VALUES IN EDUCATION: IT IS TIME TO TAKE A STAND

"A lack of values is not just what's wrong in schools, but what's wrong in society." So lamented Kent King, executive director of the Missouri State Teachers Association in an address at the Southeast Missouri District Teachers Meeting in Cape Girardeau earlier this month.

Mr. King is right.

Look around and what do you see? From the highest ranks of government -- where Combativeness, Cheating and Dishonesty have become staff positions -- to the stars of entertainment -- with their moral exhibitionism and sexual licentiousness -- to children who maim, molest and kill neighbors for sport, our society's values are in turmoil.

Not all is corrupt. But the tide seems to be rising.

The responsibility for teaching values lies with parents, said Mr. King in his speech. "Failing that, churches should step in. Failing that, we [teachers] have a responsibility. These children are adrift."

It is a heavy burden that society is placing on teachers -- for precisely the failures Mr. King cites. But it is not a new responsibility. For many years, values were a part of education, found in the morals of stories read and brought forth from the lessons of history. But somewhere education -- in particular, public education -- took a wrong turn. Values became more associated with political agendas than with the common lessons of humanity.

Mr. King explained in his speech that many teachers have forgotten how to teach values or, "They are nervous when they do. The fear factor is so high of offending someone that nothing is done."

This is a shame, because teachers should teach values. And they do, whether it is realized or not.

Let us draw a sharp distinction, however, when we say "should teach values." This does not mean teachers -- and we speak directly but not exclusively to public school teachers -- should teach that homosexuality is right or wrong, that mankind came from Adam or ape, that abortion is a matter of choice or murder. Before these and other topics -- among the most difficult ethical controversies of our time -- can be discussed, a more basic grounding is necessary.

This grounding is achieved by teaching such virtues as self-discipline, compassion, responsibility, friendship, work, courage, perseverance, honesty, loyalty and faith.

Once these fundamentals are learned, then the tough issues, if teachers and parents both wish, can be taken up.

In his speech, Mr. King said, "It's time to take a stand.

"I'm tired of the bureaucracy. I'm tired of the zealots on both sides of the fence who don't want to listen but want to throw stones."

We understand the frustration. And yet we take some issue with it. It can be easy to dismiss those critical of public schools as "zealots ... who want to throw stones." Unquestionably, there is a breakdown of trust in this country between many parents and teachers. It goes both ways. Many parents have failed in their responsibility -- their first responsibility -- to take care of and teach their children right from wrong, and to prepare them for learning at school. Many teachers -- most often directed from bureaucrats above -- have been caught up with the politics and agendas, rather than the lessons, of education.

A renewed partnership is critical. Parents must get involved not only with their children's education, but with the schools their children attend. In doing so, they should listen to teachers and be thoughtful about what is said. Teachers, too, have a responsibility to listen to parents. They also have a responsibility to teach values. For by not teaching them -- self-discipline, work, perseverance, etc. -- teachers are, in fact, adding to the general decline.

In addition, it wouldn't hurt if teachers took the lead in standing up against questionable rules issued from removed state and federal bureaucrats -- like outcome based education -- that undercut the teaching of values and sap local control of schools. Or at least when parents express their concern over such matters, teachers partake in the discussion.

The topic of education and values has been written about extensively. One writer, former Secretary of Education William Bennett, will be in Cape Girardeau this Friday, speaking at Rose Theater at 5:15 p.m. His latest book is about values in education specifically.

We'd like to excerpt from the opening paragraph of The Book of Virtues.

"Moral education -- the training of heart and mind toward the good -- involves many things. It involves rules and precepts -- the dos and don'ts of life with others -- as well as explicit instruction, exhortation, and training. Moral education must provide training in good habits. Aristotle wrote that good habits formed at youth make all the difference. And moral education must affirm the central importance of moral example. It has been said that there is nothing more influential, more determinant, in a child's life than the moral power of quiet example. For children to take morality seriously they must be in the presence of adults who take morality seriously. And with their own eyes they must see adults take morality seriously."

We agree. And, we think, Kent King would, too. As King said, "It's time to take a stand."