In reviewing a book on the influence of the Bible, the author comes to two conclusions about the book: 1. Students’ cultural ignorance goes far beyond the Bible. 2. The closer that writers and artists are to the present, the more difficult it is to make the case that they are in any sense shaped by the Bible.
The author argues that the public schools ought not teach a value system and a world view contrary to the beliefs and values of the children's parents.
There is a general sense that society no longer intends to bring black and Hispanic children into the mainstream of society. The public schools today are every bit as segregated as they were in 1964, in the days of Martin Luther King.
The author argues for large expenditures in public education to remedy the ills of inner-city school. Money should be spent to experiment both with school vouchers and with other reforms.
The author argues that in trying to be neutral to religion our public schools are actually hostile to religion. He would like to see religion restored to the curriculum.
There is a countrywide push to teach the National Council on Biblical Curriculum in public schools, but its curriculum is a blatant attempt to project far-right aspects of the Bible.
The Supreme Court Justices have strongly encouraged instruction in the Bible as a literary and historical document, use of the Bible as a reference book, and study of the role religions have played in the development of civilization. Now that religion is ‘in’ it is possible to teach the most influential book in all of Western literature -- and to teach it without coercion or apology.
The more time the author spends with inner-city children, the less credible and less legitimate large distinctions between them and other children seem.
Few other intellectual disciplines in our modern technological world go as unattended as moral and spiritual awareness among young people.