Values and Censorship in Curriculum

Spring asks: "Should children in public schools be exposed to ideas and values that are contrary to the beliefs of their families?"

My answer is yes, how else will students develop their own world views? Public schools should expose children to ideas and values--opinions--that contradict their family's beliefs if for no other reason than to give kids necessary tools to form their own unique identity. Public schools should not teach, however, that kids parents are necessarily wrong. These contradicting values should not replace values held by students' family values, but just be there for comparison and questioning's, second-guessing's sake.

If a child asks "Are you right or are my parents right?" A teacher's good response might be "I think we might both be right." Or "What is right and wrong is not totally black and white. There are subtleties--differences--that exist. You must learn to navigate the gray and make your own choices." Or "I want you to think about that and decide for yourself what you believe, even if it is neither my belief nor your parents' belief." Or "I can't answer that, because you are the only one who can decide what/who you think is right. Your parents and I give you resources, references, to start with, we cannot make the journey for you."

Another important point is that often the stuff schools avoid teaching/discussing stem from or are serious social dilemmas. If we ignore issues by refusing to broach them in school, we do nothing to encourage resolution and if the problems continue to be ignored for a long time, they will fester, just like problems in relationships, and there will be a sudden, powerful, potentially scary implosion that could very well turn the world as we know it upside down, or destroy something that is valuable. Where would our students be then?

As Dewey says, teachers cannot possibly prepare students for every event that might occur in the future. It is their job to give them foundations of good character and broad understanding, or at least open-mindedness, that will make it possible for the students to handle situations well. I think it is far better for the human species' future to encourage critical thinking and problem solving rather than issue dogmatic ways of doing things, or commands, or whatever. I think that there have to be at least some visionaries in future generations, for if there aren't, progress will halt and human adaptation will stagnate.