Apology:Re: [Vision2020] Ted on the Virtues Project

[Tbertruss at aol.com]

Phil et. al.

If you are not getting all the V2020 posts for some reason, this can explain 
why you did not see Nick Gier's post sent explicitly to you on V2020, that you 
claimed was buried in the "avalanche" of V2020 posts, so I apologize for my 
misunderstanding.  I also have noted some V2020 posts are not coming into my 
inbox or spam folder!  This I discovered easily by cross checking my inbox with 
the V2020 archives.

As far as my post on Virtues Project is concerned, there is no way to avoid 
teaching some virtues in the public schools, nonviolence among them.  I just 
think there are serious conflicts, disagreements, and constitutional issues that 
could result from introducing the Virtues Project into a school system.  If 
we introduce a specific program of teaching virtues paid with taxpayer dollars, 
we should expect some serious and radical disagreements over what virtues 
should be taught, especially when the program being considered uses terminology 
suggestive of a religious origin and religious content for their program of 
"virtues."  Some will argue the Virtues Project is too close to introducing a 
form of religious teaching in the public schools for it to conform to 
constitutional guarantees of separation of church and state.  And the Virtues Project 
claims of avoiding values debates and the advocacy of religion is highly 
questionable.

I think children learn by example as much or more than by words.  If a child 
is surrounded from birth by people who show respect and consideration for each 
other, this is what they will learn, regardless of what the people 
surrounding them preach.  On the other hand, you could trumpet the virtue of nonviolence 
all day long, but if the culture a child is raised in surrounds them with 
messages that violence is justified and even a "virtue" itself, insofar as force 
or violence against others is viewed as a means to prove manhood or personal 
worth or gain success or guarantee the hegemony of the state, as it is often in 
our culture, the preaching of nonviolence may have limited effect.

Ted Moffett 
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