先塑性格，后筑学业

高等院校的品格教育，无论中国还是国外，都几乎是一片空白，杜克大学在这方面为我们树立了光辉典范。

[1]Duke University has long run a campus program to support students in moral reflection and in developing personal integrity. But this type of education—so essential later in the workplace—remains notably absent in most schools of higher learning.

[2]Academics, of course, are the core reason for college or university. Duke, for one, doesn’t neglect that side of learning. And yet, according to a new survey, more than half of all faculty in higher ed say it’s important that undergraduates develop moral character and enhance their self-understanding.

[3]The survey, conducted among 421 institutions by an ongoing project at the University of California at Los Angeles, reveals a big disconnect between teachers and students that may explain why so few schools of higher education spend much effort on character education.

[4]Connecting moral reasoning to spiritual values is often essential in character education. And students don’t shy away from telling pollsters that they want spiritual help and growth in higher ed. But their professors remain shy about giving them that. Less than a third of professors say colleges should facilitate a student’s spiritual development, while a similar survey of students found nearly half say it is important that colleges encourage their personal expression of spirituality.

[5]Discussing religion or spirituality in the classroom is indeed difficult for teachers. And yet they also know that preparing students to act morally in their chosen profession is especially critical to their career success, not to mention society at large.

[6]“It would appear that there is much more that colleges can do to facilitate students’ spiritual development,” says Alexander Astin at UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, which conducted the survey.

[7]Colleges need not resort to proselytizing, but schools such as Duke have found they can have more than elective courses in ethics. A student’s spiritual growth can be supported by such activities as writing self-reflective essays or in community service related to their studies. Many colleges are introducing “service learning,” or community work that allows students to experience the ethical or moral dilemmas that they will face in their careers.

[8]An influential education think, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, in Stanford, Calif., has a project to look at how professional schools, from medicine to law, teach practical, moral reasoning. It found undergraduates are inspired by moral ideals but need help in working toward them. Only a few institutions integrate such learning in campus life, such as finding “teachable moments” that expand a student’s heart for qualities such as compassion and integrity.

[9]Higher ed needs to break this barrier between professors and students that keeps them from talking about an essential in real education.

[1]杜克大学长期以来进行了一个校园计划，以支持学生进行道德反思和培养他们的个人诚实。但这种类型的教育——在今后的工作场所中是最基本的，在绝大多数高校中却明显缺乏。

[2]当然，学术是大学的核心问题。杜克大学作为其中一个，自然也没有忽视它的教学工作。并且根据最新的一项调查，在高等院校中超过一半的教职员工都说大学生要塑造道德个性并加强他们的自我谅解是非常重要的。

[3]加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分校正在开展一个计划，对421个大学进行了调查，结果显示在教师和学生之间存在的一个巨大隔离或许解释了为什么如此少的高等院校愿意花费大量精力来进行品格教育。

[4]将道德推论与精神价值联系起来通常是品格教育中的基本要求。学生们不用回避告诉民意测验专家他们在高校中需要精神和成长帮助。但他们的教授们却在给他们类似帮助上畏缩不前。不到三分之一的教授说大学应该在学生的精神发展上提供帮助，而在学生中进行的一个类似调查却发现，几乎一半的学生说大学在促进他们个人精神观念上是非常重要的。

[5]对教师来说在课堂中讨论宗教和精神问题的确非常困难，并且他们也知道让学生准备在他们所选择的职业行动中要符合道德标准，这对他们事业的成功特别重要，更不用说在整个社会生活中了。

[6]“似乎看来在推动大学生的精神发展方面，大学中还有很多事情可做，”开展这项调查的加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分校高等教育研究所的亚历山大·阿斯汀说。

[7]大学不需要让学生改变他们的宗教信仰，但像杜克大学这样的高等院校发现它们可以在道德规范方面安排很多选修课。学生的精神成长可以通过书写类似自我反思方面的文章或在社区中做一些与他们学业相关的服务活动而得到扶持。很多大学现在正在引进“服务性学习”，或允许学生去体验他们未来在自己事业中会遇到的伦理或道德困境的社区工作。

[8]一种富有影响的教育思想认为，加利福尼亚州斯坦福卡内基财团为教学进步提供了帮助，已经拥有一个计划来审视职业学院——从医学院到法学院，如何来教授实践性的道德课程。它发现大学生受到了道德观念的激励，但在道德行为上却需要帮助。只有少数的大学在校园生活中结合了这种学习，如发现“适合教学的时刻”，这会开阔学生的心扉，如同情心和正直等。

[9]高等教育需要在真正的教育中打破阻止教授和学生之间谈论精神本质的障碍。