By Dan Nonte, University Relations
Do our schools prepare children to tackle our most serious problems? Dr. Svi Shapiro, a professor at UNCG, says no.
In his recently released book, “Losing Heart: The Moral and Spiritual Miseducation of America’s Children,” he argues that an overemphasis on dull drills and standardized tests is preventing children from learning to question injustice and needless suffering. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates has published the 224-page book.
“Most worrying for our democratic future, the mindless and banal regimen of standardized tests is destroying the opportunity for engaging and challenging the images and assumptions that suffuse the everyday world of young people,” says the professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations.
“A shallow and instrumental conformism is substituted for a willingness to think imaginatively and to question boldly and critically.”
His critique of education spares no one:
Liberals err by arguing for “value-neutral” schools, while conservatives recognize the role of values in education, but err by overemphasizing individual achievement.
Education should be inspired by religious or spiritual thought, specifically a reverence for creation and a belief that we are all created in the image of the divine.
“Education inevitably conveys some version of what is worthwhile or valuable,” he says. “Whether we call it spirituality, religion, morality or wisdom, there is increasing recognition that our children need and deserve an education that awakens them to a life of greater purpose and meaning than the one schools currently offer.”
For more information on the book, visit www.erlbaum.com.
