Why Should We Teach Character Education in the Classroom?

At present it has become imperative that children are provided character education in schools throughout the world. It is clear that in many countries youths are turning hostile due to various reasons like depression, frustration, fear of failure, personal insecurities and other related problems. As they are unable to cope with youth-related stress, most of these students are turning to violence to for a solution.

Source: bit.ly/1i5prKU

Most schools now have students from different backgrounds and cultures and thus each have a different mindset. Thus it is becoming increasingly important that we teach them about basic human values. Teachers should become proactive and teach their students how to cope with their problems and achieve success. We need to take the onus to deliver the right messages and instill values in them so that they can grow to be respectable citizens and contribute to the national development.

As students spend most of their time in schools, it is undoubtedly one of the main socialising agents for children. In this modern age, family values have been reducing due to various financial and social pressures on parents. Teachers tend have almost equivalent importance as parents in the lives as children. The knowledge teachers provide to their children enables them to become successful in life. Hence the role of teachers in shaping the future of a child is highly significant.

Many experts argue that schools focus on individual and human rights that might prove to be disadvantageous for traditional social norms. The teaching offered by the educational institutes tends to reject the unsaid behavioural codes laid down by society. As a result numerous students with advanced academic degrees and qualifications do not possess the resources to cohabit in a conventional society. As students fail to follow the social rules and regulations and behave in whichever way they feel, it leads to violent outbursts at many occasions.

It is highly unfortunate that we rarely encourage our students to understand necessary values and virtues and instead focus more on English, maths, science, religious studies and others as these subjects are essential for acquiring success in life. In countries like Nigeria, schools fail to make the students understand the importance of their character formation and moral and individual identity. Rather the present education system is motivating the students to trust in themselves, even though they lack the basic values.

Although schools are expected to teach students the values of morals and social virtues for their personal development but they are currently doing just the opposite. Most graduates lack the motivation to read as much as they are supposed to and hence these students fail to mature as respectable citizens with high moral standards and good character. Thus it becomes imperative that the authorities take steps to incorporate ethics and character education in academic programmes in Nigeria.

Teachers need to be more focussed about the character development of students as the country is facing serious disorderliness from its youth. We must realise that imbibing values is much different from simply educating students about different subjects. It is only by teaching them about human values we can provide the foundations for developing character to our students.

The education system should stress on teaching values first and then educating the students about science, maths and English in order to mould the young students in a better way. Schools also need to encourage the parents and family members of the students to help improve ethics and character education. If the students have a supportive environment at home, then it will help the teachers to have a better impact on the young students.

Education is important for every child as it helps them to progress in life and expand their knowledge. It is also important to help them grow into well-behaved and promising adults who would pave the way for social development. We can achieve this only by integrating character education in our schools.