THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 14, 1996 TAG: 9605140281
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
While the idea has stirred controversy in school systems across the country, a plan by city school officials to teach students about right and wrong and other moral values barely caused a ripple at a public hearing Monday.
And while 14 people commented on the proposal, eight of them were members of a committee appointed by the school system to develop a list of character traits that were the subject of the hearing.
Only one person, a father with a son not yet in school, voiced opposition.
``The government teaching morals is like the inmate being the guard at the jail,'' said the father, Dan Bose, who set off a chain reaction among committee members who rose to defend the proposal. ``I think what we have here is political correctness run amok,'' he added.
Not many shared Bose's view. Several parents, a representative of the League of Women Voters and the president of a local civic league voiced support.
``We see a win-win situation,'' said Linda Armstrong, a parent and representative of the South Hampton Roads chapter of the League of Woman Voters. ``The children gain an even firmer grounding in commonly accepted values, and the community gains citizens better equipped to contribute to the common good.''
Alice Mountjoy, a parent and president of Virginians Against Handgun Violence, said, ``I'm just thrilled this is happening. . . . Responsibility is something we often say is important but we need to make sure that it's reiterated in all aspects of what children learn. Too often we let things slide.''
Walter Dickerson, president of the Coronado-Inglenook Civic League, added: ``We have a very serious problem in our society today, and I commend you for taking some action.''
The committee identified 16 traits, including such commonly held values as respect, responsibility, honesty and work ethic.
Under a proposal before the School Board, children would be taught those traits as part of the regular school curriculum beginning as early as next January, said board member Robert F. Williams, who has pushed the plan.
Board member Anna Dodson, who served as co-chair with Williams, said the committee represented a ``cross section of our entire community,'' and included students, parents, educators, and religious, community and business leaders.
``We didn't want to turn anyone off,'' said committee member Shirley McGill, a parent. ``Education is good, but education without values is useless.''
Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr. said public schools once routinely taught children about moral values, citing an example from his days as a sixth-grader when his teacher emphasized cleanliness by checking students' fingernails to make sure they weren't dirty.
Nichols said schools stopped teaching such values in the 1960s and '70s because of threats of lawsuits, but that now it was ``time to get back to teaching right from wrong, and good from evil, and those things that are wholesome.''
Williams said the low turnout at Monday's hearing indicates that Norfolk's plan ``is not a profoundly controversial issue.''
``We know there will be citizens who disagree, but I think they represent a distinct minority view,'' he said.
Omar Hawk, a junior at Booker T. Washington High School and committee member, said after the hearing: ``Finally somebody's going to do something about all the bad elements I see everyday in my school.'' by CNB