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Date:         Mon, 16 Nov 1992 08:41:46 -0500
              <EDPOLYAN@ASUACAD.BITNET>
From:         ADM_FDOHERTY@JMUVAX.BITNET
Subject:      Re: Kozol

I found John Gallagher's question very insightful about how we can address the
societal problems and whether solving these problems will help solve some of
the problems in the schools.  He is right; we cannot adequately address the
major education problems very well unless we can solve the underlying problems
in general society and the home.  Recently I spoke with a teacher friend who
said that more than 3/4 of the children in the local high school were not
living with both biological parents.  Almost half of the children in second
grade also were not living with both biological parents.  There is so much
emotionality in their lives that learning becomes very difficult.  I am not,
however, talking about urban America.  I am talking about conservative
Shenandoah Valley Virginia.  If this is what it is like here, it has to be much
worse elsewhere.

I find the steps being taken by the Russian public schools a an interesting
attempt to solve even more difficult problems.  They have taken an entirely
different approach from the past and from what American public schools are
taking.  The leaders of the Russian public schools have invited more than
10,000 American evangelical Christians to come to Russia during the next five
years to teach them how to incorporate moral and spiritual values into their
public schools.  They have realized that after more than 70 years of atheistic
government that an atheistic public school system fosters the breakdown of
the family and society.  I recently learned that the reason Gorbachev in the
1980's relaxed persecution of Christians was that these were the only people
who really worked.  He could see that it was impractical to persecute the
best workers.

In the last two years thousands of Russian teachers have attended sessions
on how to incorporate Christian moral and spiritual values into their public
school classrooms.

I think what the Russian public schools are doing is right.  They have found
that an officially atheistic school system will only lead to a breakdown in
their society.  Now, I fully expect to be called a "right wing religious
fundamentalist" by some on this list, but it won't be the first time.  I find
it ironic that there is far more religious freedom in the schools of the
former Soviet Union than in the United States, where we say on our coins,
"In God We Trust."

There is absolutely no hope for a society that has said we cannot teach
moral and spiritual values in the schools.  It is impossible to truly cause
change when we have censored from public life the values that can result in
change.

I've had my say, and I fully expect to be blasted by the "politically correct"
on this list.  However, before you shoot, remember what the Russians have
decided to do.

Frank Doherty, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Education
Director of Institutional Research
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA  22807
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