A Lecture by Professor Iwasa at a Workshop for Members of Staff at Chiba Prefectural Ichikawa Subaru Senior High School

On Friday, December 7, 2012, Professor Iwasa lectured on moral education at a workshop for members of staff of Chiba Prefectural Ichikawa Subaru Senior High School (Principal: Mr Shibata).

The Center for Moral Science and Education decided to offer such external lectures in response to requests from schoolteachers seeking to think more deeply about the kinds of classes they should develop now that morality is to become a compulsory subject at high schools in Chiba Prefecture. This development was also the reason for the publication by the Center of its Moral Textbook for High School Students in 2013.

On Tuesday, October 23, 2012, Professor Ide, Assistant to the President of Reitaku University, had given a lecture on the theme of “the meaning of moral education in high schools” at the first of two workshops organized by Chiba Prefectural Ichikawa Subaru Senior High School. The theme of this second workshop was “how teachers can cope in concrete terms with conducting classes on morality.”

Professor Iwasa began by stressing the importance of the way of thinking of teachers as they strive to educate others in morality, and he emphasized the need for them to deepen their sense of morality and their philosophy of moral education. He also raised the issue that, when considering the subject of “morality,” we tend to think first about what we should do in classes on morality or other similarly named ones that occur once a week; prior to doing so, though, he argued that we need to attend to the everyday interests and human relationships of students in their school life, and to focus on ways to nurture their sense of morality. This latter, he felt, was the most important matter of concern, and all teachers should strive together to treat it as a common purpose.

Citing as examples material from videotapes on moral education for elementary and junior high schools made by the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education, Professor Iwasa urged teachers to ponder how the list of virtues contained in the syllabus for education in morality form the basis of the “network of interdependence” that sustains our lives. For this reason, he said, it is vital that we give deep and strenuous consideration to the fact that we are sustained by a network of mutual reliance (where our support for one another weaves a fabric of collective aid), which means that human beings such as ourselves need to think about the kind of morality that is proper for such an existence.

About 50 teachers of the high school attended the workshop. They listened attentively to the lecture, which was followed by a lively question and answer session.

PAGETOP

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