This study employs a hybrid research method. My religious background has led me to find a great affinity for certain literary criticism, that which sees literature as a source for moral thinking and moral decision-making. I offer a history of my transactions with texts, texts that were initially formative for me as a moral thinker, then useful for me in a variety of ways as a teacher of texts, then which I later began to appreciate in a more critical and theoretical way as I developed a deeper understanding of how those texts had influenced me and how they had – or had not – influenced my students. I borrow heavily from the theory and method of autoethnography in this study, in the sense that I will examine a variety of “internal data” from my memories of books, teachers, and classroom situations, along with “external data” including interviews, report cards, lecture notes and exam questions, and will subject my data to a number of critical lenses with the goal of what Anderson (2006) describes as a commitment to “an analytic research agenda focused on improving theoretical understandings of broader social phenomena” (375). Using the lenses of the literary theory and criticism of Wayne Booth, Martha Nussbaum, Robert Coles and Aharon Lichtenstein, I will analyze my experiences as a reader and teacher, and I explain how literary works I read and taught can serve as vehicles for the development of a student’s moral sensibility – and how teachers can help facilitate that development. I use my own unique vantage point, that of an Orthodox Jewish boy who initially found friends in secular texts, then found that those texts were among his great teachers of values, to offer a singular perspective on the power of these texts. These lenses, which are (to mix metaphors a bit) filtered through my unique perspective, provide an interpretation that will at first lead me to explore the field of moral education as a whole, if only because I shared many of its desired outcomes in my literature classroom. After a brief overview of this field, I use the work of Hanan Alexander, David Hansen, Carl Rogers, and others to present a more general yet nuanced account of how “spiritual awareness” and the humane fusing of reason and emotion can be fostered in students, with a flexibility and understanding that learning is a way to learn a process, not a process towards a specific set of intellectual goals. I humbly call this hybrid method a literary-auto-ethno-pedogography, as I seek to produce a critical history of my education as a reader and teacher of literature. After an inquiry into my own reading and teaching to understand my own and my students’ development as moral decision makers; I then seek to expand the depth and quantity of moral conversations and bring them to the classrooms of others. As such, my study includes ideas for how to bring about moral conversations in English classrooms, both through student writing and oral exchange, based on ideas from Sheridan Blau, Jeff Wilhelm, David Hansen, Barry Holtz, and others. I conclude with the still unanswered questions that my study has raised for me and for other researchers who share my interest in the relations between secular and religious education and the problem of teaching literature to shape character and refine a reader’s moral sensibility. I also offer some concluding suggestions about how future students and teachers might build on and expand upon my work.

This is a small scale research conducted by a Game Design student about attraction to a game concept of violent nature. A survey was executed and launched on social media such as Facebook to gain many participants in a short period of time. They were asked how attracted they were to the graphics of the concept and also if and how much money they would pay for a game like it. One of the most important parts of this research is that the participators are of a mixed group when it comes to age and gender, but also location, since these things tend to control our environment which in turn can shape a person and their morals. The results are presented in simple graphs and discussed together with results from similar research regarding violent games and how they affect the players and in turn society. Despite the violent contents of the graphics used in the survey, the most popular rating indicates that many participants are attracted to it and that they would consider paying for such a game.

Do dying patients have a moral claim to access experimental drugs when all else has failed? This question has been the focus of an active and evolving debate concerning the rights of terminally ill patients, the nature of the drug development process, and the scope of federal regulation, with supporters arguing that seriously ill patients should be able to decide for themselves whether and when to attempt experimental therapies and opponents arguing that the resulting state of affairs would be disastrous for patient safety and for the integrity of the drug development process. This thesis concerns the ethical considerations surrounding the provision of experimental drugs for treatmentoften termed compassionate use or expanded accessand argues that compelling ethical merits on both sides of the debate complicate the formation of satisfactory public policy. Although patient autonomy is often invoked to support liberal access to experimental drugs, the paucity of known information about investigational compounds as well as the unique vulnerability of the terminally ill patient call into question the wisdom of the unfettered exercise of autonomy in this context. Although equitable distribution of experimental drugs is often felt to be a concern, the meaning of equity in this context has not been clearly defined, and in fact several working concepts of equitable access may not be achievable or desirable. Although the financial burden on drug manufacturers is frequently recognized as a barrier to expanded access, the potential for expanded access programs to constitute a marketing strategy should be recognized, and the mixing of profit motives with altruistic ones brought to light. Parsing these and other ethical nuances points to certain ways in which policies governing expanded access can be refined to allow for access while maximizing patient protection and ensuring the generation of scientific knowledge. Physicians, as frequent mediators of requests for experimental drugs, should be knowledgeable of the ethical issues inherent and should help to ensure the judicious use of experimental therapies. Finally, general misconceptions about the benefits of experimental therapy, pervasive in our culture, heighten the contentiousness of this debate. A workable legislative solution should be accompanied by a thoughtful and deliberate effort to educate patients, their advocates, and broader society about the realistic pace of drug development and the limits of modern medicine. This thesis recognizes that individuals who seek expanded access often have valid moral claims to do so, but advocates a cautious attitude toward the dissemination of experimental drugs for treatment and maintains the importance of government and physician participation in adjudicating access.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Texas, Aug., 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of San Carlos, October 1973. / Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-106).

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THE REVOLVING DOOR: HOW LEADERS PUSH TEACHER TURNOVER by Suzanne Kay Bryant Miller In today’s age of accountability leaders of schools cannot afford to lose quality teachers. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requiring schools to staff all classrooms with “highly qualified teachers” creates a major challenge. Today, more than ever, school systems need to retain their experienced and effective teachers. While many reasons have been attributed to the revolving-door phenomenon known as teacher turnover, this research suggests that school leaders’ behaviors play a major role in the issue. This qualitative inquiry focused on the perceptions of veteran teachers who have migrated from one school to another, having indicated that their primary reason for migrating was because of their leader’s behavior. The following research questions guided the study: • What were the perceptions of migrating teachers, regarding their previous leader’s behaviors, qualities and attributes, at his/her former school? • How did these perceptions influence the teacher’s desire to migrate to another school? • Was there anything that the leader could have done differently that would have made the migrating teacher stay? Data was gathered through individual interviews, emails, and focus group discussions. The data was then analyzed qualitatively using an interpretivist theory (LeCompte & Schensul, 1999) to address the research questions, and a constant comparative method to determine patterns and themes (Merriam, 2009). Trustworthiness was established through attention to credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). The results of my study identified three main areas of leadership behaviors which teachers indicated directly influenced their decisions to migrate. These three areas were the leaders: (1) Lack of Knowledge of the Business of School-the leader’s lack of skills needed (a) to be supportive, (b) to make connections and build relationship, and (c) to transform school into an effective community; (2) Lack of Professionalism- the leader’s lack of (a) respect, (b) trust, and (c) consistent behavior; and (3) Lack of Personal Morals. While other studies on teacher turnover showed a link between leadership and teacher turnover (Barnett & Berry, 2002; Eggen, 2002; Gonzalez et al., 2008; Hirsch & Emerick, 2007; Thornton et al., 2007), my study revealed specific leadership behaviors that pushed teachers to migrate.

Looking at John Duncan's 1980 art performance, BLIND DATE, and its morally controversial content, I propose to investigate the nature of art's relationship to morality. My research consists of determining whether "immorality" represents an obstacle to the ontological identity of art and to artistic value. To question the authority of ethical criticism in art, I review a contemporary philosophical debate, which opposes two main schools, one in support of the validity of ethical criticism in art and the other against it. Following up on the second position, I elaborate a definition of art and a system of evaluation that aims to determine artistic value, both of which allow space for the potential artistic legitimacy of immoral art.

Thesis (M.A.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of English, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 121-126).