<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><FONT SIZE=2 PTSIZE=10 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
Phil et. al.<BR>
<BR>
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.<BR>
<BR>
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.<BR>
<BR>
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.<BR>
<BR>
Ted Moffett </FONT></HTML>