The Role of Morals in Education and Religion in School

The Role of Morals in Education and Religion in School

“Our father’s God to, thee, author of Liberty, to thee we sing. Long may our land

be bright with freedoms holy light; protect us by thy might, Great God our King.”

Since the late 1950’s, when separation between Church and state was forced into

practice, public schools have shown a dramatic decrease in the amount of ethics and

morality taught in the classroom. All the while, school violence is on the rise. All we

need to do is look at the horror with transpired at Columbine to see this sad truth in

action. Because public teachers are terrified of lawsuits they neglect to implement the

importance of ethical and moral values on the youths of our society. While in parochial

schools ethics and morals are continually taught with various religious undertones. These

same elementary principles can be applied, as well as taught, at public institutions

without the use of the religious undertones. Personally I would not posses as high of

moral and personal standards if it were not for the emphasis placed on right vs. wrong in

my grade school religion class.

At the impressionable age of seven I was thrust into the all consuming world of

catholic schools. Where the sociological institutions of religion and education are

intertwined in a complex web of dogmatic beliefs and demanding course loads. This

continual demand of both spiritual and personal excellence, coupled with the numerous

Southern ideologies of my parents, has tremendously nourished my strong willed, “go

get’em”, conviction filled character. This character, which at times is questionable to

observers, was given it fundamental values on my back porch swing-- yet it was

dramatically enhanced by five c...

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...ts gives us our freedom, it also beckons us to at times to be our

brothers keeper. Personally I was lucky to have the opportunity to learn intrinsic values

which would carry me throughout life while I was in grammar school. I was in a

particular setting were religion was intertwined with all facets of the education process.

Yet, it was not the religion which made a difference in my life, it was the “right vs.

wrong” standards which aided in shaping my personal views of what is essentially right

and what is wrong. I feel that we as a society need to teach elementary ethical principles

to the youth in our country, for they unfortunately are faced with the mass amount of

violence on television and in all forms of media. Once we impart some virtues in their

lives, most will grow up to be well rounded individuals and with luck there will be less

Columbine’s.