Desiree Rowling--How do we raise children to be responsible caring, sharing adults? There are organizations set up these days to help educate children specifically in humanitarian values, and these organizations tell us that children and parents are actually increasing their activity in service groups and in working together harmoniously.Kim Simon in Voices of Compassionate Education writes of her experience when asking herself, and responding to others about the question she poses: “What can we do to help young men respect women, recognize consent, and have healthy sexual relationships? Teach them kindness to others—and the courage to go against the crowd.”
Kindness she believes is the essential quality in life. And that means not being involved in activities that are harmful or unkind to others. She also says it is important to teach boys to be brave, to go against the crowd when that crowd applauds or seeks to do bad things.
Other groups are focused also on values-centered education. Values-based schools promote an ethical vocabulary and behavior as part of good educational practice. It encourages adults to participate in their child’s education and to reflect values in their own lives. School that do this receive the Quality Mark as Values-based Schools.
Values-based Education is said to be successful as it nurtures a sense of the self and supports good academic standards. The Catholic Church has maintained for many generations the importance of a spiritual development within the context of learning. The Church maintains good values can stay with young people often throughout life.
Many faith-based groups have their own schools, but there are organizations that do not teach sectarian views on values, but instead universally appealing and important ideas related to the community as a whole and a spirit-filled life. Julie Rubenstein, an active member of the Baha’i Faith, maintains these programs reach out to entire communities where she lives in Washington County in the greater Portland area that extends to the Northwest sections to Hillsboro and Beaverton, Oregon. Many children attend values-based classes during the summer where they learn how to work together on projects related to service. “These are very successful, and many, if not most of those who attend these programs are not Baha’is themselves.”
But it isn't just schools and faith that believe in value-centered learning. Even dance groups have found that teaching values in dance can help people learn and live together in harmonious ways.
Values in education do not mean sectarian ones but those based on learning about one's relationship to others and the development of a spiritual life in motion. It is that central idea of "do unto others" that remains a significant part of that value-centered curriculum.
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Desiree Rowlings is a retired educator who is presently traveling across the United States, following a long career as a teacher. The publisher of this journal received her article, appending some of the last paragraph as an addition. Values education is Rowlong's special interests. She has been an educator in Catholic schools.
