MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1998 Regular Session

To: Education

By: Representatives Smith (35th), Cummings, Frierson, Gadd, Howell, Janus, Ketchings, Manning, Martinson, Moore, Morris, Rotenberry, Smith (39th), Stribling, Weathersby

AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE SCHOOL DISTRICTS, IN THEIR DISCRETION, TO TEACH CITIZENSHIP AND/OR CHARACTER EDUCATION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

WHEREAS, today's young people will be the stewards of our communities, nation and world in critical times, and the present and future well-being of our society requires an involved, caring, tolerant, educated citizenry with good character; and

WHEREAS, many of our young people are not receiving instruction in the area of character and tolerance and no longer have any moral anchor by which to be guided; thus, crime and violence among adolescents are continually mounting; and

WHEREAS, our founding fathers realized, in the words of John Adams, that "our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other," and the Northwest Ordinance established that religion and morality would be taught in the public schools; and

WHEREAS, the free exercise of our liberties, among which are freedom of conscience, the right to private property and the free exercise of religion, require that we be a people capable of self-government, which demands an understanding and embracing of absolute moral principles by which to live; and

WHEREAS, failure to ground character and tolerance instruction in well-defined first principles leads to confusion among our young people and adoption of relativism and rootless values; and

WHEREAS, America has moved so far from her Bible-based founding principles that she will no longer allow Scripture in her public schools, yet some neutral source by which these absolute, constant, fundamental standards of right and wrong can be defined, must be found if she is to regain her moral compass; and

WHEREAS, most character programs, as well as a resolution in Congress to establish a character education week, are now stating that the characteristics our children need should stem from our founding documents: NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. (1) Each public school district, in its discretion, may include a program of citizenship and/or character education and tolerance in its curriculum. However, nothing in this section shall be construed to require school districts to teach citizenship and/or character education. Any grades given in a citizenship and/or character education course must reflect the material taught in that class and not a specific character trait of any student.

(2) Any school district that elects to teach citizenship and/or character and tolerance education in the schools within that district shall have the discretion to determine which character traits will be incorporated into the district's program of citizenship and/or character education.

(3) In order to assure that the character traits taught by any public school in the State of Mississippi are in keeping with the spirit and letter of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890, the Constitution of the United States of America and the Declaration of Independence, and to assure that the definitions of those character traits stem from a neutral source yet still contain the language that can communicate what the specified character traits meant at the time of the founding of the democratic republic, all character traits taught in the public schools must be defined in such a manner as to reflect the meaning of that time period, as found in the Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary. That the word "citizen" as defined in Noah Webster's 1828 edition shall apply to all men and women and that the State of Mississippi acting through the Legislature declares that citizenship belongs to all men and women who are citizens of the United States of America as provided by the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America and that the term in the definition of citizen, the word "freeman" is now incorrect. And further, that the definition in Noah Webster's 1828 edition of the word "slave," in which the definition states that "the slaves of modern times are more generally purchased, like horses and oxen" is not in keeping with the United States Constitution and its amendments that have been adopted and interpreted in the United States of America and the great State of Mississippi.

(4) No citizenship and/or character and tolerance education program taught in any public school shall define character traits in a manner that defies the spirit set forth in the founding documents of this state and country, teaches character and tolerance in such a manner as to encourage behavior that goes against the spirit and letter of the documents mentioned in subsection (3) of this section or breaks any state or federal law.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1998.