Should, or Can, "Values" be taught in our schools (interview, wisdom)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think the most important value that could be taught in school (and used to be taught regularly, though I don't know about now), and one about which nearly everyone could agree is important , regardless of political opinion, is civic responsibility - which would include the need to be well-informed and to participate in public policy determinations, through voting and standing up for the rights of all.
Why can't values be taught at school? I don't agree with the "lifestyles" education that is being thrust upon children today. If that is taught, what is wrong with teaching respect, responsibility, manners etc? And if someone disagrees with these principles, maybe they should be guilted into shame the same as anyone who disagrees with "lifestyles" education.
I understand that, and this is not about you. But nearly all threads quickly turn to race, or gays, or Bill O'Reilly. Just trying to keep it on track.
I hear you. I didn't want (or mean) to sidetrack the thread
I definitely agree with what you said earlier - if schools want to emphasize general values (i.e., courteousy, respect, etc.) then that's great.
What I meant to emphasize was that it's so easy to get into the topics you mentioned, and put it under the umbrella of values. I think the line between teaching children how to behave - and teaching them what to think - will begin to get blurred too quickly.
Skoro - I think you are right on! Teaching them how to think is key.
Everyone wants the government out of education, and...practically everything else! Yet, I don't see any person here showing the rest of us readers how you're going to do any better by privatizing education. You want YOUR values taught, yet, what if your values are terrible and misogynistic? Does it then become acceptable to teach what could easily be described as ignorance and prejudice?
We have an education system that I think really sucks because it brainwashes children into repetitive 'learning', making them wage slave robots without an entrepreneurial or original thought in their head. That being said, I still believe that once these problems are addressed (and it is by no means an easy fix), a public education is a necessity for everyone. If you learn in isolation, you are hardly a citizen. If you feel homeschooling your children is one way to improve the education problem, you will end up raising incomplete adults. Until people can forgo their prejudice and admit their own ignorance, we don't stand a chance of improving our children's educations by teaching in isolation.
So much anger! "I don't wanna pay taxes for schools!" It's almost as if people want freedom from their government, yet, where's the replacement? Is anyone out there designing a system for 300 million people? Or are we going to live in gun-secured compounds promoting our individual worldviews, as ignorant as they might be? It really scares me when I read these threads. There is no cooperation anymore, just a bunker mentality.
1830's? Public schools can be traced much further back in America. John Adams was a school teacher and assisted in creating "state" funded schools. We also know what he was most proud of was not any of his elected positions, but that of being a school teacher. Further, his primary focus was ethics -morality- being taught(reinforced) in the classroom. His favorite book to teach from, in a public school, was the Bible.
Without necessarily indoctrinating students with a specific religious ideology, spirituality must be exercised. We all are clearly born with the seed o spirituality and it must be watered to give birth to a mature sense of self. Imperative parts of a whle person depend on our ability to perceive the imperceivable. Empathy, even unselfish democratic concepts, rely on our ability to think, tempered with super-spiritual undertones.
I would like to quote Dr. Clark Kerr, who was president of UC-Berkeley when a student group wanted to invite an un-American speaker. When he was asked to prohibit the speaker, he said "The purpose of the university is to make students safe for ideas, not to make ideas safe for students".
Similarly, the schools should endeavor to give the students a broad and honest enough concept of the human condition that they can safely form their own opinions, rather than to spoon feed them the opinions we think they ought to have.
Everyone wants the government out of education, and...practically everything else! Yet, I don't see any person here showing the rest of us readers how you're going to do any better by privatizing education. You want YOUR values taught, yet, what if your values are terrible and misogynistic? Does it then become acceptable to teach what could easily be described as ignorance and prejudice?
So who gets to decide which values to teach? You? Um, no thanks. How about we, ya know, adhere to the principles of liberty and freedom and allow parents to choose what they think best for their children, yes, even if you disagree with it (OH NOES!)
Quote:
We have an education system that I think really sucks because it brainwashes children into repetitive 'learning', making them wage slave robots without an entrepreneurial or original thought in their head. That being said, I still believe that once these problems are addressed (and it is by no means an easy fix), a public education is a necessity for everyone. If you learn in isolation, you are hardly a citizen. If you feel homeschooling your children is one way to improve the education problem, you will end up raising incomplete adults. Until people can forgo their prejudice and admit their own ignorance, we don't stand a chance of improving our children's educations by teaching in isolation.
It sucks because of over regulation. And don't give me that crap about homeschooling being deficient...you can cry about it all you want, but there's never been any indication that home schooled kids are any less well adjusted than public school kids.
Quote:
So much anger! "I don't wanna pay taxes for schools!" It's almost as if people want freedom from their government, yet, where's the replacement? Is anyone out there designing a system for 300 million people? Or are we going to live in gun-secured compounds promoting our individual worldviews, as ignorant as they might be? It really scares me when I read these threads. There is no cooperation anymore, just a bunker mentality.
Oh Noes (again)!!! People want freedom from their government?!? What's next...people wanting to the ability to speak freely? The ability to choose their own religion? The right to own guns? You're right...if this trend continues, we might *gasp* actually live in a free country...and, really, who wants that?
Wow. That site was downright scary. Talk about forcing a belief system via the police state. Seattle can have it!
Oh, it gets better. Take a gander around the district's official site:
Seattle Public Schools*|*Frequently Asked Questions (http://www.seattleschools.org/area/equityandrace/FAQ.html - broken link)
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.