Education and personal leadership

2011-06-12T04:01:00.000-07:00

I have been defending an educational system that takes an active part in forming character and stimulating personal development for some time now. I believe that people will be more responsible towards others, community and society, when they are fully independent and self-aware individuals and for that it is critical to have an educational system that stimulates personal growth, and not knowledge or skills alone. Of course parents should take an active part in embracing this individuation process. Both parents and schools should work together in this important mission. It seems however that we are far from that. There can be many reasons for that: school teachers that lack the vocation, weak family structures, lack of quality family time, social violence, excessive media, etc. But all this should act as a stimuli for schools and parents to pay even more attention to aspects like society, community, environment, character, compassion, empathy, team work and so on and so forth in our educational system. Change starts today, in our schools.

Recently this apparently unusual case happened of 2 young teenage girls beating another girl on the street while a few others looked at it and a young man filmed it with his mobile phone. The scenes are quite violent and unsettling. As they spread through social media, a wave of protest emerged from all parts of societey, leading to much media attention and even several political reactions. Where it happened is indiferent as it could take place anywhere in the world for all that matters. Of course kids fight (I see that every now an then even between my 3 chidlren). What disturbs me in particular in this story is the young man, filming, laughing and later exposing the whole story on his facebook wall. He did nothing to stop it. He filmed it instead while laughing. And later on exposed the girls (specially the one being beaten) to ridiculous by showing the film for the world to see with pride. Could it be indifference, cruelty or maybe lack of courage? In any case it shows lack of character and principles. It shows that somewhere along the line, this young man was not sufficiently supported in developing those values that define great men and women. Our schools need to recover the mission of creating great men and women, not just skilled labour. As Stephen Covey calls it: a principle based educational system.

To exemplify what I am saying, I invite you to watch the documentary "Children full of life" (see the link below), where a Japanese teacher puts in practice this basic principle of teaching character to his young students. It is amazing to see how 10 year old kids can show so much character, integrity, compassion, but also discipline and dedication. This teacher combines discipline with freedom, authority with laughter, effort with fun, group spirit with individual autonomy, with the single goal of developing individuals that are ultimately happy and full of character.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=children+full+of+life&aq=0&oq=children+full+o

All the best!

The Leaders2Be Blog is now open!

2010-09-05T11:50:00.000-07:00

This blog is a meeting place for all those who want to know more about the message of Leaders2Be. A message based on our ultimate purpose: to develop a new generation of socially responsible leaders.

We will frequently put notes, thoughts, stories and examples that will hopefully inspire our readers and trigger intense dialogues.

We welcome everyone in this virtual journey!