| Despite the implementation of numerous reform policies and much official rhetoric, moral education in China today remains problematic. The current study presents a student perspective on the dilemma of the moral education curriculum in a Chinese secondary school. The study finds that a majority of the students at this particular Chinese secondary school respond negatively toward both the content of the moral education curriculum and the implementation of the officially intended moral education curriculum at their school. The study also reveals that a majority of students are indifferent to the ideology and values taught in the intended moral education curriculum. They tend to take advantage of the moral education curriculum to achieve their personal aims, which oftentimes contradict the officially accepted ideology and values.;Guided by the ecological theory of human development (Bronfenbrenner 1979), the study finds that the school does not provide a favorable setting for students to adopt the officially desired ideology and values in terms of activities, interpersonal relations and role expectations. Also, the interplay of the school setting and the more remote settings in the larger society creates difficulties for the implementation of the moral education curriculum at the school. The contradictions between the official ideology and social reality in the surrounding society, between the prescribed curriculum and the school's implementation of that curriculum, as well as between the official ideology and media, largely undermine the effectiveness of the moral education curriculum. It is believed that the dilemma of the moral education curriculum observed in this study is a reflection of the dilemmas that exist at every level of Chinese society. |
