A Call for Character Education and Prayer in the Schools

Book excerpt: This book offers an examination of the related topics of school prayer and character education in the United States, advocating for their return to public schools. According to William Jeynes, the lack of both school prayer and consistent moral instruction in our schools has had devastating consequences both for our education system and for the nation as a whole. In A Call for Character Education and Prayer in the Schools, Jeynes makes a compelling case for restoring moral instruction and nonspecific religious moments to the classroom as a way of restoring a much needed moral grounding in American society in general. A Call for Character Education and Prayer in the Schools traces the history of character education in the public schools, including coverage of leading advocates of their inclusion from Thomas Jefferson to DeWitt Clinton to Horace Mann. Jeynes then offers a broad survey of the country since the Supreme Court decisions of 1962 and 1963, asserting that most of America's greatest problems are moral in nature, and could be addressed by making moral instruction and a focus on the spiritual a part of our young citizens' school lives.