What do Moral Educators Know About Their Students? A Study of Pluralistic Ignorance

This study's the question how well moral educators know their students' moral views, is part of the more general question whether they base their efforts to foster moral development on adequate understanding of children. The findings show that most teachers indeed seem to possess a stereotypical image of the student. In order to reduce pluralistic ignorance, I recommend that moral educators should engage in a direct ethical discourse with their students, rather than relying merely on indirect knowledge about students' moral wants and worries. It seems that programs like Kohlberg's "Just Community" and the program "Demokratie und Erziehung in der Schule" in Nordrhein-Westfalia, especially help teachers to reduce pluralistic ignorance and enhance mutual understanding in the school.