Chapter Four: Education and Taught Morality
“It was necessary for man's salvation that there should be a knowledge revealed by God besides philosophical science built up by human reason.” Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologic
As with all systems, you need to achieve a certain economy of scale so that it is profitable, economical, and robust so that it lasts and fulfills its mandate. But you also need to balance economic scale against systemic failure. For example, if the whole country is on one kind of education system and it has not been tested on a small scale, when it fails, it fails the whole country.
On the face of it, we know that each child learns at a different speed and has differing abilities and aptitudes. How is it that we currently have a federal government that dictates how schools should be run when they are not in tune with the personal circumstances, family cultural realities, and social economic conditions of the diverse communities they aim to serve?
Finland is a wonderful example where teachers are given the autonomy to create a customized curriculum, are highly trained, often have a master's degree, and are highly respected. In 2020, Finland was ranked 1st worldwide in terms of educational quality in the Worldwide Educating for the Future Index. Perhaps Finland has it right with a mix of structured education time with a lot of breaks for play, physical activities, and self-learning, self-searching for the right kinds of skills, and developing the aptitude that arises from passion, with the teacher continuously monitoring each student’s progress and adjusting their teaching to the individual’s needs instead of the other way around. Granted, Finland has an education system that rests on their cultural values and a different perspective on teachers’ worth, which thus affects how they support and fund long-term policies.
However, scoring above other countries in mathematics and reading is only the end result of a good culture that inculcates hard work. And also beneath that hard work lies the ethos that hard work is important. And that comes from students who understand that personal responsibility, integrity, and self-improvement come from self-reflection and accountability, including valuing play and rest. Having a well-rounded view of the students as complex humans, these are the springboards that enable the daily joie de vivre needed to propel one forward every day to greater heights of excellence. So in contrast, there should be none of the abysmal talk of self-harm, doldrums, or apathy. The positive feedback of these feelings that stem from accomplishment from a student's own endeavors as opposed to the lowering of standards, which deludes no one, is the ultimate self-esteem booster that no pronouncements by the establishment using affirmative actions can provide.
Thus, education is actually unique in the sense that it should be fully customized, right down to the aptitude and personality of the student, family support and structure, and cultural milieu of the community. Let the student’s cohort be his peers of equal interest and ability. This way, those who are left behind get special attention from educational specialists. It should be an experiment of the 50 United States of America and its thousands of towns and hundreds of thousands of communities that make the rules and framework for the kind of education that produces the happiest, most stable personalities, and most productive human beings that know the meaning of life and have been raised with the right philosophy and outlook on life.
Then there is the model of being hard-working, which comes from actions that have to be taught, shown, and practiced consistently. A child born into a poor or welfare family who does not see the father going to work is already at a disadvantage. It is not that the child has not heard of fathers going to work on television or in books. However, this habit might possibly only be something that a child can internalize by watching that action every day and seeing his own father living that lifestyle. Otherwise, it is a behavior that is only in other people's lives and has no bearing on the child’s life or psyche.
Alongside hard work, we need to pass on the right morals, such as integrity, authenticity, and honesty. That begs the question of why we need morality. Of course, there are always the logical advantages of having a good reputation, and being a man of your word helps with doing business and even what it means to be a good friend. But for those of us who have ever pondered our existential place and meaning in this life, these young students also have to be taught the unshakeable truth and logic that counter the arguments of atheists and nihilists. We currently have suicide rates that have been increasing due to the loss of meaning, purpose, and goals because of the trend of narcissism, self-destructive selfishness, and lack of empathy that seems to have predominated our modern society. Children thrive when they feel secure in who they are, what they do, and their purpose in life. Thus, if they are not given a proper framework of their family history and culture, they will cleave to other types of destructive connections, such as drugs, gangs, and other criminal behaviors, as they seek to make sense of who they are. We all need to learn the importance of personal growth, social connectiveness, and a purpose-driven life. These, unfortunately, have to be taught. Then later on, true feelings of self-esteem, self-worth, sense of place, and accomplishments grow on a solid foundation built on hard work, resiliency, and persistence, which are things that cannot be short-cut but instead need to be worked on every single day.
To have meaning in life is not just to have a purpose or a role to fulfill. Here is the sure foundation on which we build our existence: We have to look at who we are and where our place is in this universe. To the atheists who do not believe in a higher intelligence being, they either have to ascribe to some natural phenomena that the universe just orders itself because that is just the way it is. Presumptuously, they are saying that out of chaos can come order. However, for those of us who are theists, logically, we can give meaning to this life because we know there is an intelligent being who created all things. That means we have meaning that has been assigned to us. If you are a Christian, the God of the Bible has said that we are intrinsically worthy of being treated with respect and honor with all the ensuing rights because He has made us in His image. Furthermore, the Christian God has deemed us to be future rulers. This life, then, is meant to be our testing ground. We are here to improve ourselves and learn the lessons only life on earth can teach.
On the flip side, the problem with our society today is that we do not fear evil. This is because we do not fully comprehend the nature of fallen men. And to not know our fallen nature is to not be aware of its dangers. We all have different world views, but the more cautious one is concerned about how totalitarianism can arise. And also be aware that the political leaders who gravitate towards absolute power tend to be mostly psychopaths. Totalitarianism had wrought countless miseries, with more than 100 million deaths just in the last two centuries of communism and fascism. This is why community-based governance is so important because it seeks to disperse power and give it back to our communities. There are no officials to fear because they have no power over us.
Footnotes
Sahlberg, P. (2011). Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland? Teachers College Press.
https://blog.gitnux.com/finland-education-statistics/
Pasi Sahlberg's TED Talk: "What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success" - Available on TED.com.