The report on the V-th International Symposium "Science and Education in interests of sustainable development"

On April 6th-7th in Moscow-Zelenograd during a Symposium the IEF general secretary Mr. Clifford Yank gave the report by name:

"Sustainable development values in educational process"

Clifford Yank, professor, IEF General Secretary

There are certain basic goals for life, which people universally desire and pursue. The universal longing for a happy and prosperous life is innate in human nature. All people seek the material goods that make for happiness. Likewise, people strive to attain spiritual and moral goals that are needed for lasting happiness. These spiritual goals are rooted in the three fundamental human life goals for individual maturity, loving relationships with others, and the relationship with the environment. These are the three main life goals needed for a comprehensive sustainable development program and consequently, they are the essential goals for education is the broadest sense. The three main educational goals are 1) personal maturity, 2) forming loving relationship with others, that is the family, and 3) contributing to society.

Psychological research into the meaning dimension of personhood broadly supports the three basic goals. (1) When educators lift up these goals as an explicit moral framework for life, young people can orient themselves to what is most meaningful and identify those values and tasks that may bring the greatest fulfillment.

Adopting a meaningful view of life is essential to human understanding and character development. It not only gives the individual a center, direction and purpose for his own life but it gives the same to the educational process in general. These fundamental life and educational goals answer the question, “why” regarding life in general and put into perspective universal values and virtues.

Establishing a clear moral standard that is centered on an all-encompassing life goal, gives meaning and value to life. Thus, as youth confront problems, feelings of hopelessness, lack of love and anomie or changes that occur just from growth and development, a life goal will bring all these issues into focus and perspective, enabling them to use the situation to further their life goal. Many studies have shown that both exemplary and antisocial behavior can be predicted by the manner in which adolescents integrate moral concerns into their theories and descriptions of self. (2) Life goals give all age groups the ability to adopt particular virtues to various situations, supporting creative expression in a positive manner, deepening and broadening character development and maturity.

Research suggests that social and emotional learning is one of the missing elements of educational reform. (3) Research shows that good schools resemble good homes. (4) In particular, a comprehensive character-building environment in a school holds some similar features to a home with a strong moral ethos. In those cases where the home is not working well, the school provides a measure of compensation, showing through example a positive and caring atmosphere.

Caring and loving relationships are cultivated in the school setting in a number of ways. First, teachers take seriously their role as moral examples and mentors. Second, a conscious effort is made to create a caring community in the classroom. As the family is the primary training ground for the life skills of human relationships, many of the most prominent character education practices focus on creating a family-like atmosphere in school. Third, a moral community is created school-wide, including all aspects of school life. Sports, class meetings and cooperative learning provide more settings for developmental healthy relational attitudes and interpersonal ethics. Finally, school programs that collaborate with parents- the children’s primary moral educators- greatly enhance character development.

A comprehensive approach to character education employs diverse methods to cultivate students’ moral maturity. First, schools foster good character by making a commitment to universal values. Second, the curriculum and stories represent a natural opportunity to educate and inspire students in good character. Third, positive moral discipline is necessary, which is regarded as an educational opportunity to encourage self-control, integrity, good habits and being taught the relevancy of virtues. Finally, coaching in moral reflection involves helping students observe themselves and evaluate their own moral strengths and weaknesses.

In order for sustainable development to be successful, the individual must be educated that it is in people’s enlightened self-interest to give of themselves to a greater good. People’s sense of value are derived not only from their sense of personal integrity and from the love of intimated relations, but also from having “objective worth,” a value that comes from benefiting the public good. (5)

Structured experiences of service learning provide students with rewarding experiences of making a contribution that can inspire a life-long orientation toward helping others. Service learning has been shown to boost interpersonal and human relations’ skills and to enhance academic learning. (6)

The failure of the educational system to contend with the basic questions of life and life's purpose and meaning has resulted in considerable value confusion. (7) This lack of connection to these basic life goals to the issue of educating the human character has lead to many educational leaders to segregate and ignore the issue completely saying it is a religious only issue and not allowed in the educational curriculum. (8) However, questions of meaning, purpose and sustainability are appropriately, even profoundly, addressed under the framework of the three life goals.

1. Kay O’Connor and Kerry Chamberlain, “Dimensions of Life Meaning: A Qualitative Investigation at Mid-Life”, British Journal of Psychology 87/3 (August 1996), pp.461-77

2. William Damon and D.Hart, “Self-understanding in Childhood and Adolescence” (New York: Cambridge, 1988); Anne Colby and William Damon, “Some Do Care: Contemporary Lives of Moral Commitment (New York: Macmillan, 1992); A.Blasi, “The Development of Identity: Some Implications for Moral Functioning”, in G.G.Noam and T.Wren, eds., “The Moral Self” (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1993), pp.99-122

3. Maurice J.Elias, et.al., “promoting Social and Emotional Learning”, (Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1997)

4. Michael Rutter, B. Maughan, P.Mortimore, J. Ouston and A. Smith, “Fifteen Thousand Hours”, (Cambridge: Harverd University Press, 1979)

5. Robert Kane, “Through the Moral Maze”, (New York: Paragon House, 1994), pp.73-79

6. Winings, “Building Character through Service Learning”, International Education Foundation, New York, unpublished.

7. Kevin Ryan and Karen E. Bohlin, “Building Character in Schools” (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1999), p.40

8. Even teachers in religious schools tend to curtail discussions with moral and existential content; see K.G.Simon, “The Place of Meaning: A Study of the Moral, Existential and Intellectual in American High Schools”, unpublished doctoral dissertation, Stanford University, 1997