Values in Public Education Education Essay Research Paper

Values in Public Education

Name

Institution Affiliation

Values in Public Education

Character education has become a major battleground full of old and new controversies, and people are afraid that students could be taught to follow certain beliefs that are not their own (Etherington, 2013). Up to today, it is not clear who has a big role in teaching students the important values and the question arises of whether it is educators’ or parents’ responsibility. Currently, students do not receive adequate education on moral values in public schools, which has led to increased violence in schools, disrespect for teachers, parents, elders, and individuals in positions of authority (Etherington, 2013). Students live in a more globalized world compared to previous centuries, with people now being more connected through the internet. Consequently, the world is full of information ranging from news, advertisement, opinions, and entertainment among others. Such information has a great power of influencing the values of the students. Although the world is changing rapidly, the moral values students need to develop are not considerably different from those of previous generations. This paper highlights fundamental aspects about key values of modern education and how they compare with that of the 19^th century.

The Role of Public Schools in Promoting Values

Although parents may contend that they should have a bigger voice and perhaps the final say in choosing what values are the best for their children, educators also have a role to play in character development of students. Students attend schools where they interact with people from different backgrounds regarding culture, wealth, status, ethnicity, race, and religion (Ryan, 2012). Parents may not be in a position to teach their children all important values, which leads to the emergence of the teachers’ role in promoting good values in students. Some of the reasons why schools should be involved in shaping the moral aspect of students are outlined below.

As aforementioned, although parents are determined to raise children with strong moral values, some external forces such as the internet, movies, mass-media-TV and popular music may interfere with this process (Larkins, 1997). The negative impact of media and other forms of communication is ubiquitous and sometimes proves difficult for parents to control. In this case, parents may work in collaboration with educators in public schools to help improve the character of the students. For instance, teachers usually introduce students to good literature, art, and music, which helps to counter the hedonistic, rude, violent and self-centered models presented in modern media.

Some parents do not act as positive role models to their children, and in some instances, they can pass immoral behavior to their children. Families where one or both parents are brutal, foul-mouthed, disrespectful, and lazy, can have a negative influence on students’ morals (Ryan, 2012). Also, there are some cases where parents may have good intentions and act as positive role models, but some factors hinder their ability to attend to their children’s character education.

Lastly, despite the general notion that families play a key role in selecting the values of their children, they are not the only social groups with a legitimate interest in the development of character for students. American society as a whole has a stake in moral values of its citizens. Violence, crime, dishonesty, disrespect, incivility as well as inclination to compromise basic rights affect all citizens in equal measures (Ryan, 2012). Subsequently, as a society, America has an interest in producing responsible individuals, and public schools are the collective agents to achieve this goal.

Non-Negotiable Values

There are various values that can be taught in public schools. Nevertheless, I believe that honesty, respect for others, cooperation, and hard work are the most important ones because these values help to shape the character of an individual and make them useful people in the society. Students should be taught that engaging in dishonest activities such as cheating and lying is wrong and that dishonesty has drastic consequences for individual and society as a whole. If students are taught the importance of being honest right from the young age, we will have a society full of people of high integrity and corruption, and other fraudulent cases will reduce. For many years teachers have emphasized the role of education teaching values. During the 19^th century, the main purpose of education was to obtain individuals of greater character as opposed to today’s education that mainly fo...