Nowadays, the Americans frequently read newspaper articles about violent crimes, see rages of inhumanity on the evening news, and hear sound bites on the radio describing cruelty and intolerance. (46) {{U}}We worry, particularly, about the effects on our children of our own society, a society that is less safe and less hospitable than the one we experienced as children growing up during the 1950's and 1960's.{{/U}}
(47) {{U}}In many school districts throughout America, there is already compelling evidence that adolescents have been affected negatively by changing social conditions, including by what many American believe to be a decline of basic human values.{{/U}} Parents and teachers must contend often with adolescent aggression, profanity, and disrespect. Some students display antagonistic attitudes and behave inappropriately. Some students are insensitive and unkind to their classmates, discourteous to adults, and quick to express their anger by raising their voices or using profanity.
It is the responsibility of parents to teach their children to be polite, courteous, and forbearing. (48) {{U}}It is one of parents' most fundamental responsibilities to impart to their children the values of integrity, decency, and respect for others; teachers and school administrators should never become, however, ethical bystanders.{{/U}} If we wish to realize our educational philosophy not only to educate our students but also to encourage them to accept the innate worth of every human being, we must not surrender the ideal of maintaining a moral community at our school, where all people have an obligation to be polite and tolerant of individual differences.
(49) {{U}}Some individuals believe that school personnel should not interfere with the behavior of students unless it is directly related to learning or affects the safety of individuals who are inside the school building or somewhere on campus.{{/U}} But good teachers and administrators do teach values--not personal, private values but common values of courtesy, mutual respect, persistence, responsibility, and self-reliance.
(50) {{U}}Ideally, educators affirming socially-responsible values taught at home by parents and demanding appropriate vocabulary and good manners from their students should have been valued as competent and successful educators.{{/U}} They should remind the students of saying" please" and" thank you" and remind them of not interrupting when others are speaking. It is very much the responsibility of teachers and administrators to promote our school's traditions of proper behavior and good sportsmanship. Therefore, school educators should be judged by the moral and ethical climate of their school. All the academic improvements of the school notwithstanding, no teachers should be considered successful educators unless their students graduated not only as successful learners but also as ladies and gentlemen.