Morals And Values In Schools

As a teacher at a Christian Preschool and Daycare, it is my job to incorporate morals and values into the curriculum taught to our students.  Or school actively promotes values such as kindness, forgiveness, and compassion.  But what about the public school?  While efforts are made to keep religion out of the public school system, morals and values abound.  Why is this? Who's morals and values are these and how can we be sure they are shared by our students?

This topic came to my attention while reading an article regarding how morals and values are represented in schools.   The article The Moral Life of Schools (taken from the book of the same name) was written by P.W. Jackson, R.E. Boostrom, and D.T. Hansen.  The article argued that there are deliberate displays of morals and values everywhere in our schools and most of them are quite subtle.  According to the authors, morals can be found in most lessons taught in schools, but are usually not addressed  formally in the curriculum.  Many class lessons and activities may be moral in tone without overtly pushing the moral. The following are some examples:
 
Moral rituals:  Saying the pledge of Allegiance, pep rallies, MLK assemblies etc.
(these encourage loyalty, pride, etc)
 
Visual displays: "Don't use drugs" or "Respect others" posters, bulletin boards stating "To make a friend you must be one"(these encourage kindness, healthy living, etc)
 
Morals in curriculum: Using books or lessons on "The Rainbow Fish, Charlottes' Web, To Kill a Mockingbird, or lessons on heros, such as the Challenger Astronauts or Rosa Parks.  (encourage kindness, bravery, diversity, forgiveness, etc)
 
I found this idea very interesting because it is everywhere in our schools.  If our schools and classrooms are like mini societies, are we surprised at this?  The authors didn't argue for or against morals in schools, but talked mainly about their prevalence.  For me, this article brought the issue to my attention and it makes me want to be very mindful about how I promote morals and values in my future classroom, because they may not be morals and values that my students share. 
  
~ Christy