European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 15, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes wednesday april 15,1987 James Reston rest lets fwd ws1kwnpsw a Ftp blame society not educators president Reagan has a Story Tor every Occa Sion and an excuse for every disaster. He mantes the Congress for the budget deficit la japanese Tor the Trade deficit his aides for the ran Contra scandals and now the educators Tor the latest Security outrage at the . Embassy in Moscow. In California for the easter recess he condemned the russians for spying on our embassy and the marines for letting them in but then suggested that Maybethe problem was not thai boys like girls bul that we were no longer teaching values in the schools. His Story this Lime was about the Counselor who asked his students what they d do if they found a pocketbook with si00 inside and the owners name on in Flap. Most of them said they d keep the Money but when they asked the Counselor what be d do he did distinguish Between right and wrong but ducked the question. Teachers could sue Reagan for that one yet he was getting at a valid Point namely that we cannot explain the scandals of the present time without looking at the decline of decency and moral values in the society As a no doubt the educational system u part of the problem. More Young americans Are spending More Yean in school than Ever before and More like the Marine guards in Moscow Are going to High school and beyond Al greater expense than in any other coun try in the world. But in this last half Century there has been a startling change in american society that requires much More knowledge of the world and plates a far greater Burden on the schools. Now As the president suggested the schools Are expected to perform Many of the educational functions that used to be performed by the family the Settle Community and the Church and they often perform William Buckley Ihm in Peculiar ways. Modem american education most of the Lime an most of the places no longer emphasizes for example the cultural tradition on which the Republic was founded and the Constitution written 200 years ago instead the usual school curriculum is filled with a study of the students responsibilities but their rights. It is concerned largely with elective racial sized accidental and incidental studies in re Ance with the students personal ambitions rat their Public responsibilities. Accordingly it is i not Loo much to say that the present generation no coming out of school with no common  Edge no common moral and intellectual disc line and no common Faith. But it would be too much to say that schools Are wholly to blame for this predicament look at the predicament of the american Famis which always was and still is the main  values look at the divorce Rales and the Rale Obegi Simale births and the dropout rates and the rofl Els put before our children by Madison Avenue j0 Wall Street an Pennsylvania Avenue and on television screens of the nation look also at the re of of the president s own administration. For he als a supposed to be a teacher in fact the principal Meadvin a secular society and he has been teaching that Vale concerns Are More important than Public Cal tents indeed thai government not the answer to common problems but is itself he problem. Of the president quite right in suggesting that in society itself ufos 10 blame for the dereliction of duty we Haboken recently in Moscow and in the basement off White House but the state of mind of the people a often a reflection of the Quality of . For i Ojea Leach people thai they Don l have to pay for what they want that hey can spend and borrow that Success is for those who equivocate and evade that private wants Are the things that Mailer you should t be surprised if marines Chase girls and neglect their duties. Meanwhile i Don t believe there s a teacher in the country who would t Tell the students to turn in the Hundred Bucks to the person whose name was on the pocketbook Flap. He v