There's a lot of talk these days about "family values," but who's values are we talking about? and whose family is to be valued? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, does a healthy family need a father? We'll hear opposing views. Also, Robert Bly on why he thinks we're a country of quarreling adolescents.

SEGMENT 1

John Gillis, who teaches history at Rutgers and is the author of "A World of Their Own Making: Myth, Ritual and the Quest for Family Values," tells Jim Fleming that the nuclear family and its rituals -- Christmas, the family dinner, actually got started among the Victorian middle- class and are not ancient, traditional ideas.

SEGMENT 2:

Two sociologits battle about fathers! First, David Popenoe of Rutgers tells Steve Paulson that Dads are crucial to growing children and that Americans divorce too lightly. Popenoe is the author of "Life without Father." Then, Judith Stacey tells Judith Strasser that what kids need is good parenting, regardless of the sex of the parent. She says a family's economic prospects are much more important than the make-up of the household. Stacey's most recent book is "In the Name of the Family: Rethinking Family Values in the Postmodern Age."

SEGMENT 3:

Writer and humorist Calvin Trillin reads an excerpt from his memoir "Messages from My Father" and tells Jim Fleming that what he remembers most about his father is his humor, his morality and his stubborness. Also, men's movement guru (and respected poet and translator) Robert Bly talks with Steve Paulson about the abdication of adulthood he describes in his book "The Sibling Society."

Distribution dates:

• week of 10/13/96 - hour 1
• week of 06/15/97 - hour 3