Includes bibliography and index

This is a particularly timely book, given the moral and ethical discussions taking place in classrooms since the terrorist attacks on the U.S., starting with revenge versus justice. Using interviews with teachers and students in public, Catholic, and Jewish schools and her experience as a high-school teacher, Simon examines how teachers explore moral and existential issues in the course of teaching standard school curricula. Simon advocates that teachers encourage exploration of moral issues to develop students' moral as well as intellectual skills--and because research, most notably by Robert Coles, has shown that young people are interested in such issues.