I have posted blogs a number of times about the need for schools to focus more attention on teaching moral values (Nov 2016, August 2016). Why? Because as John W. Gardner has pointed out in the quote above, values in any society decay over time. There is more than enough evidence now that this decay has happened in American society. Whether it is in business, politics, sports, entertainment, education, or even religion, we constantly see evidence of the decay in our moral values. Most of us recognize that a powerful regeneration of our values is needed. But to whom can we turn to bring about that powerful regeneration of those values?
As I noted in my August 1, 2016 blog, traditionally we have looked to families, schools and churches to teach our young moral values, and we must continue to do that. But today the reality is that we have many dysfunctional households and there has been a marked decrease in church going. That leaves schools. Since almost all young people attend schools, schools must become the epicenter for teaching values.
We know that values of one kind or another are taught and shaped in schools through the culture of the school and the behavior of teachers and administrators. But there is a danger that the very culture and philosophy of a school and the behavior of its educators will teach students the wrong values. This is especially true today when schools are constantly told to focus on getting students “college and career ready.” Even if they succeed in this singular mission that may add to society’s problem unless there is more emphasis put on teaching moral values. Here’s why. Economist E.F. Schumacher has pointed out in Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered:
“…if it is taken for granted that education is a passport to
privilege, then the content of education will not primarily
be something to serve the people, but something to serve
ourselves, the educated.” [p.196]
That is precisely what we are witnessing in many parts of our society today. John W. Gardner, whom I quoted above, has made this observation.
"In recent years we have been puzzled by a steady parade
of intelligent, successful Americans who have destroyed
their own careers through amoral or criminal acts—from
ambitious public servants to greedy Wall Street figures.
Gifted and richly rewarded, they overreached and brought
themselves crashing down A common assumption is that for
a price (money, power, fame, sensual pleasure) they
betrayed their standards. The other possibility is that they did
not have any standards to betray, that they were among the
many contemporary individuals who had roots in no set of
values, or who had been torn loose from those roots. A society afflicted with disintegration of family and community will
inevitably feed gifted transgressors into the stream of our
national life." [On Leadership, p.p. 113-114]
Getting young people college and career ready is important; we will need their knowledge, skills and leadership in many areas (politics, business, education, etc., etc.), but what we don’t need is to be feeding more gifted transgressors into the mainstream of our national life. To avoid that, we must make certain that young people leave school with a strong set of moral values and a commitment to them. Much depends on it: "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams