A Study On The Information Ethics Education Of Schools In The Perspective Of Information Society

With the tremendous benefits to human beings by digital information society, it has also resulted in a series of various unexpected ethical problems such as computer crimes, privacy violation and information abuses etc. The above behavioral phenomenon is categorized as information ethics or information morality issues. These issues have outpaced ethical and legal developments. In order to fill this policy and conceptual vacuum, researchers have already attempted to apply modern philosophy, ethics, culture and information science to the topic and ever made some relatively clear explanation about it. Information ethics among others has contributed more to further its comprehensive research.Information ethics is indispensable in that it carries out an extended and intensive study of information ethical issues for the whole society, as for individuals. Within the perspective of information ethics theory, information ethics education is a key issue of the information society. It also plays an important role in advocating the traditional ethics and cultivating the ideal citizens'information ethics lieteracy in the future.School education is one of the most important links to information ethics education. It plays a special role in cultivating the information ethics literacy of teenagers.In addition, it is also an important task to define its significance, goal, content and the ways to implement it.The aim of information ethics education is to cultivate the ideal citizens so as to make ideal information society come true. Its objectives are to help young students have correct attitude, judgment and behavior in information ethics.In order to ensure the achievement of the aim and objectives of information ethics education, both traditional and information ethics education is adopted. The former works as one of cultural resources in information ethics education due to its stability and continuity. However, its disadvantages are that it cannot totally resolve increasingly serious information ethics problems. Therefore, the latter meets the requirement of the development in information age and functions as the reform,new explanation and adoption of traditional ethics education. It is also very important to urge the present students to become ideal citizens in tomorrow's information society.Based on the above, the researcher first chooses the United States as a single case and then attempts to find the specific and regular patterns of information ethics education through studying its reforms and development at schools. In this way, a comparative perspective can be provided to the studies on its theories and practice back at China's schools. Generally, information society belongs to the whole mankind and information ethics education at American schools is only an epitome in current information society around the world. The relationship between individuals are increasingly closer and the compatibility is more obvious in diverse, open, democratic and participating information society. Therefore it should also consider those above.In order to achieve the above research objects, the researcher adopts the following methods: literature review, description, factor-analysis and the integration of general and single case study.With the exception of Introduction and Conclusion, the dissertation is made up of five chapters which respectively categorize and study the state of"to be"and"ought be". When specific issues are empirically discussed, the introduction and assessment of the American case is emphasized.Chapter 1 is on the essentiality of information ethics education. It is an internal need to cultivate ideal citizens for information society; it is an effective measure to help solve young students'information ethics problems in information society; it is also the reform,new explanation and adoption of traditional ethics education.Chapter 2 is on the background and theoretical basis for the rise of information ethics education. It analyzes the default of information ethics among teenagers over the world and expounds that school education will be faced up with the opportunities and challenges brought by information society. In the perspective of the theory of information ethics, information ethics education should integrate teleology, deontology, virtue ethics, human nature and post modern philosophy as its theoretical basis. These theories provide three perspectives for information ethics education. One is concerned with the obtainment of common benefits in information society so as to guarantee the common benefits between educated individuals. The other aims at guaranteeing the primary and high school students'fair rights to receive the education. The third is on virtue ethics as the basis of action of information ethics. Moreover, this chapter gives a brief description on its background at schools around the world. All in all, this chapter supplies a theoretical basis for the following research.Chapter 3 is on the effectiveness of traditional moral education in information society. It covers its functions in information society, interpreting that the resources of traditional moral education has played the positive role and limitations on cultivating ideal citizens. This chapter makes a systematic exposition of the applicability of the theories of cognitive moral development, care ethics, values clarification and character education to the construction of information society. At last, it is concluded that traditional ethics education is a"natural basis"to build up information ethics education at primary and high school through the discussion of American traditional ethics education's roles in information ethics education at school.Chapter 4 is on the construction of information ethics education in information society. This chapter thinks that information ethics education plays a very important role in the standardization of information society ethics. Its ultimate aim is to cultivate ideal citizens and its objectives are to make ideal information society come true by students'awareness of information ethics, their correct views and the change of their behaviors. Its guidance, preventability, regulation and self discipline are conducive to achieving its aim and objectives. American information ethics education includes the enactment of information ethics criteria, the improvement of curriculum and teaching method and the cooperation of the whole society and social education. This shows that American information ethics education needs not only the involvement of schools but also the cooperation among school, family and society to set up an environment for it.Chapter 5 is on the perspective and model of information ethics education in the future. It should be concerned with the similarities of all the global citizens for information society belongs to our human beings. Its experiences at American schools can be used as a comparative perspective for the reflection on its model at China's schools.