—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I hail from a family of TEACHERS and have always respected EDUCATORS. I especially venerate those who prioritize personal leadership and character development within a framework of whatever else they may be teaching or coaching.
Both of my maternal grandmothers were teachers. Together, they spent a combined 50-plus years in traditional classrooms teaching school—mostly on the elementary level.
My father was a career English teacher who began his career in the early 1970s on the high school level and retired in the early 2000s on the middle school level.
Five (5) of my six (6) siblings have spent time in classrooms as teachers or substitute teachers and one of my older brothers was a principal on the middle and high school levels for many years.
I, myself, taught English at a large, public high school in Houston, Texas, during the 2009-10 school year. I also served as a part-time substitute teacher for four (4) years in the Atlanta, Georgia area (2006-2009).
That MAN of all men—whom a third of the world looks to as their Lord and Savior, and much of the rest of the world acknowledges as an inspired moral philosopher—was also a teacher as well as a builder. Suffice it to say, EDUCATION is a noble field in which to work, and especially so when Self-Action Leadership and character development lies at the forefront of its purposes and intentions.
As previously stated in this textbook, human beings have two (2) basic Existential Duties in life.
The first is to learn.
The second is to teach.
All those who authentically seek after knowledge and Existential Growth will discover life lessons and character development opportunities in everything they experience in this world. This is because all things testify of True Principles and Universal Laws. Thus, YOUR job as a student, teacher, and self-action leader is to continually seek, learn, study, discover, appreciate, and apply True Principles rooted in Universal Laws—and then model, teach, coach, mentor, and otherwise shepherd others to do the same.
SAL Mantra
Whatever you have mastered that is good, right,
and true—teach it to others.
BOOK the SEVENTH serves as a guide to all those who wish to educate and empower themselves—and present and future generations—to take complete personal responsibility for everything in their lives in a never-ending quest to be self-disciplined, self-directed, self-reliant, morally upright, and positively contributing self-action leaders who make the world a better place because of their presence therein.
BOOK the SEVENTH accomplishes this by sharing the stories of four (4) real-life educators who powerfully and productively implemented Pedagogies of Personal Leadership and Character Development (PPLCD) in their own schools and/or classrooms.
The definition of PPLCD was introduced back in BOOK the SECOND, Chapter 1. Since it's been a while since we first shared this term, it bears repeating here.
Pedagogy of Personal Leadership and Character Development (PPLCD)
Educational curricula that focuses a student's attention and efforts
on taking individual responsibility and developing good character.
Anyone with substantive learning or teaching experience knows something of the accompanying satisfaction, fulfillment, and joy that comes from both activities. And the best part is that there is no end to either journey because our potential for Existential Growth as human beings is limitless.
Education and Self-Governance
As I have reflected on my own SAL journey, one thing has become increasingly apparent to me, and that is that attaining Existential Growth is absolutely predicated on my knowledge and application of True Principles rooted in Universal Laws.
Put a little more simply: all of my SAL growth and success is a result of knowing what is right and then doing what I know.
The price of knowledge is education.
And the price of education is effort.
All Existential Growth is, therefore, the result of EDUCATION put into ACTION.
It all begins when a teacher introduces a True Principle to a student. Or, it may also occur when a student proactively seeks out and then discovers a truth on one's own as a self-learner, as I often have throughout my own Self-Action Leadership journey.
Whenever you learn something that aids or otherwise blesses your life, it is common to feel a desire to share that lesson with others so they might likewise benefit and prosper. I have deeply felt this desire all of my life. That is why I have spent nearly a quarter-of-a-century (25 years) writing this Life Leadership textbook. It is my desire to extend the message of SAL to anyone and everyone who sincerely seeks after it.
The more passionately and persistently you pursue an education in SAL, the more options and opportunities (freedom) you will have in your life and career. And the more you teach SAL principles and model them for others, the more influence you will have on others as you help them to increase their own opportunities and options.
BOOK the SEVENTH is dedicated to anyone and everyone who is desirous and willing to join us at Freedom Focused in disseminating and proliferating Pedagogies of Personal Leadership and Character Development throughout the world.
The West's Cultural and Educational Problem & GAP
It is no secret that the Western World has an educational problem rooted in an even bigger cultural problem.
The character-centric and personal leadership-oriented virtues that led to the West's rise in the past—and that will maintain its greatness and prosperity in the future—have been losing their cultural cachet and prominence for decades. While there have been some positive signs of resurgence in recent years, the fundamental problems remain and must be continually addressed by educators and leaders to ensure a future of harmony, hope, and moral leadership and progress on the world stage.
Simply stated, students must study more than just traditional and modern academic subjects in and out of school. They must also study and practice character, leadership, life-skills, personal finance, and other, related, SAL-oriented topics.
The last book my uncle—Hyrum W. Smith—wrote before he died of pancreatic cancer in November 2019 was called: The 3 Gaps: Are You Making a Difference. The thesis of his swan song stated that when there are "GAPS" in our lives between what we believe and value and what we are actually doing with our time, we lose personal power and lack inner peace.
The solution to regaining that power and peace is, of course, to Close the Gaps. (2)
A GAP currently exists in the West between what students learn in school and what they actually need to know to be successful, thriving adults in a complex and complicated global society. This gap must be continually bridged to prevent individuals from falling into the morass of mediocrity—or worse, the despairing abyss of self-destruction.
EDUCATION is the KEY to individual and societal progress—and it has always been thus.
Education begins, of course, in the home—the most important classroom of all. But, it continues in traditional classrooms and other venues of learning, both formal and informal, and both personal and professional.
When homes and educational systems are in good working order, everything in a society works better and more smoothly. When these vital systems fail, everything—and everyone—suffers by accelerating degrees over time.
At Freedom Focused, we hold this truth to be self-evident, that the greatest and most productive way in which to positively impact, influence, and improve a society is to provide young people (and not so young people) with a conspicuous, consistent, and continual education on True Principles rooted in Universal Laws.
It is no secret that the West has many of the best schools, universities, companies, and organizations in the world. Despite this fact, our educational system often fails to effectively teach the importance of personal responsibility, emotional intelligence, and upstanding citizenship.
The West cultivates talents, brilliance, and success in every imaginable field—including academics—while concurrently providing inadequate training on personal accountability, emotional resiliency, self-reliance, and social maturity.
These facts do not exist for lack of willing students. Indeed, as the action research case studies in BOOK the SEVENTH amply and optimistically illustrate, students readily embrace SAL when it is explicitly taught and repeatedly modeled by enthusiastic teachers.
Thus, the problem does not lie with the students. The problem lies in a lack of SAL-oriented curricula, a dearth of credible SAL mentors and models, and perhaps most of all—the lack of creativity, leadership, and moral courage on the part of administrators, executives, and politicians.
For a variety of reasons, parents, educators, and leaders of all kinds have largely neglected Pedagogies of Personal Leadership and Character Development in their homes, schools, classrooms, and communities. Some of the reasons for this neglect include: limited time, misplaced priorities, testing standards and other government mandates, political correctness, progressive pedagogical philosophies that stray far afield from academic, character, and leadership fundamentals, or the incredibly dubious assumption that students and workers will somehow "find their own way" via trial-and-error without explicit instruction on fundamental metaphysical truths and skills.
However compelling these scapegoats may seem, they are, in the end, merely excuses for why we are failing whatever children, adolescents, young adults, and adults we may lead. Deep down, most leaders and educators already know this is true. Yet, they continue to lack the courage, proactivity, and vision to make substantive changes for the good of the kids. Instead, thy offer superficial solutions that are largely cosmetic in nature—designed more to make administrators and leaders save face and look good rather than helping students to actually be good.
Returning to Rote Learning & Other Traditional Fundamentals
In Clayton Christensen's book, How Will You Measure Your Life?, the late world-renowned business and innovation expert emphasizes that group cultures are "formed through repetition." (1)
If group cultures are formed through repetition, why would it be any different with the formation of educational cultures, the acquisition of knowledge, or the development of life skills?
The answer to this question is self-evident.
Rote learning—and other timeless pedagogical fundamentals—always have, and always will be essential components of a quality education.
In recent decades, traditional approaches to nearly everything—including education—have been questioned, challenged, derided, and even mocked. Some of those challenges have been merited and much needed. Others, however, have only served to confuse people by obfuscating reality and ignoring the true price of authentic growth and long-term success.
Rote learning—like any other pedagogical approach—can certainly prove less effective if implemented improperly or exclusively. However, if you merely toss it out the window wholesale, you end up losing the proverbial "baby" along with the "bathwater."
At Freedom Focused, our goal with the SAL philosophy, theory, and model is to bridge the educational gaps of our time by assisting parents, leaders, managers, and educators everywhere in striking the right balance—or in other words, to access the Golden Mean—when it comes to what they teach their children, students, subordinates, and peers.
In so doing, we aim to truly create not only better, safer, and more successful, happy, and harmonious homes, schools, organizations, communities, and nations, but a better, freer, and more prosperous world-at-large.
Could there be any greater or more important mortal QUEST than this moral aim?
In Your Journal
- As a leader, educator, parent, student, or individual citizen, what is something doable that you could reasonably accomplish or contribute towards the promotion and proliferation of Pedagogies of Personal Leadership and Character Development in your life and/or home, school, organization, community, society, nation, and world?
- Likewise, what might you accomplish within a framework of your own unique sphere of influence to combat character problems that currently permeate Western culture—beginning with yourself and then working outward to influence others?
—Dr. JJ
Wednesday, November 26, 2025
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA
Author's Note: This is the 493rd Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 280th consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.
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Chapter 1 Notes
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