Vigen Guroian on Moral Guidance & Children

In Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination Guroian extols the place of classic stories in shaping the moral imagination. He laments the current state of affairs stating:

“Children need guidance and moral maps and they benefit immensely with the example of adults who speak truthfully and act from moral strength.

Our society is finding it difficult to meet these needs of children. Some well-meanign educators and parents seem to want to drive the passion for moral clarity out of children rather than use it to the advantage of shaping their character. We want our children to be tolerant, and we sometimes seem to think that a too sure sense of right and wrong only produces fanatics. Perhaps we have become so resigned to flailing about in the culture’s muddy waters of moral compromise and ethical obscurantism that it is hard for us to imagine other possibilities for out children.”