This excellent book balances larger philosophical issues with empirical data, resulting in a thought-provoking book for teachers, students, and researchers. Historically, teachers have been held to high standards of professional and personal conduct. These high standards are premised on the assumption that teachers are role models for their students and communities. Serving as a role model, moreover, assumes that the teacher deliberately shares values with children as opposed to modeling behaviors and ideas in a less direct fashion. Slater has written a book on these topics that achieves three things. First, it provides a rich context from which to consider teachers and teaching (chapter 1) and values and valuing (chapter 2). Second, it provides empirical data regarding what teachers believe about topics such as family values, religion, various social issues, freedom, equality, and science (chapters 3 through 8). Finally, Slater uses this data to contemplate how the position of the teacher and the expression of values within schools are essential to stabilize the contradictory ideas within a democracy (e.g., freedom while living and learning in a community). Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers, undergraduate students, graduate students, and research faculty.
