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Teaching moral development is a process, the lessons more complex as the child grows up. "You can teach the little ones right and wrong pretty easily. As they get older, the areas of gray become more complex. We believe that besides being intentional, it needs to be systematic," said Sipos of her organization, a national nonprofit that works primarily with schools on character education.

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While parents take seriously the task of teaching children values, a new Pew Research Center survey released Thursday shows a gulf between how conservatives and liberals, women and men, young and old and different races order the values they believe children should be taught.

The report, "Teaching the Children: Sharp Ideological Differences, Some Common Ground," looked at 12 different qualities parents might try to inculcate in children. It found chasms between liberals and conservatives, but also near universal agreement despite ideological differences.

"We found a remarkable amount of consensus about certain traits responsibility, hard work, helping others," said Jocelyn Kiley, Pew associate director of research and one of the report's authors. "There are also some rather striking differences across ideological groups."

People categorized as "consistent conservatives," for example, tended to place a high premium on teaching children religious faith, while "consistent liberals" did not. The consistent liberals found great value in teaching tolerance, which was much lower on the conservatives' priority list. Curiosity ranks high on liberal rankings, but low for conservatives. Obedience comes in last on the consistent liberal list and was ranked fifth among consistent conservatives.

The report noted that women and men had similar priorities, although women listed helping others and empathy as important more often than men did. Women put a "somewhat higher priority" on teaching religious faith.

Breaking the priorities down by age showed differences in valuing obedience 68 percent of those 65 and older prioritize it, compared to 56 percent for those younger than 30.

World as classroom

Numerous surveys, studies and organizations have looked at how kids learn character and values.

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Liberals teach kids tolerance over faith; conservatives teach kids faith over tolerance, according to new Pew survey

Are these men sniffing? (REUTERS/Jim Bourg)

We have long known that liberals are more likely to choose other liberals as romantic partners and that conservatives alsotend to prefermates with similar political viewpoints. Indeed, other than religion, ideology is a strongercorrelate than other traits in the selection of long-term partners. But how does this work?

A new article in the American Journal of Political Science by Rose McDermott (Brown), Dustin Tingley (Harvard), and Peter Hatemi (Penn State)suggests that the explanation could be that liberals and conservatives smell differently and that each prefers the smell of ideologically similar persons. That body odor influences attractionis well-established. The authors argue that smell signals alsoserve other functions, such asdisease avoidance, cheater detection, defense against outgroups,and social cohesion. These may be related to political ideology. For example, they note:

[..] greater disgust sensitivity, which is intimately interconnected with the neural substrates of smell, predicts more conservative positions, particularly around issues involving morality and sexual reproduction. These underlying, physically experienced predilections can come to be expressed as opinions on such topics as abortion, homosexuality, gay marriage, and a host of other ideological topics

They then claim:

If social attitudes are linked to odor[..]then one mechanism that odor preferencestransfer from parents to children may operate throughtheir mothers choice of mate. In this way, social processesmay drive some of the pathways by which individualscome to prefer those whose ideological smellmatches their own.

The researchers askeda group of ideologically diverse people to rate the body scent of both liberals and conservatives (without seeing them in person). On average, ideologically similar people appreciated the scent of similarly disposed people more. So, scent could be a way in which we subconsciously select mates of similar dispositions.

Before the more creative among us go outand create perfumes for liberals and conservatives, I should note that the effect is very small and teeters on the edge of what we would normally call statistically significant. That is: we are not as certain as we would ideally like to be that the finding isnt a consequence of mere chance. There are probably other more important mechanisms that produce sorting on ideology than smell. Still, its an innovative new study on the link between biology and politics.

Erik Voeten is the Peter F. Krogh Associate Professor of Geopolitics and Justice in World Affairs at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and the Department of Government.

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Monkey Cage: Liberals smell better to other liberals than to conservatives

The federal Liberals are riding a wave of popularity, according to a new Nanos poll, with the party showing gains in B.C., Quebec and among Canadians over 60 years of age.

According to results of the weekly Nanos Party Power Index, 58.5 per cent of Canadians would consider voting for the Liberals, which is a 12-month high for the party. The NDP is in second place with 45.1 per cent, while the Conservatives have 40.2 per cent and 27.8 per cent would consider voting for the Green Party.

The Liberals also gained strength on the Canada Party Power Index, which considers first and second vote preferences; whether the respondent would consider voting for the party; first and second preferences for prime minister; and whether the respondent believes the current leader has the quality to be a good leader.

This week, the Liberals stand at 59.1 points out of 100, which is a new 12-month high, followed by the Conservatives at 48.4 points, the NDP at 47.6 points, and the Green Party at 30.7 points.

Nik Nanos, president of Nanos Research, said it was a good summer for Trudeau.

He has cruised through the barbecue circuit and is trending up, even though he hasnt put a lot in the window on the public policy front, Nanos said on CTVs Power Play.

When asked about preferred prime minister, 34 per cent of those surveyed said Justin Trudeau is their preferred choice for Canadas next prime minister, which is a 12-month high for the Liberal leader.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is trailing behind with 27.7 per cent of support, while NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair is at 16.9 per cent, and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May holds 4.8 per cent.

But despite it being pretty clear that Canadians are favouring Trudeau, Nanos said those numbers could change closer to election time.

The reality is, when you dont put out platform ideas, there is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- to repel voters, he said. In a way, this is almost an artificial honeymoon. Harper is basically shadowboxing with Justin Trudeau, theres no policies or platform for him to take a punch at.

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Liberal strength climbs in all measures of Nanos power index

The federal Liberals are riding a wave of popularity, according to a new Nanos poll, with the party showing gains in B.C., Quebec and among Canadians over 60 years of age.

According to results of the weekly Nanos Party Power Index, 58.5 per cent of Canadians would consider voting for the Liberals, which is a 12-month high for the party. The NDP is in second place with 45.1 per cent, while the Conservatives have 40.2 per cent and 27.8 per cent would consider voting for the Green Party.

The Liberals also gained strength on the Canada Party Power Index, which considers first and second vote preferences; whether the respondent would consider voting for the party; first and second preferences for prime minister; and whether the respondent believes the current leader has the quality to be a good leader.

This week, the Liberals stand at 59.1 points out of 100, which is a new 12-month high, followed by the Conservatives at 48.4 points, the NDP at 47.6 points, and the Green Party at 30.7 points.

Nik Nanos, president of Nanos Research, said it was a good summer for Trudeau.

He has cruised through the barbecue circuit and is trending up, even though he hasnt put a lot in the window on the public policy front, Nanos said on CTVs Power Play.

When asked about preferred prime minister, 34 per cent of those surveyed said Justin Trudeau is their preferred choice for Canadas next prime minister, which is a 12-month high for the Liberal leader.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is trailing behind with 27.7 per cent of support, while NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair is at 16.9 per cent, and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May holds 4.8 per cent.

But despite it being pretty clear that Canadians are favouring Trudeau, Nanos said those numbers could change closer to election time.

The reality is, when you dont put out platform ideas, there is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- to repel voters, he said. In a way, this is almost an artificial honeymoon. Harper is basically shadowboxing with Justin Trudeau, theres no policies or platform for him to take a punch at.

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Liberal support climbs in all measures of Nanos power index

CTV Montreal Published Wednesday, September 17, 2014 12:55PM EDT Last Updated Wednesday, September 17, 2014 1:24PM EDT

The provincial government is working on what it calls a 'moderate' version of the Charter of Values.

Premier Couillard said the Liberals would present a bill early on in their mandate, and Justice Minister Stephanie Vallee said she expects to introduce legislation this autumn.

Vallee said her government has learned a few lessons from the Parti Quebecois and its hotly-debated charter project, and will ensure that anything which is introduced will not violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"Let's not forget the intervention made by the Commission des droits de la personne et de la jeunesse [Quebec Human Rights Commission] last year and the [Quebec] bar and all these people that had important things to say," said Vallee. "We're taking it into account."

Vallee said her legislation would allow all religious symbols but place limits on the burka, and the niqab, which cover a woman's face, and the chador, a long veil which covers the hair and arms and is seen as a symbol of religious oppression.

In 2010 the then-Liberal government introduced Bill 94, which introduced similar restrictions, but was never adopted.

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Quebec Liberals working on 'moderate' Charter of Values