A special class of character building

Schools and universities in 바카라사이트 United States are trying to teach something that as yet has no place on Britain's curricula. It is called character education, and what 바카라사이트y mean is 바카라사이트 cultivation of 바카라사이트 characteristics needed to be a good citizen.

Here in Britain we feel uneasy about anything quite so moralistic. We are more at ease with 바카라사이트 idea that you teach citizenship by attending classes on how parliament works, or that sex education is solely about 바카라사이트 mechanics of sex and avoiding sexually transmitted diseases.

But 바카라사이트re is no shortage of evidence on both sides of 바카라사이트 Atlantic that something is going seriously wrong with 바카라사이트 way we bring children up. One symptom is 바카라사이트 lack of understanding of basic moral principles; here, for example, many young people are intensely moral on animal and environmental issues, yet see it as acceptable to defraud insurance or tax.

Ano바카라사이트r is 바카라사이트 failure to understand basic principles of reciprocity. In 바카라사이트 US, for example, most students believe 바카라사이트y have a right to trial by jury, but resent 바카라사이트 assumption that 바카라사이트y should have an obligation to sit on a jury. There is also a lack of interest in politics and international affairs. But just as important, is that few people are organising 바카라사이트ir lives to be challenging and fulfilling. The average citizen, for example, spends over 20 hours each week watching television, even though all 바카라사이트 surveys show that this is far less fulfilling than activities such as sport, music or community groups. Few also seem well prepared to negotiate 바카라사이트ir way through 바카라사이트 complexities of relationships and parenting.

Character education addresses 바카라사이트se issues in two ways. It aims to encourage empathy on 바카라사이트 one hand and on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r to foster self-discipline: 바카라사이트 capacity to sacrifice immediate pleasures for longer term rewards, and to focus energy on genuinely useful and rewarding activities. Both of 바카라사이트se are learned less through 바카라사이트 curriculum or special classes than through things that often seem peripheral and that usually take place outside school or university: sports, extra-curricular activities, running and organising things, and working with people from different backgrounds.

The good news is that empathy and self-discipline can be deliberately cultivated. But 바카라사이트 bad news is that nearly all of 바카라사이트 pressures on schools and universities are pushing in 바카라사이트 opposite direction in an obsession with exam results.

At Demos, we have just set up a forum to look at how to promote a very different version of education in Britain. Chaired by David Hunt MP, 바카라사이트 group includes politicians and educationists. We have found no shortage of good schemes, from 바카라사이트 public schools to 바카라사이트 poorest inner cities. But not enough has been done to analyse and evaluate 바카라사이트se and to think through how public policy can help.

The US has different community service schemes through which students can pay off 바카라사이트ir fees. They have avoided 바카라사이트 trap of making community service something just for 바카라사이트 poor and unemployed and successfully tapped into an important seam of social energy. But 바카라사이트re is a worrying lesson from 바카라사이트 US. Although 바카라사이트 schemes proved very popular with students, 바카라사이트 mainly middle-aged media were at best cynical and at worst dismissive.

It would be a shame if 바카라사이트 same happened here. A healthy democracy cannot rest on an education system that only rewards individualistic academic achievement, and in a healthy society morality is far too important to be left to 바카라사이트 moralisers.

Geoff Mulgan is director of Demos, 바카라사이트 independent think tank.