Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.edpolyan
Date:         Fri, 22 Jan 1993 13:17:00 -0600
              <EDPOLYAN@ASUACAD.BITNET>
From:         ALANO@HOUVMSCC.VNET.IBM.COM
Subject:      What is a school for?

The teaching of "character" and "values" in school is one of the major
battle-grounds concerning religion in the schools.  It's a dilemma, I
believe, that cannot be solved in the public schools.  When you propose
teaching values in school, parents are likely to ask questions like:
Whose "values" are to be used?  Whose "character traits" are
appropriate?  And if you chose not to teach values, then that's just
as bad as teaching the incorrect (defined as "not their") values.

Here's an example.  Let's assume that Fred is a religious person who
believes that religion is not something he does just on Sunday or when
it's convenient, but is something that permeates ALL aspects of his
life.  Now, suppose that Fred also relies on his religious views to
define the "values" and "character" traits that are appropriate for
his child.  Now Fred has a problem.  He doesn't want his child to go
into a moral/ethical vacuum for 6 hours a day at school.  If his child
is taught (indirectly, through the omission of anything smelling of
religion) that religion is something separate from what you do at
school, then Fred's child comes to view religion as a separate area of
his identity rather than an integral part of it.  This is the opposite
of what Fred wants.  So Fred really wants religion to be an integral
part of his child's schooling.  But Fred wants HIS religion in the
school.  He doesn't want yours.  Hence the dilemma for Fred.

Now there is another type of person.  Let's call him Mario (for
reasons I shall shortly explain).  Mario can easily separate his
religious views from what he does in day-to-day life, and doesn't see
a problem when they conflict.  (Mario Cuomo, as an example, has said
that as a Catholic he is personally opposed to abortion but as a
public figure, he must support, fight for the right of, and fund
abortion on demand.)  Now Mario has no problem sending his child to a
school that excludes religion.  Unlike Fred, Mario believes that
religious convictions are personal, and therefore are only appropriate
for the private times.  They are really not appropriate for the duties
that are performed in public, so Mario supports this separation of
religious views from public life.  For Mario, there is no dilemma.

Now multiply Fred by 1000 times (one for each religious viewpoint) and
you see the problem.  Now Mario is going to have problems as well.
While he doesn't mind excluding religious values from school, he might
have a problem with the school teaching his kid some religious
viewpoint that is not his own.

The solution to date in the P.S. seems to be Mario's solution -- take
the teaching of religion and religious values out of schools.  (I
think the U.S. Supreme court has ruled that displaying the 10
commandments in a public school now violates the separation of church
and state, as an example.)  This of course is totally contrary to
Fred's concerns, and results in a dilemma that cannot be solved in the
public schools.

(By the way, this might explain why the homeschooling movement is
dominated by religious people.  Like Fred, the public schools teach
the opposite (in terms of religious values and the place of religion
in one's life) of what these parents believe, so they must opt out of
public schools and, as a result, choose homeschooling.)

Alan Ogletree
Houston, TX
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