© 1996 Bud Bromley
© 1996 The Christian Fellowship of Students of The Urantia Book
| My Odyssey of Peak Experiences | Spring 1996 — Index | Significant Books: The Humble Approach by John M. Templeton |
In some local papers a while ago there appeared a brief report headlined, “Committee Rejects Plan to Teach Values in School.” This decision is, of course, a value judgment which itself determines the way values are taught in our schools. We urgently need to reconsider the shortsightedness of such a decision. Our educational system, consciously or unconsciously, always teaches some kind of values. We need to be clearly intentional about which values we do in fact teach. How can any group exist as a cohesive group if it does not have a clearly understood core of common values? And how shall such values continue to be cherished, if they are not taught, first at home and in the religious groups of our choice, but also in the public schools? We will fall apart as a country if we cannot agree upon a minimum core of essential public values, and teach those values vigorously in our schools.
If that seems like an unduly strong statement, then consider this: the increasing number of crimes on our streets clearly indicates an increasing number of people who lack even the minimum values needed to be acceptable citizens in our communities. How many of such unacceptable citizens are we willing to tolerate in our society?
All people are motivated and guided by some kind of values. These standards and objectives may undergird or destroy the welfare of individuals and society. Over the centuries humankind has learned to live by a basic core of values which is conducive to the well being of all people. Each generation must relearn these constructive ideals.
Disraeli once remarked that “History teaches us that we do not learn what history teaches us.” The illusion that we can avoid teaching values is a perfect example of just such a failure. One need not be a historian to know that the people who first chose to emigrate to this country did so, for the most part, because they chose to leave their homes rather than desert their most cherished values. Who were the men who wrote our Constitution? Men who placed little emphasis on values? No! The authors were determined to preserve certain core religious and political values. Who are the veterans who have fought to preserve this country? Men and women uncommitted to higher values? No! We fought to preserve the ideal of democracy, as opposed to the “ideal” of totalitarian rule. And note: whether Jew, Christian, or atheist-black or white-management or labor-Democrat or Republican — we all fought together. On December 6th, 1941, we were still bickering among ourselves like brothers and sisters. But on December 7th, we were united like a family, because there was a common core of values which we all held dear. And now, half a century later, we see the same unity in protecting and defending these ideals in the Middle East.
The ill-conceived notion that we “must not teach values” reflects at least two major errors of thinking. The first is the notion that in a democracy everyone’s values are of equal worth. Our judicial system is an eloquent testimony to the error of such thinking. A working democracy requires the values of shared power, and shared respect. The idea that just a few people should rule and have all the power with no respect for the masses beneath them has no place in our political philosophy. Our society should not respect persons who want all of their rights without accepting any of their responsibilities. Many adult “rights” are not rights at all; they are privileges which must be earned by proving one’s self to be trustworthy. The deliberate despoiler is not deserving of a decent citizen’s rights. And we should teach these ideals of good citizenship to our children. We must ever keep in mind the powerful groups (and blinded zealots) who would destroy us by extolling the viruses of vicious “values.” We can remain immune to false values if, and only if, we know clearly what our own core values are. Some values are worth more than others, and we should have the insight and courage to say so.
The second error of thinking is the failure to distinguish public values from private ones. It is at this point that we can be sympathetic with minority groups for being wary about the values which might be taught in public schools. A set of common values should not contain those which are unique to any one group, such as Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. It is natural for people to have their own unique group values, but these are their shared private values, not to be pressed upon captive audiences in the public schools. (This is not to say that children should not learn about the values of others; mutual respect requires some degree of mutual understanding. But “learning about” is quite different from being told to “believe in.” ) Fortunately, virtually all groups occupying a respected place in America do share a set of common public values. A public value which allows special groups to maintain their private values is the democratic policy of pluralism in our society. For example, we can and do change political parties-in-power and live peaceably with many philosophical and religious views without having a revolution .
Is it not reasonable to believe that we can arrive at a common set of core public values? How would we do this? One way would be to have a committee representing the diverse cultural groups of our society to arrive at a core set of public values to be taught in our schools. The committee selecting a core of common public values would need to be very cautious about infringing upon private values, such as personal religious values. But we must be even more careful not to allow a vacuum of positive public values. Without such positive values, destructive ones are likely to move in. Pre-Nazi Germany appeared to be a civilized nation. It had produced major works of music, remarkable philosophers, outstanding scientists, and renowned theologians. But history demonstrates that totalitarianism did move in. In the absence of a core of clear-cut common values, it could happen here. Those who don’t know what they stand for are likely to fall for anything.
A panel of members would need to be chosen as representative of the wide range of diverse cultural, ethnic, and religious groups in America. But it should not include those whose “values” are destructive of society rather than supportive. Nor should it include those whose values are “parasitic”, rather than productive. That is, groups which have deliberately accepted “values” (purposes) that are demonstrably destructive to the institutions of the majority of society should not be represented. The objection here is not to intelligent dissenters; they usually stimulate progress. Rather, the objection is to people or groups who would, in the pursuit of their own “rights,” wantonly and callously disregard the reasonable rights of others. “Democracy” does not mean that we have to tolerate those whose values are destructive, and with whom we dare not share power. This our citizens — present and future-must clearly understand.
Despite the difficulties involved, I see no reason why a representative group cannot and should not be allowed to recommend a set of core values to be taught and reinforced in our public schools. I believe that a core of such common public values does in fact exist and should be strongly supported by all of our institutions. These values must be somewhere taught, or everywhere lost.
For those interested in how such a set of core values might be arrived at, I strongly recommend a most meticulously written book by Dr. Raymond B. Cattell, A New Morality from Science: Beyondism. It deals with the scientific search for behaviorally defined values, that is, the search for objective values by methods which have come to be accepted as reliable — methods of re-verifiable, carefully impartial observation and sophisticated statistical analysis.
For those interested in a deeply thoughtful religious approach to finding intelligent spiritual values which make good sense in the modern world, values which follow from facts and truths of a profound spiritual view of the cosmos, I highly recommend The Urantia Book. Both of these books can challenge and stimulate the thinking of anyone willing to read them.
C. Bud Bromley is a computer programmer and college teacher, now retired. Bud has been a student of The Urantia Book for many years.
| My Odyssey of Peak Experiences | Spring 1996 — Index | Significant Books: The Humble Approach by John M. Templeton |