I spent many years in education. Schools, along with several other institutions, hospitals, and law enforcement, are all really extensions of the family. When we send our children to school, they reap multiple benefits, including socialization, the opportunity to receive instruction, and the experience of following rules. School is frequently one of the only consistent experiences that most children have.

When I went to school, it was always to a clean classroom, with the anticipation of seeing old friends and the opportunity to make new ones. In my day, there was always a room mother, who provided treats and refreshments for events like birthdays and special occasions. We were all from a similar socioeconomic background in the community.

Today, the classroom has changed; many of the students we receive in the public school system come from diverse backgrounds, family situations, and economic groups. The discipline or ability to follow rules may not have been observed in the child’s home. It can be a challenging task for the teacher to form a small community within a classroom into a workable group, where education can take place.

Why would I bring this topic into focus? Because our children reflect the community in which they live. One of the tasks of a classroom is to achieve not only discipline (so there is order and a process that allows education to take place) but also respect. Respect for each person in the classroom. Respect for who they are as a human being, regardless of dress, hair, or body ornamentation, or, I might add, disability. We are all brought into consciousness by God. We are all children of loving God. Respect for our humanity is essential to the unity of the community.

I question today, what do children know of this loving God? How many families reflect their religious training, by example? How many allow religion to be found by their children on their own? It is not by chance that many early books and lessons for children in the past were based on moral values. This helped build character. Today, unfortunately, Character is thought of as a person in a book or narrative. Character is the mental and moral qualities that define a person’s identity. These attributes may include caring, compassion, generosity, and personal skills used in interaction with others, and out of these, respect for others. These values make a community work. The ideal place for these values to be taught and mentored is in the child’s home. If the child sees only lip service and not active use of these values, they will not be an active part of a child’s growth.

Schools have been the great equalizer in society. John Dewey was one of the leading proponents of recognizing the benefits of public education in a democratic system, such as the one we have. However, as the family has evolved in both focus and definition, our schools have struggled to feel confident in a curriculum that reflects a unified set of ideals. The moral issues often represented in early children’s books have been set aside due to concerns that some members of the community might not subscribe to them. Families seem to be in the same boat, and rather than reinforcing character values in the child’s everyday life, parents have opted out by allowing the child to choose the values they want in their lives. The child needs guidance and mentoring, not a computer and a phone, in the second grade. Religion is one of the ways we build a community, and in that community, we learn and teach values. Again, it can’t be just a Sunday operation; it must be the entire environment of the child’s life, seven days a week.

What is interesting to me is the growth of superheroes everywhere in cartoons, movies, and even toys. Superheroes are often associated with justice, doing good, and saving the world. Children seem to gravitate to the goodness these characters represent. I wonder if that is why kids are so drawn to this entertainment. Children, by nature, want to be good and win praise. How many bundles of field flowers have I received from my grandchildren as a thank you for loving and caring for them?

As our children go back to school, please pray for them, their parents, and their teachers. Pray for parents who struggle to raise their children on the right path in a society so polarized in so many ways. Pray for our schools, which have the challenging task of teaching our children in a diverse and morally complex culture.

Amen.