THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 13, 1995 TAG: 9503100019
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 33 lines
Recently, I found an old clipping. The then newly named president of Yale University, Benno C. Schmidt, stressed: ``Within this enterprise of higher education in America, character is as important a theme as academics'' (Christian Science Monitor, Dec. 12, 1985).
I was thinking that honesty, responsibility, discipline, promptness, self-control, diligence and perseverance could be stressed early in our classrooms as just as important or more so than acquiring knowledge.
Children would learn self-respect in practicing these qualities and recognize that that is more important than want of a condom or guns and knives.
Teenage pregnancy (with 500,000 last year) shows the failure in our school system and, of course, home values - all at a tremendous cost to taxpayers and rampant, awesome crime. Children don't want drugs and immediate satisfaction if shown how to work out their problems through character training and productive work.
They want to be worthy of recognition and to have the ability to cope with the problems of life!
JEANNE ELLIS
Norfolk, March 1, 1995 by CNB