generations ; one where attitudes towards morality no longer reference the transcendent frameworks provided by long-standing faith traditions . Studies in the field of moral education express great concern that today ’ s young people are not growing up with the language to speak about moral issues . Indeed , a study of the use of general and specific virtue words in 5.2 million books published between 1901 and 2000 demonstrated ‘ a steady decline in the use of traditional virtue terms .’ 12
Liberalism responds by advocating for ‘ tolerance ’. Yet , how does tolerance work within a context that concomitantly promotes individual liberty as the only true virtue ? Today our society is stumbling in its attempts to navigate a world of competing rights without a shared and overarching moral framework or moral code . The lack of progress made by the federal government to respond to concerns about the Religious Discrimination Bill is one example of how our politicians simply do not know how to navigate this brave new world .
For our schools , education was once a passionately values-laden activity . Indeed , many American public universities were once founded upon statements such as ‘ Religion , morality , and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind , schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged ’ ( Northwest Ordinance of 1787 ). Here , the cultivation of virtue and morality were deemed critical to one ’ s holistic education and no one dared to pretend that education was anything other than a rich process of personal formation .
Yet today , Liberalism has forced its pretence of neutrality into every aspect of education . We are now told that education is a secular activity , and that secularism is inherently a neutral pathway . I once read an advertisement proudly promoting public education as ‘ secular and proudly neutral ’. There is not the time to unpack secularism . However , to completely challenge this untruth , I would argue there is much literature that posits secularism as a form of religion , one that advances a very particular view of the world .
One leading international scholar , James Arthur 13 believes that :
The ideal of neutrality for secular education is something that is advocated at a philosophical level by educationalists who wish to see a neutral learning . Paradoxically , many of those ‘ neutralists ’ simultaneously argue for highly divisive subjectivist identity theories that are anything but ‘ neutral ’. The aims of secular education became premised on the belief that there is nothing beyond the natural , the material , and the physical world – no soul , no mystery , and no supernatural . The purpose of secular education is clearly intended to socialise children
REV JAMES FORBES www . scotch . vic . edu . au Great Scot 7