Do schools have the right to teach social values—such as respect for nontraditional families or environmentalism—even though some parents disagree?
Since the beginning of mankind, social values have been essential ingredients of every society. They help to create civilization.Schools are responsible for preparing students to participate successfully in society. To do this, schools must provide a comprehensive education that promotes both social and academic development. To promote social development, schools should shape learning experiences—in a developmentally appropriate way—around similarities, contradictions, and juxtapositions of both past and present civilizations and societies. Schools that do so make education an experience lived, because schools are really microcosms of our larger society.Thus, schools do have the right to provide learning experiences that teach students how to think and behave in ways that dispel prejudices, biases, and conflict among people. Even though some parents will disagree, it is incumbent upon schools to open dialogue that fosters respect for differences, just as it is incumbent upon parents to provide guidance in the social values they want their children to adopt as a way of life.The observation about educators' responsibility made by Theodore Roosevelt in the early 1900s remains true today: "To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society."—Thomasina M. Portis is director of Multicultural/ Values Education for the District of Columbia Public Schools, Washington, D.C.
No. Schools need to stick to the "basics," those personal and social values that enable us to live together in harmony—values such as responsibility, honesty, persistence, and respect for others—instead of expending their energies and the public's dwindling goodwill for public education on disputes over controversial and divisive values. This is what the Founding Fathers wanted from public education. This is the desire of the overwhelming majority of Americans. As it is, many children come to our schools—and leave our schools—without having acquired these basic social values.Even if a school is satisfied that it has well taught these "basics," it should proceed to controversial values with great care. First, teachers should not lead students into murky, unresolved moral issues unless they have the understanding and support of parents. Teachers do not have the right to undermine the values a child's parents have taught him or her, unless these values are clearly contrary to the democratic traditions of the country—for example, racist views. Second, controversial social issues should be "saved" until students have the intellectual sophistication to examine them in a cool and reasoned manner.Instead of becoming paralyzed in debate over the adult community's unresolved social agenda, schools should leave this to the talk shows and the ballot box. The school's role is to help students acquire the enduring habits of good character and the ethical values that will equip them to take on our nation's unfinished business later on.—Kevin Ryan is director of the Center for the Advancement of Ethics and Character, Boston University, Boston, Mass.
Teaching core ethical values—such as respect for self, others, and the environment—is not only a right but a fundamental duty of schools. A problem arises, however, when schools try to teach respect through materials such as "Children of the Rainbow," the multicultural curriculum recently mandated by New York City school officials and opposed by several local school districts and parent groups. The contested curriculum calls upon teachers to affirm all types of families, including those of gay and lesbian parents, through books such as Daddy's Roommate (which says, for example, "Being gay is just another kind of love").The New York City curriculum and like-minded respect-for-diversity efforts go wrong in misunderstanding the ethical meaning of respect. Respect requires us to treat all persons with regard for their dignity, worth, and basic rights as human beings and to refrain from malicious treatment of any individual or group. Respect does not require that we approve of a person's behavior or lifestyle, sexual or otherwise.Schools should not be teaching that homosexual and heterosexual lifestyles are morally equivalent but rather that we must respect the dignity and worth of homosexuals—and all persons—even if we disagree with their views or behavior. Teaching that homosexual relationships are a morally acceptable "choice" violates the rights of parents who want to teach their children otherwise, for religious or other reasons.The challenge of multicultural education is to promote cultural understanding without promoting moral relativism.—Thomas Lickona, a developmental psychologist and professor of education at SUNY-Cortland, is author of Educating for Character: How Our Schools Can Teach Respect and Responsibility.
Yes, schools have a right to teach social values that have been formulated in collaboration with their communities, including respect for nontraditional families and environmentalism. Respect is a universal human value; care of the environment is essential to the survival and well-being of all living species.Cooperative planning is essential to values education. The district leadership must involve parents, teachers, and civic and business leaders in formulating core values. One hopeful sign that collaborative norms can indeed be established by schools, parents, and communities is the impressive support being gathered by the Character Education Partnership (see page 1).How schools teach values also needs careful attention. For example, the use of controversial curriculum materials to teach about nontraditional families in elementary schools has caused an uproar. Teaching about environmental concerns, such as the need to preserve habitats, can be undermined by alarm over economic interests. Educators should avoid triggering such emotionally charged disputes as they work with their communities to establish widely agreed-upon values systems.Furthermore, social values take hold only when individuals internalize their personal responsibility for the common good. Educators have struggled for decades to instill this sense of responsibility, through character education, values clarification, and moral reasoning programs. But the programs alone cannot succeed. The cultural climate must embody the values taught.Every day we grow more aware of the urgency of coping with multiple social issues. Let's unite to teach—and live—respect and care for all.—Rose Schaffer, a Sister of Humility of Mary, is president of the Center for Learning, a publisher of values-based curriculum materials, Rocky River, Ohio.