10 The Advocacy of Character Building and Why
The Advocacy of Character Building and Why
“The aim of learning, for Confucius, is to improve one’s self and character… Confucius believed in the equality and educability of all people. He viewed education as a means of transformation, the discovery of human nature, and the cultivation of character. Through education, virtues are developed and integrated… The primary concern of Confucius is character formation defined in ethical terms.”
- Ng (2009:2-3)
Traditionally, we perceive education can serve to produce two major educational outcomes as a consequence of schooling. The two major aspects, one on academic results such as academic aspiration, engagement, achievement, etc., and the other on non-academic results, like social relations, life effectiveness and well-being, etc., all give us the potential to live a good life. And nowadays, more and more academic researchers and practitioners are putting more emphasis on non-cognitive[1] developments of children as they have noticed that children are found increasingly dissatisfied with their school life if their daily focus of schooling is continuously boring and it only concerns with cognitive achievements.
People like Garcia (2015), and Gutman & Schoon (2013) argue that these non-cognitive skills are core determinants of a person’s optimal functioning and life potential. Their argument echoes with the report produced by The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, 2016) recognising that what makes people flourish are the qualities of character and skills they have developed through schooling.
However, it is also discovered that there is also evidence of high stress and self-harm, or even higher suicidal rate in countries having outstanding achievement academically, like Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. Therefore, an urge for restoring the well-being of students physically and mentally has become prevalent worldwide.
Our school is, thus, having a revived interest in promoting character education with the hope to build up stronger and more positive characters in our students so that they are better equipped to face the fast-changing and demanding world around them.
References:
Garcia, E. (2015). Inequalities at the starting gate: Cognitive and noncognitive skills gaps between HPCP-HPCC kindergarten classmates.
https://www.epi.org/publication/inequalities-at-the-starting-gate-cognitive-andnoncognitive-gaps-in-the-2010-2011-kindergarten-class/
Gutman, L., & Schoon, I. (2013). The impact of non-cognitive skills on outcomes for young people: Literature review. http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/uploads/pdf/Noncognitive_skills_literature_review.pdf
Ng, R. M. (2009). College and Character: What Did Confucius Teach Us About The Importance of Integrating Ethics, Character, Learning, and Education? Journal of College and Character, 10:4, pp.1-8.
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2016). Education at a glance HPCM: OECD indicators. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/edu/education-at-a-glance-19991487.htm
[1]Non-cognitive skills might include motivation, persistence, resilience, self-regulation, and goal strategies (e.g. Heckman, 2006).
