re: #4 RoadWarrior

I believe that kids need to be taught:

1) everyone has the same emotions and deserves the same respect, no matter their appearance, style, coolness, disabilities or language
2) our value is measured by how much respect we show others
3) everyone needs to look at their own faults and not those of others
4) us-versus-them thinking makes more similar to chimps
5) heaven is other people and hell is other people and we need to choose to make this more like heaven in interacting with others
6) when you treat others badly, it is usually because you were taught to hate or because you are misplacing your own unhappiness or insecurity—none of it a legitimate response
7) imagine someone else treating you the same way
8) if the other person isn’t happy with the way you’re treating them, you’re probably at fault

I do not believe that schools have done a good job at teaching these lessons. These things need to be taught in a more formal, logical, repeated and acted-out fashion, to help it sink in.

Schools do try to do this and get slammed for “indoctrinating” the children and pushing “their agenda.”