ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 7, 1996 TAG: 9607080076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
In 1992, nearly three dozen educators, ethicists and leaders of youth organizations met in Aspen, Colo., and drafted a statement on character education in schools.
It's become known as the Aspen Consensus on the "core ethical values" that many educators believe can appropriately be taught in schools.
The conference was convened by the Josephson Institute for Ethics, a nonprofit organization in California that promotes ethical decision-making by business, government, professional people and students.
The group agreed on six values that it said form the foundation of a democratic society: respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, trustworthiness and citizenship.
The core values are described as principles that are generally supported by people of different religions as well as nonbelievers, by both liberals and conservatives, and by people of different races, ethnic backgrounds and economic levels.
Some schools across the country are using the Aspen list in both formal and informal character education programs.
The fact that some of these values are also held by religions does not make it unlawful to teach them in public schools, said Secretary of Education Richard Riley.
In written guidelines on religion and values in schools sent to all superintendents in the country last year, Riley said:
"Though schools must be neutral with respect to religion, they may play an active role with respect to teaching civic values and virtue, and the moral code that holds us together as a community."
Polls show that many parents and adults without school-age children favor the teaching of these values in public schools.
A national survey by Public Agenda, a nonprofit organization that published a report in 1994, "What Americans Expect From Public Schools," found that 95 percent of the general public rated the teaching of honesty as "very appropriate" in schools.
A similar percentage had the same attitude about the teaching of respect for others regardless of racial or ethnic background.
There also was strong support for other values lessons:
Teaching children to solve problems without violence, 93 percent.
Teaching students that having friends from different racial backgrounds and living in integrated neighborhoods is good, 84 percent.
Stressing that girls can succeed at anything boys can, 80 percent.
Stressing that democracy is the best form of government, 70 percent.
The poll showed that 71 percent of Americans say it is even more important for schools to teach values than to teach academic subjects.
Virginia's teachers focus on core values in their classrooms, according to the Virginia Journal of Education.
In a recent article, "Values: What We Teach and How We Teach It," teachers said they communicate ethical principles in a variety of ways - in setting examples, in the way they teach their subject and in formal lessons.
According to the journal, a publication of the Virginia Education Association, values that are regularly taught in classrooms are: responsibility, honesty, hard work, fairness, respect, patience, tolerance, compassion, loyalty, commitment and patriotism.
Sue Hodge, recently named Roanoke County's teacher of the year, said she tries to convey values to her pupils by example.
"I try to show them what caring and concern are about, how to cooperate and get along with each other," Hodge said. "I talk with them about not making fun of others, about developing coping skills."
While parents and teachers generally agree on the teaching of core values, there is less consensus on controversial issues such as premarital sex, abortion and homosexuality.
The Public Agenda poll showed that 31 percent of Americans want the schools to teach that sex before marriage is wrong, but 22 percent say this is "not at all appropriate" for schools to teach.
In the Roanoke Valley, educators say that in sex-education classes they try to teach students about sexual responsibility and the consequences of sexual behavior, but they do not focus on the moral or religious perspective.
"We try to help students understand the implications of sexual behavior and why some behavior is preferable," said Jack Liddy, supervisor of health, physical education and driver education for Roanoke County schools.
"With today's students, you need to help them understand - not just say that something is right or wrong," Liddy said. "The bottom line is that we teach kids it pays to wait [for marriage before having sex]."
Peggy Owens, the mother of a student at Addison Middle School in Roanoke, believes schools should teach children that premarital sex is wrong. Roanoke's high teen-age pregnancy rate reflects a decline in moral values, she said.
"Teen-agers shouldn't be having sex before marriage," Owens said. "They're not old enough to be making those kinds of decisions."
Trish White-Boyd, president of the Parent-Teacher Association at Ruffner Middle School in Roanoke, said schools shun controversy on sex issues.
The Ruffner PTA wanted to hold a workshop on the consequences of teen-age pregnancy, but school officials didn't want to schedule it during the school day, she said.
Sixty-one percent of the public believes it is appropriate for schools to teach respect for homosexuals, according to the Public Agenda poll, but others disagree.
Nelson Harris, former chairman of the Roanoke School Board, doesn't think the schools should get involved in moral or religious teachings about sexual behavior and homosexuality, but they should advocate respect for all individuals.
"I don't think schools should be an advocate - either for or against - certain lifestyles," Harris said. "I really don't think schools have an appropriate role in that area."
Polls show there is also disagreement on whether it's appropriate for schools to teach that two-parent families are the best way to raise children.
There are conflicting views, too, on teaching the Ten Commandments and teaching in a science class that the biblical view of creation and Darwin's theory of evolution are equally valid.
A little less than half (47 percent) of Americans think the schools should teach the Ten Commandments, but three-quarters (75 percent) of traditional Christian parents do.
James Gallion, Roanoke County's assistant superintendent, said the law prohibits the teaching of the Ten Commandments in public schools as religious principles, but they can be studied in a comparative religion class.
"If it was done in the context of treating the Bible as literature, it would be OK to discuss them," he said.
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