Ethical English Teaching: Learning Democratic Values or Living by the Tao?

Abstract

This article begins by drawing attention to the similarities between the aims of critical literacy within English and Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC). It then considers subscribing to liberal values in the English classrooms of a plural society and concludes that, as political liberalism is unlikely to be universally endorsed, we need to look elsewhere for a ‘centre’ that will hold us together. The essay suggests that the ‘Tao’, elaborated in the seminal work on English teaching, The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis, may represent an ethical code which English teachers and students can endorse, even when they have diverse backgrounds, as it transcends politics. The article concludes that teaching English in the spirit of the Tao is more fundamental than fostering democratic values for it helps to prevent the abolition of our humanity.

Keywords:

• ethics
• citizenship
• democracy
• Tao
• C.S. Lewis

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to those colleagues who made valuable comments following an earlier version of this paper presented at the NATE (National Association for the Teaching of English) annual conference on 26 February 2011 at the British Library in London.