What Real Education Requires 1

Abstract

In the view of the author of this article, any discussion of the place of values—and value transmission—in the school must begin with a definition of “real” education. In its broadest sense, education is the shaping of the whole person. A system devoted solely to instruction that conveys information and develops skills cannot claim to have fulfilled its mission.

Charles Glenn believes that a major obstacle to providing real education is the unwillingness of teachers to communicate their values and convictions to students. Their reluctance is understandable in view of the fact that schools are expected to plot a neutral course among the many conflicting views and beliefs of a democratic society. Parents distrust what they regard as intrusion in an area they consider to be their domain and resist what they construe as “government” interference. Professor Glenn proposes that a way to combat the values stand-off is to develop schools as distinctive, coherent communities, each based on a shared vision and shared goals. This is perhaps easier to accomplish in charter and magnet schools, and of course in independent schools, particularly those with an already established religious ethos.