personal preference art : State Education and the Decline in Morality

Introduction
Developing the personal moral character of children is an essential prerequisite for the continuation of civilization. Further, education is an important component of that process since moral behavior requires empathy for others. Regrettably, state schools are wholly unsuited to this task. This can be seen when the nature of state education and the participants in the process are considered. The participants of any educational process include parents, children, teachers, and organizers of educational programs. The ultimate responsibility of educating children must rest with the parents. The parents are responsible for bringing a child into the world and are therefore responsible for nurturing that child to maturity. This relationship is fundamental. If the state usurps the responsibility for educating children, it will invariably subvert that education for its own expedient ends. In other words, if the state takes responsibility for education it will attempt to indoctrinate children according to some accepted statist point of view. Furthermore, to the extent that an error serves some particular purpose of state authorities, it will inevitably be promoted and taught as if it were acurate. This becomes especially problematic when children are taught to behave immorally simply because such behavior serves to further some governmental goal.

In addition to this, it should be noted that moral education cannot be divorced from education in general. It is not possible for the state to teach the supposed positive facts of the reality while leaving the teaching of normative values to parents. The reason this is so is because normative values always serve as a framework within which the facts of life are given meaning. Without values, facts become irrelevant pieces of information. The individual brought up in such a system sees no underlying principles of action other than some immediate personal preference. Of course, in the state system, state educators attempt to impose their own preferences. Lamentably, the person whose sole view of the world is that of personal preference and power politics, lacks character and cannot be trusted. As the noted theologian, Charles Hodge, stated so clearly, "A man without character is a man without principles, i.e., in whom there is nothing which gives security as to what his acts will be."{1}

By examining the way in which governments use education for pragmatic purposes, and by demonstrating how the nature of state education subverts traditional moral values, it will be evident that state schooling undermines moral character development and is, therefore, detrimental to civilization.

by Paul A. Cleveland