Practicing Virtues is about learning to be good in the distinct moral worlds of Quaker and military boarding schools. Both types of schools bind their communities with shared codes of conduct, the military schools' conservative tradition emphasizing discipline and hard work, the Quaker schools' liberal tradition favoring tolerance and togetherness. At the heart of this contrast are two sets of virtues: pride, loyalty, and leadership among the cadets; simplicity, equality, and concern among the students at Quaker schools. During the course of a year Kim Hays lived in six schools, attending classes and staff meetings, sharing meals and informal conversation, and participating in the nonacademic side of boarding-school life. Despite the outward contrast between the Quaker and military settings, Hays found surprising similarities. Both systems cherish individualism while encouraging group identification and service to the school community. Hays shows that orderliness, obedience, and harmony do not in themselves create a vital moral environment. To reach that goal, teachers, students, and administrators need to disagree, question rules, and fight for change. This book has much to say about the role of education in developing moral responsibility. Every educator, student, and parent who cares about the future of American schooling will find valuable lessons here.
From the Inside Flap
"Kim Hays has returned to one of the deepest sources of sociology: the empirical study of morality. . . . Her beautifully written and analytically incisive book sheds light on issues important not only to the social sciences but to moral philosophy as well."--Robert N. Bellah, co-author, Habits of the Heart
"Kim Hays has given us an elegant and valuable study of culture and morality. She exploits her method of paired contrasts (Quaker and military boarding schools) inventively and to the maximum. Rarely have I seen a work that so well combines scholarly dispassion with appreciation and respect for those studied. Above all, the work teems with original insights, expressed with exceptional grace and clarity, on the the concrete grounding of moral presuppositions in institutions, attitudes, and behavior."--Neil J. Smelser, University of California, Berkeley
"This is a fascinating, richly textured account of the moral development of adolescents within boarding schools grounded in two strong moral traditions. Although military service and Quakerism appear to be polar opposites, Kim Hays artfully analyzes what they have in common as well as their differences. She discovers the difficulty adolescents have grasping the sacred quality of both traditions, while illuminating how conflicts strengthen and focus moral principles. By demonstrating the importance of moral legacies for forming adolescent identities, the book is invaluable for anyone concerned about education, adolescent development, or the relationships between morality and everyday life."--Caroline Hodges Persell, New York University
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