I can relate to the concern, expressed in the letter “Put moral education at the forefront of school curriculum” (May 4), about the difficulty in identifying and instilling ethics, integrity and moral values in individuals.
We live in a fast-paced and increasingly well-connected world. We can easily come into contact with different ideologies and interpretations of moral values through the mass media and our daily interactions.
When not managed properly, inconsiderate behaviour will gradually be repeated with almost complete disregard for the welfare of those concerned.
When I was in secondary school, moral education lessons were conducted mostly in the form of brief group discussions and writing answers in workbooks.
Hardly any simple yet meaningful classroom and field activities were organised to guide students through the various deeds and range of body language used commonly to show genuine respect and empathy.
We should also not forget that parents have a more important role to play than teachers.
If parents and teachers do not work together to guide the young, it would hinder any well-meaning efforts to help students cultivate a lifelong motivation to practise what has been taught in school or at home.
While moral education taught in schools provides for a head start in good habits and values, it is, at its core, a lifelong effort in consistent, constructive self-reflection and striving to improve one’s behaviour to the best of one’s ability.
We must recognise, at a deeper level, that empathy is one of the core supporting pillars and that every one of us must help one another to internalise good behaviour as an integral part of our lives. Otherwise, the effectiveness of moral education in schools would largely stay as it is, now and perhaps for the foreseeable future.
