President-elect Bush likely to support character education, student prayer
By Charles Haynes
Senior scholar, First Amendment Center
01.07.01
When George W. Bush takes office this month, education reform will be at the top of the agenda. Thanks to the long campaign, we already know a good deal about what the president plans to propose concerning standards, accountability and testing.
But we don't know much yet about his views on religion and values in public schools — issues that rank high on the list of concerns for millions of parents.
Candidate Bush did mention character education in speeches and debates. Now we need to find out just how he defines it.
Favoring "character education" can mean anything from pushing superficial "word of the week" lessons to comprehensive programs that affect the entire school culture.
One positive sign for advocates of character education is the appointment of Houston's superintendent of schools, Rod Paige, as secretary of education. Houston has a highly regarded school system that takes character education seriously.
Why should we worry about what the folks in Washington think about an essentially local matter? Because the U.S. Department of Education now provides seed money for character education.
Since 1995, a total of 36 states and the District of Columbia have received more than $27 million in grants for character education pilot projects.
Whatever else he thinks about character education, the new president clearly doesn't think it means either inculcating or denigrating religion. During the campaign, Bush told the Associated Press that school officials "should never favor one religion over another, or favor religion over no religion (or vice versa)."
That doesn't mean he thinks religion should be ignored in the curriculum. On the contrary, he argues that "it is wrong to forcefully expunge any mention of religion, or dilute its impact and importance, when discussing world affairs."
For Bush, however, including religion in the discussion shouldn't cross the line and become religious indoctrination. "Religion is a personal, private matter," he says, "and parents, not public school officials, should decide their children's religious training."
What about the hot-button issue of school prayer? In the same AP story Bush spoke out against "teacher-led prayer." At the same time, he favors "voluntary, student-led prayer."
What does this mean? Judging from his past comments concerning Supreme Court decisions, it appears that Bush would support student-initiated, student-led prayers at school events – an issue still being contested in the courts.
Bush might stir controversy on other religion-in-schools questions. During the campaign he suggested that he would favor allowing public schools to post the Ten Commandments on classroom walls and giving equal time to creationism in science classes.
Since the Supreme Court has already ruled against both of these practices, it's not clear what, if anything, the president might do to change things. But his support might inspire new efforts to amend the First Amendment to allow more religious expression in public schools.
Despite these potential minefields, the new administration is likely to endorse the common ground already reached on religious expression in public schools.
For example, the new president will likely continue promoting the religious-liberty guidelines disseminated last year by President Clinton and Secretary Riley. That's because the guidelines represent broad agreement on many of the free-exercise rights of kids in schools, something Bush appears eager to encourage.
Will the Bush-Paige regime stir up old conflicts over religion in the schools or will it inspire us to find more common ground? That remains to be seen.
Your questions and comments are welcome. Write to:
Charles Haynes
The Freedom Forum First Amendment Center
1101 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22209
E-mail: chaynes@freedomforum.org