Right Vs Wrong Standards example essay topic

Education and Religion Our fathers God to, thee, author of Liberty, to thee we sing. Long may our land be bright with freedoms holy light; protect us by thy might, Great God our King. Since the late 1950's, when separation between Church and state was forced into practice, public schools have shown a dramatic decrease in the amount of ethics and morality taught in the classroom. All the while, school violence is on the rise. All we need to do is look at the horror with transpired at Columbine to see this sad truth in action. Because public teachers are terrified of lawsuits they neglect to implement the importance of ethical and moral values on the youths of our society.

While in parochial schools ethics and morals are continually taught with various religious undertones. These same elementary principles can be applied, as well as taught, at public institutions without the use of the religious undertones. Personally I would not posses as high of moral and personal standards if it were not for the emphasis placed on right vs. wrong in my grade school religion class. At the impressionable age of seven I was thrust into the all consuming world of catholic schools. Where the sociological institutions of religion and education are intertwined in a complex web of dogmatic beliefs and demanding course loads. This continual demand of both spiritual and personal excellence, coupled with the numerous Southern ideologies of my parents, has tremendously nourished my strong willed, go get em, conviction filled character.

This character, which at times is questionable to observers, was given it fundamental values on my back porch swing- yet it was dramatically enhanced by five consecutive years of Mrs. Kennedys religion classes. Mrs. Kennedy was a gentle and even tempered women who attempted to create compassionate and understanding young adults; in my case she prevailed. She taught us to always carry love in our pocket, like we would extra change, for one would never know when the opportunity would arise to impart some of our generosity in the life of a stranger. To touch one life with an act of kindness, is in essence, the start of a chain effect. When compassion lingers, the people we leave are effected by the love we bestowed upon them. For the persons life we touch will more than likely share the kindness we offered them to another individual.

The importance of compassion is always in the forefront of all of my actions. Daily I try to act towards others as I would want them to act towards me. I have found that this necessary and long founded truth to not only create strong and lasting friendships, but to aid in my personal happiness as well. At the tender age of seven one is standing at a fork in the road of life.

One path is leading towards personal destruction and the other towards personal growth and understanding. Without the proper guiding and mentoring of parents and teachers, any individual can easily choice the wrong path. With Mrs. Kennedys intervention I was able to pick the road of personal growth. By continually pounding fundamental values and ethical practices into our character for five consecutive years, Mrs. Kennedy lit the correct path for all of her students. It was then up to each student to make the choice to live life by rudimentary, sever, or even no morals at all. With formal religion mixed with formal education, I received a complete understanding of my personal and academic strengths and weaknesses.

For I was taught the fundamental principles of reading, writing, and arithmetic; as well as the difference between right and wrong. Personally I believe that each child in the United States of America should somewhere in their formally education be taught the difference between right and wrong, good and bad, expectable and nor expectable. In the past theses values were taught in the home. Yet with the increasing need for dual income families, there is a decreasing amount of time which parents are able to spend with their children imparting the necessary lessons on right and wrong. Our country was formed on the central idea that there is a divine power and although the Bill of Rights gives us our freedom, it also beckons us to at times to be our brothers keeper. Personally I was lucky to have the opportunity to learn intrinsic values which would carry me throughout life while I was in grammar school.

I was in a particular setting were religion was intertwined with all facets of the education process. Yet, it was not the religion which made a difference in my life, it was the right vs. wrong standards which aided in shaping my personal views of what is essentially right and what is wrong. I feel that we as a society need to teach elementary ethical principles to the youth in our country, for they unfortunately are faced with the mass amount of violence on television and in all forms of media. Once we impart some virtues in their lives, most will grow up to be well rounded individuals and with luck there will be less Columbines.