Sir, - The Rev Tom Stack's letter (July 9th) laments the recent barrage of hostility towards the "teaching of Christian values in Catholic schools". He argues that children are taught the "basic virtues of justice, honesty, truthfulness and love" in our schools today, as any "reasonable" teacher knows. How true.
The religious programme in Irish primary schools has never ceased to amaze me in my twenty years of teaching. It is formulated with meticulous care and sensitivity - far surpassing, in my opinion, any other educational programme on the curriculum.
I recall reading, in the teacher's book Children of God Series for 10/11 year-olds, that a comprehensive analysis on the moral judgment of children was made by the American psycologist, Lawrence Kohlberg. He argues that there are six stages in the process of developing a mature moral judgment. According to Kohlberg, some people never reach stages 5 and 6, which are (a) respect for the rights of others and (b) appreciation of general principles of goodness and justice.
The vandals, believed to be young people, who broke open the coffins at St Michan's Church recently, obviously never reached these stages which Kohlberg calls the "level of self accepted moral principles". This should not discourage those from teaching Christian values in Catholic schools. Long may "reasonable" teachers continue to do so. In the name of God, the country is in bits! Yours, etc.,
Asgard Park,
Howth, Co Dublin.