The Course of True Love: Marriage in High School Textbooks is the latest booklet from The Institute for American Values (www@americanvalues.org) and its Council on Families. Principal investigator Paul Vitz, a New York University professor and psychologist who has been critical of high school textbooks in the past, found his careful review of leading high school health textbooks "partly reassuring and partly disturbing".
Looking closely at the six books that are adopted in 20 US states, Vitz reports that they are more balanced than current college-level texts but they are worse than they ought to be. These texts treat marriage respectfully, commend sexual abstinence for teens and speak of the downside of early sexual activity, divorce and single parenting. They reveal "sincere efforts to pass on basic values" and "an implicitly moral language struggling to get out".
The downside: The high school texts are intellectually weak, poorly informed and given to wishful thinking. They bypass the rich treasures of knowledge about love, courtship, marriage and family life found in "history, anthropology, philosophy and theology". The psycho-therapeutic orientation still dominates. Where, Vitz asks, are the "moral-religious" and "social" dimensions that are key to marriages that work? The texts are not wrong but weak and morally empty.
The "religion of self-esteem" still dominates the majority of the textbooks. The books contend that self-esteem is the value with the most direct effect on all aspects of health--"mental, social and physical". Self-esteem appears as a wonder drug of sorts. One text says in bold type: "To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.".
Vitz, the Council and the Institute have strong recommendations for future textbooks, including:
This is a "Sightings" article distributed by the Public Religion Project, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and directed by University of Chicago professor Martin E. Marty. Previous "Sightings" are available at: www.publicreligionproj.org/services/sightings/archive/.
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