Commentary
“Each teacher shall endeavor to impress upon the minds of the pupils the principles of morality, truth, justice, patriotism, and a true comprehension of the rights, duties, and dignity of American citizenship, and the meaning of equality and human dignity, including the promotion of harmonious relations … to teach them to avoid idleness, profanity, and falsehood, and to instruct them in manners and morals and the principles of a free government,” according to California Education Code 233.5.
California’s Education Codes were adopted in 1943. Over the last half century, they have varied in content and meaning as the laws of the United States, cultural attitudes, and our western civilization’s ethos have changed. As historical events direct and influence our future, however, each generation examines quintessential questions that defines our common purpose as Americans, and how we should live according to the laws…
