp. 11-20). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. (ED              388 361) 
Smith A., & Martin, J.M. (1979). Developing a Values                 Curriculum. In A.M. Cohen (Ed.), Shaping the Curriculum. (pp.                   81-91). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. (ED 354                          958) 
Thomas, R.M (1993). Teaching Values Through General                      Education. In N.A. Raisman (Ed.), Directing General Education                   Outcomes (pp. 41-50). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. (ED 354            958) 
American Association of Community and Junior                             Colleges. (1992). Promoting Success in the Community College: An                NCIA Position Statement. (ED 345 765) 
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The ERIC                        Clearinghouse is administered by the National Library of Education              and operates under the OERI Contract No. ED-99-CO-0010. The opinions            expressed in this Digest do not necessarily reflect the position or             policy of OERI and no official endorsement by OERI should be                    inferred.                                                                    **Title:** Values Education in the Two-Year Colleges. ERIC Digest.                      **Note:** For full text: http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/ERIC/eric.html.                     **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Descriptors:**  Citizenship Education, Citizenship Responsibility,  Civics,                     Community Colleges, Course Content, Curriculum Development,                    Democratic Values,  Ethical Instruction, Higher Education,                      Humanistic Education, Two Year Colleges,  Values Education                   **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests                                                                 
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