Not too long ago, several of us senior citizens were comparing notes about our childhoods, and we discovered that nearly all of our parents had enforced similar rules. There was much hilarity as we reviewed the lists about such things as not taking short cuts through a neighbors property, not playing on a friends swing or in his sandbox if he wasn't at home, not picking flowers from a neighbors hedge or garden, nor filching fruit from his trees, never sassing a teacher at school, never disobeying an order nor failing to turn in a homework assignment, always remembering to send a thank you note whenever someone remembered us with a gift, etc. There were rules in place, and we were expected to follow them. Most of us succeeded at least a fair share of the time. If commonsense values are no longer being taught in many American homes, then perhaps its time to incorporate ethics courses in all of our schools, starting at the primary levels.
Lets teach our kids about courtesy, sharing, honesty, pride, character, and humanity.
Lets teach them in the very earliest grades about humane treatment of animalsthat civilized children do not tease cats, blow up frogs, stone birds or other living creatures, or torment even the lowly ant. Hardly a day goes by that we dont read in a newspaper or hear on TV some horrifying story about children brutalizing animals or even other children. We need to start with preschool or kindergarten, and continue right on through high school and college. Theists are wrong when they insist that morality hinges on religion and the gods. Religious indoctrination is not essential to the teaching of commonsense ethics, nor has it ever been.