Tag Archives: children’s moral development

The death of James Bulger: a singular tragedy and a damaging landmark

Posted on February 13, 2013 | 5 Comments

One of the challenges of writing about the Bulger killing is confronting the enormity of what happened to James, and its catastrophic impact on his family. To hear the interview with James’s father Ralph Bulger on Radio Four yesterday morning is to hear a man driven to the very edge of self-destruction by the tragedy that befell him.

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Posted in Morality

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How do we help children understand right and wrong from the inside?

Posted on July 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

There is no more difficult job than getting children to understand the moral consequences of their actions.  And there is a growing feeling that this job is getting harder.  Not surprisingly, an army of parenting gurus, products and academics is on hand to offer help to parents and educators. Continue reading →

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Posted in Child development, Education, Learning, Morality, Parenting

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The Socialist 10 Commandments

Posted on July 26, 2011 | 5 Comments

Wooden plaque showing Socialist 10 CommandmentsA couple of months ago I went to a talk on the theme of Radical Walthamstow, given by local historian Roger Huddle. Walthamstow is the Victorian suburb of London that has been my home for nearly 20 years. Between around 1870 and 1940 it was a hive of working class agitation, organising and self-help. Just yards from where I lived until very recently, workers had clubbed together to build a community centre named in honour of William Morris, the Arts and Crafts Movement leader and socialist dynamo who was born in the town.

One of the services that used to be run in the centre was a socialist Sunday school. On the wall was a wooden plaque, and on it were set out the “Socialist 10 Commandments”.  Continue reading →

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Posted in Morality

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