ABSTRACT
Moral education is a subject which is being discussed with increasing interest in educational circles. Some teachers link this new interest in it with an apparent decline in authoritarianism. Despite the notable success of some totalitarian systems in Europe, it appears to be generally agreed that a rejection of church, tradition, common morality, parental influence and authority figures in general characterizes our society. One may argue simply that a society with more leisure and affluence finds itself increasingly composed of voluntary social structures, and whereas in industrial and commercial organizations behaviour must be subordinated to the need to earn a living, society or social group. Schools must therefore prepare children to live together as adults when economic restraint does not govern their behaviour. Adults try to be mature in their morality, but if childhood in a competitive and authoritarian school has not allowed the basic moral attitudes to develop, they will find the task extraordinarily difficult.
