My uncle George, born at the turn of the century, was the patriarch of our family. A self-taught man, he was well-informed about finance, household repair, optometry (his sideline), and just about any matter my dad or others needed advice on. Unlike my dad, who earned a college degree and attended law school at night, George never had the opportunity to go to high school. He once told me why: There was no Catholic high school in town. My grandfather, a devout Catholic, refused to send his oldest son to the public school.
George, in the only criticism of his family I ever heard him make, regretted that his father's fear of the public school had deprived him of a higher education. Although lack of schooling was not a tragedy in his life, it was a cause of sadness. The message that I as a child gleaned from his story was that both religion and education were important to my family, but that religion was more important.
Interestingly, despite criticism that our society is often antithetical to religion, a new national survey reemphasizes that religion and spirituality are still among the most prized values of most Americans today. The survey reports that nearly 7 in 10 people say religion is very important in their lives. Yet it also shows that it is not easy to typecast views on spirituality.
Although 48 percent of those surveyed believe that the government should "take steps to protect our religious heritage," another 47 percent believe that the government should maintain a high degree of separation between church and state. Those who consider themselves most religious are also divided. Two-thirds of those with intense religious commitment want a larger role for religion, but about one-third of the most religious want a strict divide between church and state.
While Americans continue to believe that religion and spirituality are essential to their lives, another phenomenon is occurring—one that demographer Harold Hodgkinson (1998) dramatically delineates. A look at the makeup of the 215 nations that now exist (every one of which has someone living in the United States) shows that what we have long regarded as majority status is changing. Although we often talk about diversity of religions in terms of Catholicism, Protestantism, and Judaism, those categories are not nearly inclusive enough for children in our public schools today. Islam, Hinduism, and Taoism—some of the oldest religions in the world—are rapidly becoming parts of the American religious perspective as are lesser known spiritual practices.
Must our increasing diversity portend more culture wars in the public schools, schools that have lived through conflicts about prayer, holiday celebrations, and school reform? Efforts to remove children from public schools are on the upswing, with support growing for home schooling and for vouchers for private religious schools. Motives for this support are not monolithic. Some of those leaving the public schools for religious reasons are reacting to perceived hostility toward their views; some resent the neutrality of the schools; and some feel that schools are ignoring the central aspect of living a meaningful life.
This issue explores what thoughtful educators consider to be appropriate ways for public schools to address the spiritual dimension in life. Our writers do not necessarily agree with one another, but they all write in the spirit of education.
Charles Haynes (p. 24) reminds us that taking religion seriously in the curriculum requires taking religious liberty seriously throughout the school culture. He calls for a new consensus consistent with court rulings that direct schools neither to ignore religion nor to proselytize a particular belief. He pleads that learning about religion become an integral part of a complete education.
Parker Palmer (p. 6) brings us the perspective of a teacher of teachers. Not an advocate for imposing particular beliefs or practices, he is passionate about not violating the deepest needs of the human soul, which, he believes, the public school does with regularity. He urges educators to become aware of their own spiritual questions, not to dictate answers to their students but to help young people find their own questions that are worth asking. In The Courage to Teach, he writes, Fear is everywhere—in our culture, in our institutions, in our students, in ourselves—and it cuts us off from everything. Surrounded and invaded by fear, how can we transcend it and reconnect with reality for the sake of teaching and learning? The only path I know that might take us in that direction is the one marked "spiritual.”
My uncle George would have liked a teacher who understood that.
