THE Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, was last night at loggerheads with Britain's educational establishment after warning schools that moral and spiritual teaching must not be curricular "add on extras".
Delivering a rallying call for a return to religious values and a rejection of "moral relativism", Dr Carey said Britain was in danger of "squandering" its Christian inheritance. But his comments drew and angry response from teaching professionals, who denied schools were operating a "pick `n' mix agenda" when it came to moral education.
However, for the British Government, the Home Secretary, Mr Howard, welcomed the Archbishop's stand, saying a strong emphasis on moral teaching in children's formative years meant they were less likely to turn to crime.
Dr Carey, opening a House of Lords debate on the moral and spiritual well being of society, said it was "a matter of concern" that while 80% of primary schools held daily services only 20% of secondary schools days.
It would be a failure if our schools were to produce people with the right skills and aptitudes to take on our economic competitors, but who cannot string two sentences together about the meaning and purpose of life or who have no idea what it means to be a good citizen and a moral person, he said.
"What we have to combat is the idea that the spiritual and moral matters are add on extras, contingent on giving overwhelming priority to more utilitarian education goals."
The Archbishop stressed the importance of rules in life and the centrality of the Ten Commandments in what was still a predominantly Christian country like Britain.
He attacked moral relativism, with its "tendency to view what is good and right as a matter of private taste and individual opinion alone".
Dr Carey added. "Under this tendency, God is banished to the realm of the private hobby and religion becomes a particular activity for those who happen to have a taste for it."
While he accepted most schools were "far more moral places than the places many children find themselves in outside school" he nevertheless provoked a furious response from the teaching establishment.
Mr David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, accused Dr Carey of a "fundamental misunderstanding" of the work being done in schools and said the real problem lay with the failures of some parents.
"I know of no school that operates a pick and mix agenda when it comes to moral behaviour," he said.
"A small number of parents are unwilling or unable to endorse the work schools do, and indeed are undermining it, by operating a totally different set of moral values.
"An increasing number of parents do not appear to think it matters unduly whether their children lie or commit criminal, offences which they appear to, regard as minor, or engage in anti social behaviour to which they seem happy to turn a blind eye".
Mr John Dunford, president, of the Secondary Heads' Association said schools were already doing a "superb job" in spreading moral values among children, not just ink RE lessons or but throughout the curriculum.
"Schools are oases of morality amidst competing pressures on young people, which are now much stronger than they were when Dr Carey was at school," he said.
In the House of Lords, there was broad support for Dr Carey. The Former Labour minister and leading Catholic peer Lord, Longford lamented the decline in sexual morals and called for a spiritual renewal.