I thought the article we read about obedience and the videos that we watched were VERY powerful. It is hard to believe that people are able to convince others to obey them even when it is obvious that they are totally against it. I'm sure everyone thinks the same thing, "If that were me, I would say no." But it does make you wonder. It definitely applies to schools and teaching though. Not just about students obeying the teacher, but with the students doing things to impress one another or persuading others to obey them. I know that some children will do anything to look brave and cool to their classmates, and I think this ties in to obedience. If one of the more popular students were to command others to do things, even if the other students know it is wrong and disagree, it is probably safe to assume that most kids would listen and obey.
As teachers I think it is important that we teach students that they do not have to take orders, that they can think for themselves and that they should stand up for what they believe in. Yes it will be hard to distinguish in what situations they should say no or stand up and fight in, but life would be boring if everything was easy.

Jenny, where do children get there values? I believe that values should be taught at home. If that does not happen, where will the leaders of tomorrow develop a value system that is strong enough and true enough to sustain our society? I feel that the failure at home to instill good solid values can be traced back to the removal of the Bible from the classroom. I do not believe that as teachers we should teach religion to the students, but I do believe that the foundation of our own American Government was based on a belief in God's word and that we should spend more time helping students to know about the American way of life.

I agree - I think that as we emphasize tolerance more and more and more that morals become relative. If we keep saying "anything goes," "accept everything,"we're setting our society up for failure. There has to be a moral absolute. Not that tolerance is always bad - but carried to the extreme, it is surely dangerous.

I also agree that when we remove the key concepts of the Bible from the classroom we are removing part of what America has always been about - dangerous.

Steve..... I agree with everything that you said!!!! I wish I could put my thoughts into words as well as you do...you said it perfectly

I agree with you all. It all goes back to what we are taught in the home. The moral values we learned growing up are the foundation. I believe students should learn morals in school as well. They need to do what they believe in.

I hate to be the only dissenter here but.....
I do agree that morals and values need to be taught in the home and that we as teachers should model good morals and values. However, I have to disagree with the loss of morals stemming from the removal of the bible from the classroom. If parents want their children to be exposed to religion it should be done in the home. With the wide diversity of our school population it would be small-minded to believe that ALL of the students practice the same faith, if any. Our nation was founded on the idea of freedom of religion, which includes the right to freedom from religion. I come from a family that taught morals and values without the use of religion. We were free to decide whether to practice a religion or not and some of us did and some of us did not. Just think of all the terrible things that have been done in the name of religion throughout history. And remember the words "under God" in the pledge were only added in the fifty's to distinguish us from the so-called "godless communists" Just my opinion.