Teaching right from wrong used to be just as basic a task for American schools as teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. But not any longer.
Educators began backing away from that responsibility three decades ago after the U.S. Supreme Court banned prayer in public schools. Today the retreat continues, impelled by fear of lawsuits, a concern to keep church and state separate, and worries over giving offense in an increasingly diverse society.Just how far that retreat has gone was illustrated by a sad episode a few days ago in Bristol, Va., that deserves more attention than it has received.
Hoping to fill a void for children who get little or no moral training elsewhere, the Bristol school board voted to study the possibility of using the Bible for grammar, history and literature lessons.
But the public uproar - spurred on by the American Civil Liberties Union - was so great that the school board didn't dare to even proceed with the study, let alone consider any rec-om-men-da-tions.
This episode isn't so much a reflection on the small community in Virginia as it is on American society as a whole.
Never mind that the Bible is the most widely distributed, though not always the most thoroughly read, book in the world, having been translated into 2,009 languages and dialects.
Never mind that millions of people have been named after Bible characters and that the names of many cities and other places come from the Bible.
Never mind that the Bible is an exemplar of good writing and that its style and themes have left the Bible's mark on much of the world's modern poetry, drama and literature.
Never mind that the language of the Bible is on the tip of the tongue of just about everyone who speaks English. Language like: being talented or at your wits' end, going the second mile, sowing the wind, girding up your loins, casting pearls before swine, thorns in the flesh, escaping by the skin of your teeth, nothing new under the sun.
Never mind that the Bible is a treasure chest of practical advice for those seeking answers to a variety of problems, a source of comfort and hope to the spiritually troubled.
For all these reasons and many more, the Bible bears daily reading, pondering and heeding.
But not inside the walls of the public schools. That is the short-sighted response of Bristol, Va., and so many other American communities. Talk about the blind leading the blind - another famous phrase from the Bible.
In any event, the Bible still has valuable lessons to teach about grammar, history and literature as well as morals. Some people will still manage to get a good education in such basics. But they will get this important education despite their schools, not because of them.