今日のテーマは、学校における道徳教育の重要性について
下記サンプルエッセーでは、家庭及び地域での道徳教育の不足を補うため、また学校環境を活かして効率よく学ぶことができるため、道徳教育は重要だと述べています。

しかしながら、私としては、下記理由から道徳教育の重要性はそこまで高くないと考えます。

①道徳教育を評価することは難しい (dificulties in evaluation)
実際、道徳の授業のために大した準備をせずに映画やドキュメンタリーを見せるだけの教師もおり、効果的に授業が展開されていない。子供たちの考える力は育たない

②道徳的な価値判断を国家が決めることは、思想統制となりうる (can lead to ideological control)
国籍や思想などがより多様化する現代の日本において、画一的な価値基準から道徳教育を行うことは好ましくない。

③部活や課外活動など教室外の活動において、より実践的な倫理観を培うことができる (children could have more practical moral lesson outside of classrooms)

道徳の時間は、先生が道徳的だと考える、テレビを見たり、映画を見たりして過ごしたこともあったため、好きな授業ではありましたが、重要性が高いのかというとそこまで重要ではないというのが私の意見です。

Q: Is moral education at school important in modern Japanese society?

A:サンプルエッセー（賛成）
With growing cultural diversity in Japan, some people point out the problem with teaching moral values at school for fear of ideological control. However, I think that moral educaiton at school plays an important role in modern Japanese society for the following three reasons.

Firstly, moral education at school compensates for a lack of parental discipline at home. With an increase in the number of unclear families and working women, many chukdren have fewer chances to interact with their parents and grandparents who are supposed to teach them morality.

Secondly, moral education at school compensates for a lack of moral guidance in the community. Japanese chiidren used to be taught morality even by neighbors in a group-oriented society. But nowdays, children have fewer chances to learn morality through interactions with people in their community with weakening ties.

Finally, moral education at school is effectively provided because of its instructional settings. Schools give students more opportunities to learn morality and deal with problems such as bullying through interactons among students. Students can more effectively learn how to behave morally toward others, confronting such problems together at school.

In concusion, for these three reasons, the compensation for lack of moral guidance at home and in the community as well as the effectiveness of moral educaiton in school settings, I think that moral education at school is important in modern Japanese society.

【語彙】
compensate for the lack of ~の不足を補う