<What happens if hard-line fundamentalists get control? On what principle do you then object to their making creationism mandatory?

Been there, done that.

The prevailing opinion of professionals in the respective fields have the authority to decide what is "good" information. Curriculum is written from that prevailing opinion.

Otherwise we will have Bigfoot Studies in anthropology classes.

I have to wonder, are you the same man who argued against relativism in morality, a far more contentious field than biology? Is there, indeed, relative grammar or relative math? Are there only standards when Bill Bennett proposes them?

Rebellious teenagers, you will notice when yours get to be 35, tend to swing back to the values (or lack thereof) with which they were brought up. The exceptions tend to stand out because they are exceptions. Teenagers are trying out being Not-Dad and the Anti-Mom. That's as far as the separation drama separates people in average families.

Let me point out again that schools have routinely, historically been instituted to teach to an agenda, whether they be public, private or religious schools. The agenda in modern American schools has been to teach children how to function in a technologically forward, culturally diverse and politically fractious nation. The transition from the old model of a primarily rural-agricultural, urban-industrial, culturally segregated society is still incomplete, which explains the wildly varying degrees of success and failure we see. If the process were more planned and centralized, doubtless it would be more uniform, but Americans thankfully prefer to lurch toward change rather than have it handed down from the head office.

If our children never have to deal with their fellow citizens who are different from them when they are young, how do they learn to work together peacefully as a nation of adults? Gathering diverse groups of people together for educational and civic experiences is an excellent way of promoting a common culture. But I guess that would be a liberal value. ;)

To say that the minds of children are up for grabs by the market takes us to places I don't want to go. I realize that our youngsters are targets of commercials, but I draw the line at agreeing that their minds are for sale. We've already fought a war over selling people.

Regards--
Mary Anne