The U.S. Government, via the Public School system, is reaching farther into the private lives of citizens by taking on the responsibility of rearing our children. With a newly implemented program spreading across the nation, the public school system is incorporating "Character Education" into academics.

It seems that most parents do not mind that the government has taken on this role once reserved for parents - to teach children the quality of character. In fact, most parents may view it as extra help. Instead of them having all the responsibility, they can pass it on to the government.

The problem with this is the school system is opening themselves up to future lawsuits when people's children do not turn out to be good citizens or even decent people. Parents also, are opening themselves up to the potential of indoctrination and institutional programming of their children.

Below is an explanation of the program from a Character Education resource:

There is movement growing to instill ethical values in young people through their schools. The nonprofit Character Education Partnership -- a national coalition of organizations and individuals -- is pressing public schools across the country to add character-building education to their academic fare.

Supporters say that where character education has been implemented properly, it has produced positive and often dramatic results -- not only in student behavior, but also in academic performance.

• Five years after a Dayton, Ohio, elementary school implemented a comprehensive character education program, it went from 28th out of 33 local elementary schools to first in test scores and student behavior improved dramatically.
• This was in an inner-city school where 60 percent of children came from single-parent families and 70 percent came from families on welfare.
• Five years after such a program was initiated in an inner-city Washington, D.C., high school plagued by drugs, pregnancies and violence, student pregnancies have dropped to almost none and the school is recognized for having the highest academic achievement in the city.

The group's leaders say that while religion cannot be taught in schools any longer, schools can teach core ethical values upon which freedom is based.

Both religion and character values are responsibilities of the parents, not the schools. The fact that this program has undermined the effort of parents implies that parents are not doing their jobs, especially when the programs are implemented within urban, predominantly Black, schools.

Yes, the plight of the Black family is in trouble with the rate of single Black females rising and the number of unsupportive men as fathers loaded into the child support system, however, if values and character were taught by the generation before, there would be no need for such programs.

In a related article on Afromerica, past research shows that the baby boomer generation is the most selfish generation where it pertains to raising their children, as far as spending time is concerned. Because of a lack of time spent, and the number of latch key kids during the late seventies and early eighties, the values of family and the break down of character exploded in the baby boomer's children and filtered down into the children of today's parents. Thus, society is now is in its second generation of children with no values.

Programs such as these should be implemented by community groups, funded by the government instead of it going into the public school system, if the government must have a hand in raising our children The school system should teach the basics of academics and that alone, not the lessons of character and life.

Source: Sanford N. McDonnell (McDonald Douglas Corp. and Character Education Partnership), "A Virtuous Agenda for Education Reform," Wall Street Journal, February 18, 1997.
Source From: http://www.ncpa.org/pi/edu/pdedu/pdedu116.html

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