Whose Kids Are They Anyway?: Religion and Morality in America’s Public Schools

Raymond R. Roberts examines the debate over moral education in public education. Some advocate restoring biblical values by hanging the Ten Commandments on classroom walls. Others maintain that teachers should help students clarify their own values. Still, others assert that a system of school choice can best renew moral education.Roberts argues that the debate over moral education is shaped by five different understandings of religion. He recommends a sixth mediating position where all children belong to a plurality of spheres – to parents, to the public, and to God. Roberts proposes that each sphere is required to play a critical role in the nurture and education of children.

Roberts presents the social, political, and cultural crises confronting public education. He exerts that Americans should be deeply alarmed because public education is one of the most important things that Americans do together – as the means to a free, democratic society and access to opportunity.