We must teach
foundations of civility
In a world lacking
taste and judgment, it's time to expect better.
Let's rekindle good
character and government.
By Paula A. Franzese,
philly.com from the Web, April 2, 2007
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Paula A.
Franzese |
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Recently, the New Jersey Supreme
Court unanimously affirmed, in L.W. v. Toms River Regional Schools Board of
Education, that students have a right to attend school without being
subjected to student-on-student harassment.
The abuse chronicled in the case began in the fourth grade, when classmates
began referring to the then-9-year-old plaintiff as "gay" and "homo."
Matters escalated in the fifth, sixth and seventh grades as other students
joined in, assaulting the child with more venomous words and gestures.
It's too easy to chalk this up merely to teacher and administration neglect, and
certainly there was that. The fault, however, runs deeper.
Callousness and selfishness seem to be everywhere. These attributes are
flaunted by those we hail as celebrities and purveyed every day by our media.
Style trumps substance. Self-involvement has taken the place of civic
sense -- and of civility.
Think about what we have come to view as acceptable in our homes, our
workplaces, on the airwaves, and in the public domain. Think about the
words we hear, the language we use, what it is we're watching, and who it is
we're watching.
We live in a time of diminished expectations. Personal scandals, political
corruption, and the news media's constant hunger for the salacious have
contributed to the sense that no matter how cynical you are, it's hard to keep
up.
That the protracted Anna Nicole Smith saga has commanded the attention it has
should be a wake-up call.
It's time to snap out of our complacency and rekindle the virtue and altruism
that reside not in just some of us but in all of us.
Part of the solution resides in a return to civics teaching in our elementary,
middle and high schools. We need to be teaching the essentials of
character, responsibility, good behavior and good government.
Knowledge is power. Our children deserve the foundation a good civics
education can provide. Seeds of character must be planted early on and
then tended.
I teach a class called Civics, Character and Leadership to middle school
students in my hometown. We talk about our system of checks and balances,
the ethical responsibilities of leaders and citizens, the promise of our
Constitution, and even how to read a newspaper.
I once asked Max Frankel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former
executive editor of the New York Times, "How should one read a newspaper?"
He replied, "Persistently. All that the news can do is be cumulatively
true."
In a time of waning attention spans and instant messaging, that's important
advice.
In this civics class, we also talk about the building blocks of good character
-- such as being impeccable with your word. Words have power. They
can hurt or heal, add injury or inspire. They also speak volumes about
their speaker.
We make all sorts of judgments about others on the basis of what they say and
how they say it. Those who earn respect give respect. They use their
words responsibly, so that what they say and write promotes understanding,
dialogue, and the cause of kindness.
All of us -- parents, educators, the academy, leaders, public officials, the
clergy, the press, private citizens -- have a role to play in the return to
civics and to civility.
Paula A. Franzese is the Peter W. Rodino Professor of Law at
Seton Hall School of Law in Newark, N.J.
Link to the "Event Photo" describing
Dr. Franzese's April 10th visit to the NJ Commission on Civil Rights
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