Classroom Confusion

Two excerpts from a great article in The American Conservative by Christina Hoff Summers about self-esteem in the classroom (no link available):

There is in fact no evidence that immigrant children or their parents would feel insulted or diminished by reading texts praising the nation's democratic tradition and its heroes. A study by Public Agenda finds that "parents of all demographic groups–white, black, or Hispanic, immigrant or U.S.-born–clearly and resoundingly want the schools to teach children the traditional ideals and stories of what it means to be an American." Two-thirds of them feel strongly that schools should "teach kids to be patriotic and loyal toward the nation."

In July 2002, Zogby International released the results of a poll on moral education on the American campus. In a survey of 400 randomly selected college seniors, Zogby found the overwhelming majority (97 percent) said that they expected to be ethical in their future undertakings. However, 73 percent said they had learned from their professors that "what is right and wrong depends on differences in individual values and cultural diversity."