Dear Editor,
We are back to school. The twelve-year march continues, at the end of which our children will be knowledgeable in the sciences and the arts and skilled in technology and sports. They will be ready for work and take up leadership positions in our society, and their lives shall influence the nation – but how?
I attended about two months ago a course introduced by Prime Minister Hinds which concerned the influence of character in the workplace and in general nation-building. Influence starts from within. It showed how honesty, humility, other virtues and the personal vision of one person can transform lives around that person and be felt even at distant places.
Today management studies are placing emphasis on character development everywhere. Why are we starting this training so late in life? Why this heavy emphasis only on the adult populace and sporadic treatment of the child? The belief of teachers is that character training should start at home. It is the chief work of the parents, and if anything goes haywire even in the classroom it is the fault of the parents. But how are the parents to know better if no one wants to teach them when they are young; parental education should begin when they are students.
The child of today is the parent of tomorrow. The roles of the parent and teacher are therefore symbiotic. I have heard it said that the curriculum is full and there is no place for another subject, especially one that does not directly focus on preparing the child for work. But it has often been said that if character is lost all is lost. We do not hear the same thing said of knowledge, even though this is of huge importance in the mix. The question arises, if we are giving children a sound education, is character development a separate, distinct and equal part of it? We have periods for English, Maths, Integrated Science and Physical Education, but is there a period for character education in schools?
If character is an asset to the management of all enterprises and nation-building why is it not given the same status in school as other subjects?
Yours faithfully,
Kenneth Daniels
