Schools, Values, and the Courts

The Supreme Court has repeatedly emphasized the role of the nation's schools in inculcating basic values. It has described the schools as places where the "fundamental values necessary to the maintenance of a democratic political system" and the "shared values of a civilized social order ' ' are conveyed. Moreover, the significance of this values inculcating function has increased in recent years: "In an age when the home and church play a diminishing role in shaping the character and value judgments of the young, a heavier responsibility falls upon the schools.