Critique of Values: Clarification in Drug Education (From Drug Abuse: Foundation for a Psychosocial Approach, P 81-87, 1984, Seymour Eiseman, Joseph A Wingard, et al, eds. - See NCJ- 169972)

• NCJ Number: 169979
• Author(s): C L Chng
• Date Published: 1984
• Length: 7 pages
• Sale Source: Baywood Publishing Co, Inc.
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC

Annotation

The author discusses the need to clarify student values in the context of drug education programs and to encourage drug educators to formulate a comprehensive and defensible position on the role of values clarification in drug education.

Abstract

Values clarification is widely used in drug education programs in the United States, due in part to recognition that the mere dissemination of information about drugs is not sufficient to influence drug-using behavior. The premise for using values clarification in drug education programs is that decisions about whether to use or to abstain from drugs are predicted primarily on non-cognitive factors such as attitudes and feelings and are a direct function of a confused values system. Values clarification is more concerned with the valuing process than with the content of values. In values clarification, the teacher's role is to guide students through the valuing process rather than to impart predetermined values. A critique of values clarification is presented that deals with the role of content, ethical relativism, indoctrination, and peer pressure. 24 references