I hear this type of claim bandied about in certain education circles--namely, by k-12 practitioners themselves--that students' behavior, respectfulness, etc. has all but disappeared. I know that this is going to vary by district, but I am interested in if there are overall trends.
My inclination is to agree with Steven Pinker in thinking that people are confusing change in themselves with change in the world, and change in the world with moral decline. It seems akin to my parents (who are in their 60s) saying something to the effect of "the world is so much more violent today than when I was a kid." Is it, though?
I've tried searching for articles on this topic on Google Scholar, etc. but did not find on-topic results.
Thanks for your time!
If the question is "can you find a moral theory according to which scientific evidence about the behaviour and/or attitudes of (pre)teen students in the last, say, 10 years counts as evidence of an overarching moral decline", then the answer is: yes, of course (and they're probably mostly on the conservative spectrum)!
But I guess your question is rather: Is any of those moral theories, according to which scientific evidence about the behaviour and/or attitudes of (pre)teen students in the last, say, 10 years counts as evidence of an overarching moral decline, actually correct? Off the top of my head, I do not know any.
Dale,
I am not aware of any such evidence, especially when you require that the evidence be scientifically gathered, analyzed, and interpreted.
I have seen polls and surveys, most of them opportunistic in nature and/or employing unscientific metrics and methodologies, but even these unscientific findings do not suggest moral decline.
Beyond the scope of your question, it is my feeling that 10 years is too short a span over which to measure moral development in a population. Too many social perturbations exist in this brief span of time and each of them can interfere with the development of valid comparisons. In addition, measuring change of this kind -- judgment or behavior -- is methodologically complex. It is seldom done well because doing so is too expensive and/or the necessary design controls cannot be implemented. In my opinion, it takes a span of 25 or even 50 years to smooth perturbations and effect a good design. Other methodologists will disagree with me on this point and i understand the arguments they can offer.
When you do take a long view in the examination of moral development, what you find is a gradual but seemingly ineluctable change in the direction of greater moral adequacy, both in judgment and in behavior. These findings are true whether you frame your inquiries from utilitarian or deontological perspectives. If these findings seem implausible, it is likely because the press and social media focus almost exclusively on negative outliers.
Good question.
Rob
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