Eastern perspectives: Moral and volitional education of gifted students

Abstract

While provision for the education of gifted students in East Asia is ongoing, specific efforts in moral education are not known to the external world. Viewed from an Eastern perspective, this chapter briefly discusses moral education in talent development in Singapore, China, Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand. It then reports an empirical study that compares the differences in moral attributes and leadership qualities of gifted primary school students in Singapore with similar qualities of non-gifted students in Singapore and in China using the Moral and Leadership Subscale of the Self-Knowledge Checklist (SKC). Statistical analyses show no significant difference on moral attributes between the Singapore sample of gifted students and their non-gifted peers. Compared to a sample of non-gifted primary students in China, both Singapore samples of gifted and non-gifted students had significantly lower moral attribute scores. In addition, the Singapore gifted sample showed a significantly higher level of leadership attributes than the two non-gifted samples in Singapore and in China. Implications of the study are discussed in the context of modern Eastern culture and values. Recommendations for the teaching of gifted students in moral education are proposed in a framework of Knowledge, Volition & Action. © 2009 Springer-Verlag US.