Report Decries Erosion of Values in Youth

American parents need “all the help they can get,” warns a group of Jewish and Catholic leaders in a joint report calling for a broad-based campaign to instill traditional and fundamental moral values in youths attending the nation’s public schools.

Warning that the country is on the verge of losing a generation of its children, the report calls for mobilizing parents with government, religious and educational leaders to spearhead the effort.

Public schools “feel inhibited” about teaching such common moral values as honesty, compassion, tolerance and loyalty that weave together both the religious and civic fabric of American society, charges the report, “A Lesson of Value: A Joint Statement of Moral Education in the Public Schools.”

The 1,150-word document was released Tuesday by the Interreligious Affairs Committee of the Synagogue Council of America and the Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.