Why education is about character

‘Intelligence plus Character - That is the Goal of True Education’. – Martin Luther King Jr.

This statement has a lot of truth and has influenced me greatly in my life. My parents and the teachers that I had early in life, played an integral role in ensuring that I was provided with values that made me who I am today. It is based on my own experience and what I have seen in my years of teaching that I can confidently say a Values Based Education is needed in every school.

A sceptic could of course ask “why”? For them, I have some answers.

In life, we are often faced with many decisions- some have more importance than others; some require more compassion than others; some based more on intellect, while others more on feeling; regardless of the type of decision we are making our choices more often than not will be a reflection of our values. 

Let’s first take a look at what we understand vlues to be?

For me a value is a principle that guides and influences our behaviour.

When I asked around, some people I spoke to explained that values to them meant: ‘the ideas that we believe to be important and the things that we rate highly are our values’. There were others who could not put their definition of values into words, but do operate on some sort of ‘values system’.

Values play an important part in our lives. They help us decide what we expect of ourselves and of others. Our values often help us to make good informed decisions.

So then, does education truly play a role in determining our values? Should it play a role? And If so, how significant?

In my view, education should aim at the multi-faceted development of a student, meaning the intellectual, physical, personal and social development. This is what schools like GEMS Westminster School – RAK focuses on by offering a Values Based Education. 

How do we do this?

We have four core values that are at the core of our Values Based Education. They are World Citizenship, Universal values, Leadership and Forward Thinking. These values are an integral part of our education approach. It is a way to encourage independent learning, which empowers students to take on responsibility.

I take a specific example from my days as a teacher, and this is something I encourage the teachers at my school to do. I took subjects that students may have found boring on their own, and developed the lesson to bring the subject alive. Using a value as the base is a great way to do this, and students often come away with strong messages that help to foster values.

For example, I often taught History and Economics by using questions like “What if you were in that situation? What would you have done? How do you think this will be handled 5 or 10 years from now?” When you highlight the different answers students begin to realize the differences there are in people, and when you dig even further to find out why they have made the decisions they have, it shows them that there are experiences and life influence the different outcomes. And of course it will also have them think about how the world will change in the coming years.

Education as a whole can kind of be divided into three areas – imparting general and specific knowledge, the teaching of skills, and inculcating values. For many schools around the world the approach to education is almost wholly geared to the first area, a little to the second and only marginally to the third. For education to fulfil its purpose as a tool for social change more focus needs to be put on the teaching of values in school.

There needs to be a balance. Without the focus on knowledge and skills, things like reading and writing cannot be taught. These are the basics. But equally important is that individual who knows how to be a compassionate human being, conscious of those around them.

We have been able to create that balance at GEMS Schools and I have seen the outcomes. I have seen the compassionate, tolerant students who are conscious of their surroundings and the world they are now living in. When I see the values we teach them at work, I know that these future leaders will make a positive impact in the world.