Chapter 3
Good Examples from East Asia
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| Confucius 551-479 BC |
An investigation into and analysis of character education in other countries—and particularly throughout East Asia—provides some striking insights and powerful examples that can positively inform, influence, and impact the way we do things in the Western World.
In his book, Confucius Lives Next Door, acclaimed journalist and author—T.R. Reid—shows that teaching and developing character in students when they are young does more than just benefit individuals; it also has a direct impact on national and regional peace, prosperity, and safety. This, in-turn, creates productive cultural and social mores that wield a tremendously positive influence on family life, education, wealth distribution, crime rates, drug abuse, and many other macro problems faced by nations around the globe. (1)
Reid credits the profoundly positive social statistics coming out of East Asia to the Confucian Ethic of moral behavior, which is both broadly and deeply rooted in the region's cultural mores.
Confucian-oriented character education begins at an early age in East Asia, something Reid discovered through his own daughter's experiences in Japan. In describing his girls' experiences at an elementary school in Tokyo, Reid wrote:
"There is no conception in East Asia that music and math belong in schools but moral values do not. Learning to do right is considered just as important as learning to add right. ... [At their elementary school in Tokyo], our kids learned some Japanese, some math and science, [and] some music. And they also learned, along the way, the Confucian lessons considered just as essential [such as]: working hard, following rules, respecting authority, and getting along with the group. These moral lessons, in fact, are so important to Japan—and to every other Confucian society—that they don't stop when school ends. In East Asia, they keep teaching you this stuff forever." (2)
According to Reid, this phenomenon was not localized to Tokyo, or Japan only. Rather it was normalized throughout the East Asian nations.
"Just about anywhere you go in China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, etc., you find moral instruction right before your eyes—often in letters (or character) ten feet tall. ... These countries are constantly preaching values, morality, and good citizenship to their citizens in the form of slogans, posters, billboards, advertisements, and TV commercials." (3)
Reid found much of East Asia—and Japan in particular—to be a wonderfully safe and peaceful place to live and work, and considers these safe environments to be a by-product of their nation's deeply imbedded character education culture. On the whole, he reports that the overall quality of life he and his family enjoyed in Japan far surpassed the quality of life they had previously experienced in major U.S. cities.
Of Tokyo specifically, Reid wrote:
"Although we were living in the heart of one of the largest cities in the world, we learned to live without fear. Or perhaps I should say that, over time, we forgot to be afraid. ... We acquired a basic confidence that the members of our family, even the smallest ones, could go anywhere in a massive city without worrying about crime. ... To know that crime might happen at any time [back home], to take reasonable precautions against it, to warn our children over and over that they shouldn't trust strangers—all that is part and parcel of our daily life [in the United States], as I believe it is for most Americans. But now I know it need not be [that way]. That was the good news. The bad news was, to find this idyllic city neighborhood we had to move across the Pacific and take up residence in [another country]." (4)
Tokyo, Japan
Much of the Western World, including the United States, has largely failed to provide extensive formal education in leadership, character, and life skills. Our students desperately need the kind of character educational opportunities that are so pervasive in the East. Just as importantly, we are in need of administrators and teachers who are themselves strong leaders who model upright character in their personal and professional lives.
How many character, leadership, and life-skill classes are offered at your local schools? In my experience, most schools will occasionally host an assembly, symposium, or other program that teaches character and leadership. And some schools will even have a class on such topics reserved for extra-motivated students, at-risk students, or student leaders.
It is rare, however, to find a school wholly dedicated to teaching all students the character, leadership, and life-skills they need to grow and develop into balanced, healthy, productive, successful, and fulfilled adults. It is likewise rare to find administrators and teachers who are committed to initiating holistic character and leadership education program that actually work.
This must change!
As a great business philosopher—Jim Rohn—once humorously reflected: "In school, if they'd have offered Wealth 1 and Wealth 2, I'd have taken both classes!" (5) His American audience laughed when he said this, because Americans know how relatively rare it is to see course offerings on such practical and relevant topics. Things being what they were, Rohn (of course) had to proactively seek out informal teachers and mentors on his own to learn how to be successful in the real world.
Unfortunately, most students are not as driven and proactive as Rohn. As such, many may live much of their lives in ignorance of the character, leadership and life-skill principles and practices that lead to success both personally and professionally.
Because Rohn was driven, proactive, and hard-working, he did eventually learn and then apply the principles and practices required for success. Sadly, however, this success came in spite of his formal education, not because of it. He left school without much structured training on subjects such as self-discipline, communication skills, vision, goal-setting, etc. As a result, six years after completing his formal schooling, he "wound up broke." (6)
But, after he obtained the right teachers and mentors and learned self-discipline, communication, and the arts of leadership, persuasion, and personal influence, he "wound up rich." (7) He then spent the following five (5) decades traveling the world to teach the same transformative leadership, character, and life lessons to others—lessons he learned outside of, rather than inside of, the traditional classroom and schoolhouse.
The time has come to infuse traditional classrooms and schools with the kind of character, leadership, and life-skill education that are hallmarks of all successful and actualized human beings. Why should the principles and practices of success and greatness be reserved for outside the classroom when they could be taught inside the classroom?
I therefore call upon parents, leaders, teachers, coaches, and administrators everywhere to make character, leadership, and life-skill education a higher priority in your home, classroom, school, organization, community, state, and nation. The time has come to balance standard academic course offerings with practical courses on those topics that students need most to succeed long-term in the real world.
"The old paradigm of separating the core academic curriculum from leadership, character, and life-skill education in America's schools is gradually beginning to shift. The time is coming when classes in leadership will be equally as important as those in mathematics, science, or English; and from a career standpoint, possibly more important." (8)
While many intuitively recognize and acknowledge this need, many remain skeptical of these reforms given the many expectations and pressures facing contemporary educators. As a former full-time, public school classroom teacher myself, I understand these intimidating demands. As such, I don't pretend that this undertaking will be fast or easy. Nevertheless, I'm confident it can, must, and will happen.
Widespread shifts in state, national, or global educational mores won't happen overnight, but they can and will evolve gradually over time if we will make a collective commitment to positive and productive pedagogical change.
In the meantime, it is up to individual educators to creatively consider how they themselves can begin incorporating character, leadership, and life-skill instruction into their own curriculum. The last five chapters of BOOK the SEVENTH (chapters 5-9) provide real-life examples (case studies) of how creative and proactive educators in Texas and Georgia, USA, found ways to animate this ambitious vision in their own classrooms and schools. These educators accomplished their work in addition to meeting all requirements involved in covering core curriculum, teaching to the test, and otherwise checking the manifold boxes with which contemporary public school administrators and educators are tasked.
Before jumping into these inspiring case studies, let's take a moment to consider the potential of SAL to serve as an antidote to many of the challenges facing students who come from underprivileged backgrounds.
—Dr. JJ
Author's Note: This is the 495th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 282nd consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.
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