How Public Parochial and Home School Interact

Public, Private and Parochial Education, and Character Education

The consensus that exists among educators and parents concerning the form that moral education should take in our schools is one that presently needs to be developed, according to Dr. Thomas Lickona (1993). As Lickona (1993) states, "In the 20th century, the consensus supporting character education began to crumble under the blows of several powerful forces" such as Social Darwinism, positivism and increasing subjectivity with regard to morality and values. In other words, in the 20th century, what was good for one was not necessarily good for another or for all, as modern philosophers put it. Lickona asserts that educators and parents need to work together to arrive at a new consensus regarding character education: they need to identify goals and values that they agree on as being important and vital for children's formation.

Educators can help students become caring, morally responsible persons by first identifying "what good character is" (Lickona, 1993), then they must develop a "comprehensive approach" that assists in forming that same good character, which should be a "holistic" approach as well: this can take the form of having the teacher acting as "caregiver, model and mentor," of establishing a moral community, and of promoting moral reflection in the classroom (Lickona, 1993). Each of these methods is an acceptable approach to helping students to develop a good character, and as Lickona points out it starts first with the educator who not only must know what a good character is but must be willing and able to demonstrate this quality in his or her own person, because it is here that the students will look first for an example of what good character truly is. If the educator him or herself cannot reflect this quality, there is little hope that he students will be able to emulate something they have not seen. As Kohlberg (1963) notes, it is not a matter of "stamping in" moral development in the child but rather of nurturing it over time and giving it a moral atmosphere in which to grow.

I support all types of schooling, whether public, private or parochial. I do not view the place as being significant -- rather the education that is delivered is what I view as being important. As Knight (2008) points out, "developing a philosophy" is what educators must do today (p. 159) and I feel that this can be done in any setting. If parents are homeschooling, they must develop a philosophy; if educators are in the public school system or in a parochial school, they must approach their students with a philosophy in mind or else they will never make any real or lasting impact. Koonce (2016) points out that students are not just citizens of the school but also citizens of the world -- as evidenced by their use of time outside the school; for some this is a controversial concept (and they tend to look unfavorably upon students who use, for example, social media outside of school in a way that reflects poorly upon the institution) -- but if the institution (whether private, public or homeschool) is doing its job correctly, the reflection should be positive -- thus, schools should look first to themselves if they are upset with the way in which their students behave outside of school.