The culture war, modern economics, and environmental education in the United States
| Autor | Eugene C. Hargrove |
| Cargo | Department of Philosophy and Religion, University of North Texas |
| Páginas | 132-138 |
EugEnE C. HargrovE EnvironmEntal Education in thE unitEd StatES
Cuadernos de BioétiCa XXVii 2016/3ª
415
THE CULTURE WAR, MODERN ECONOMICS, AND
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN THE UNITED
STATES
LA GUERRA CULTURAL, LA ECONOMÍA MODERNA Y LA EDUCACIÓN
AMBIENTAL EN LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS
EUGENE C. HARGROVE
Department of Philosophy and Religion, University of North Texas
Denton, TX 76203-0920, Tel.: 940-382-8876, hargrove@unt.edu
ABSTRACT:
Teaching ethics in public schools in the United States has been made almost impossible because of the
Culture War and Modern Economics. When Catholics began to migrate to the United States in the early
nineteenth century, they found that Protestant religion and ethics were taught in public schools and they
created their own parochial schools. This controversy has continued for two hundred years. To encourage
the Catholics to send their children to the public schools, by 1860 religion and ethics had been removed
from the public schools. Concern about the teaching of ethics spread to other religious and non-religious
groups. These groups attack the teaching of ethics as the indoctrination of the personal values of teachers,
and when teachers include alternative ethical views to avoid indoctrination they are accused of relativ-
ism. According to Modern Economics, value terms are meaningless unless they have been translated into
economic terms based on willingness to pay. This approach overlooks the social values that make up the
cultural heritage of a society. Although children acquire these social values tacitly, since they are not taught
these values as a common heritage, they come to believe that they invented them ahistorically and that
they are just how they feel (ethical emotivism). By teaching children social values as a common heritage,
the charges of indoctrination and relativism and the replacement of these values with economic terms can
be avoided, later permitting a more objective role for ethics in public affairs among adults.
RESUMEN:
La enseñanza de la ética en las escuelas públicas en los Estados Unidos se ha hecho casi imposible a
causa de la guerra cultural y de la economía moderna. Cuando los católicos comenzaron a emigrar a los
Estados Unidos a principios del siglo XIX, se dieron cuenta de que en las escuelas públicas se enseñaba
la ética protestante y, por eso, crearon sus propias escuelas religiosas. Esta controversia ha continuado
durante doscientos años. Para animar a los católicos a enviar a sus hijos a las escuelas públicas, en 1860
se quitó la enseñanza de religión y de la ética de las escuelas públicas. La preocupación por la enseñanza
de la ética se extendió a otros grupos religiosos y no religiosos. Estos grupos consideran a la enseñanza
de la ética como el adoctrinamiento de los valores personales de los maestros, y cuando los maestros
Palabras clave:
Guerra cultural;
Economía moderna;
Relativismo;
Clarificación de
los valores; Ética
tradicional y
multicultural
Keywords:
Culture War;
Modern Economics;
Relativism; Values
Clarification;
Traditional and
Multicultural Ethics
Recibido: 09/09/2016
Aceptado: 08/11/2016
Cuadernos de Bioética XXVII 2016/3ª
Copyright Cuadernos de Bioética
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