What ethics in school?

Press, 13 April 1978, Page 2

What ethics in school?

The case for traditional moral values based on the Christian ethic being imparted in schools was advocated yesterday by a man with 13 years experience in moral education. Mr David Hogg, a fonner senior inspector of secondary schools in South Auckland and a member of the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards, was m Christchurch as part of a tour of the main centres. He has been showing parents his audio-visual programme on human development and relationships. . The tour has been arranged by the society. Mr Hogg compiled a moral education .study book called ••What Do You Think? published in 1973; and last year helped compile a visual aid programme based on tne book, for use with forms one tC> Last December, Mr Hogg was told by the Education Department that it had decided not to complete the visual aid lessons only eight out of 20 of which had been completed. . A circular issued by the society in February said: “Our national executive believes S.P.C.S. has led a moderately successful defensive operation against permissiveness in the media and we are wondering if we should now trv to encourage our members to agitate for moral edu-

cation in State schools based on the Christian ethic. “There is considerable pressure to introduce Human Development and Relationship courses in all primary and secondary schools. If we cannot prevent this, then perhaps we could say we would be agreeable to the ‘What Do You Think’ prog amme being taught. • “The programme is made for New Zealand children and the slides depict New Zealand school children. It is the only New Zealandmade moral education course we are aware of. Our schools could be flooded with Scandinavian, English and American situation ethic courses if the proposed 1979 or 1980 Education Amendment Act makes Human Development and Relationship courses compulsory in all schools,” said the circular.

Mr Hogg answered questions from members of the public on a Radio New Zealand talk-back programme yesterday, ’ then spent an hour and a half in an interview with “The Press.”

Mr Hogg said on the talkback programme that the recently published Johnson Report (not available from the Government Bookshop until the end of the month) had achieved a great deal. It was based on situation ethics, where morality was judged according to the particular circumstances rather than according to any dogma. The other approach was the traditional one, which in New Zealand’s society was based on the Christian ethic. This approach said that it did not pay to teach a child contraception, for example, or condone fornication, if this were taught, it led to “tangles” which the child had to seek help to unravel. Mr Hogg told “The Press” that his long-term object was to restore traditional moral values, to get youth back on to “the straight and narrow.”

The Johnson report, said Mr Hogg, moved away from the traditional morality approach. The part of the report which favoured repeal of the law prohibiting contraceptive advice being given to children under 16 “drives a wedge right into the heart of the family unit.”

However, the report said “a lot about the value of the family unit and its being the basic unit of society.” Asked what he meant by “family”, Mr Hogg said he meant “mum, dad, children, grandmother, etc.” Asked if a solo mother and a child could be regarded as a family, Mr Hogg said: “I would see the child as being pathetically deprived.” Asked how he could sub-

stantiate this view on the basis of scientific evidence, Mr Hogg said: “I have my eyes and ears and experience as a teacher and a parent. It is an area of belief, not of scientific evidence.”

When asked if he was seeking to reverse the’inevitable, Mr Hogg said that, on the contrary, there was an inevitable discovery that traditional values were “as permanent as clean air, clean water and uncontaminated food.”

“I am totally confident that we can get the train back on to the rails,” he said. He agreed that the Church had failed in its role as moral educator.

Mr Hogg said that in the junior programme the “rules of living” were in such a discreet form that they would be acceptable to all, whether Christian or not. They were basic moral principles, rather than answers to specific,moral issues. What then, of the conflict in Northern Ireland, where both Protestant and Roman Catholic schools presumably taught “traditional moral values?”

Mr Hogg: There will always be immoral behaviour, but tf Protestant and Catholic pupils are being taught some basic values it should be far more difficult for the stirrer. Are we born with the knowledge of what is right and wrong? Mr Hogg: There is such a thing as “the light of nature,” so even in the most primitive societies there is a sense of right and wrong. But in more complex societies there is a greater need for moral training. Can you have morality without Christianity? Mr Hogg: Yes, in the U.S.S.R. there is a very strong system of moral teaching, and it is very effective. Basic morality goes right across the board, although. I think Christian values are more complete and effective than any other religion or humanism because it is firmly anchored.

“The humanist ' ethic doesn’t work so well. It is subject to change and is misleading. It is not as reliable. The Christian ethic is the one that serves best,” said Mr Hogg. Many people had rejected Christianity, but when they rejected it they threw away not only the Christian faith, but also the Christian ethic, and were left with no moral system to fill the vacuum. On the implementation of the Human Development and Relationship programmes, Mr Hogg said that it would be the school principal who

had to select the teacher to organise programmes.. Probably about two periods of instructioVi a week would be given. There would be no chance of any one section of the community imposing its ideas on the rest of the community, and, if necessary, the parents of a school might have to vote on any particularly controversial aspect of a programme. To what degree should values be imposed on school pupils?

Mr Hogg: How can you impose them? Its impossible. We’re born free, and there is an absolute limit to what today’s children will swallow. They will accept morals only on a basis of their own choice. What about the failure of the human development courses in schools in the United Kingdom? Was there not still promiscuity in Britain?

Mr Hogg: Obviously that training programme has been ineffective. And in Britain there is a system of compulsory religious instruction, which is obnoxious to us. You can’t help children by making it a compulsory subject. Asked what then should be the role of parents, Mr Hogg ; said that they should accept the invitation of the Minister of Education (Mr Gandar) and look carefully at the Johnson report, discuss it with other parents, and let the Minister have their recommendations. Parents should make it clear that they required the power to veto any programme or teacher ap* pointee. The parents also had a role to play in the home as moral educators, but the vital new requirement was that parents and teachers should step in the same direction.

Only as a last resort should parents withdraw their children from moral education programmes, he said.

He said that many parents had reservations about moral education in primary schools, but this was a necessary adjunct to the secondary programmes. “There is no getting away from the fact that the garment is sewn with a thousand fish hooks, but one thing is sure; the Department of Education cannot keep out of this field, and the community will have to cope with the problems that arise on the basis of good will.

“The dilemma is to find programmes acceptable to all, yet able to stand the test of time, be incisive, ring true, and be based on good sense,” said Mr Hogg. ,