ABSTRACT
Values matter because they are both constitutive of a mature moral identity and an attribute necessary for effective citizenship. In Democracy and Education,1 John Dewey’s belief in education as a fundamentally social practice led him to argue that all meaningful education is in fact moral education, and that moral education is what prepares us to take our place in a democratic society. Dewey thus saw a critical role for schools as the laboratories within which our values are not just shaped, but tested. As Larry May similarly asserts, ‘the self matures by becoming committed to certain values and beliefs as a result of critical reflection, not merely as a result of being socialized to accept certain values and beliefs.’2
