Irvine to Teach ‘Moral Values,’ but Whose?

Regarding “Moral Values to Be Taught in Irvine Schools, Board Says” (March 5): One wonders whose “moral values” are going to be taught, and why it is up to the school board to teach these “moral values.” (Why not call it what it really is, ethos, not the religion-biased term of moral values ?)

Will it be the “moral values” that people like Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker set? Will it be the “moral values” of racism, anti-Semitism, bigotry and hatred shown by certain members of a political party whose ties to groups idolizing Hitler are well-known? Will it be the “moral values” of certain fundamental religious groups who preach the denigration of women and condemn people on their status, rather than on their conduct? Just exactly who is going to decide for these students--other than their own parents and religious leaders, who should be deciding in the first place--what these “moral values” should be?

Assistant Supt. Dean Waldfogel states that each “school will decide how those values will be added to regular courses.” Get real. Isn’t this really a wolf in sheep’s clothing, an attempt to sneak through the back door what the courts rightfully will not allow through the front door? Isn’t this really an attempt to sneak religion in through the guise of teaching “moral values”? Of course it is.

Values are important, of course. So is ethics. But to wrap certain ethical and responsible criteria such as honesty, responsibility, compassion, courage and citizenship in the cloth of “moral values” does nothing more than to start right off with dishonesty, deceit and irresponsibility.

The teaching of ethics, rather that the teaching of “moral values,” is proper, and if done in a neutral, thought-provoking manner is absolutely necessary and appropriate. The teaching of truth, justice and patriotism, as allowed by the California Education Code, is proper.

Let’s hope that this attempt to inject “moral values” is not an attempt to inject the bigoted and discriminatory agenda of those espousing “traditional values.” Hopefully we can all teach our children by example that discrimination, bigotry, hatred, and judging others by their class, race, creed, nationality and religion, or lack thereof, know no religious boundary. Nor are “moral values” solely part of the “religious” philosophy. They can and should be practiced by all, and taught by parents in the home, and not as part of a politically correct agenda.

JAMES GRAFTON RANDALL, Anaheim Hills