Of Good Character

We can see a star in the sky twinkling and yet the star is dead. It died or exploded long ago, but the light takes such a long time to travel through space, that we still see it though it went out long ago. This is the message these books give about the moral values of the rising generation. In the first book Arthur argues the obvious conclusion that the character of the young is vitally important to society, and that parents and education play an essential part in its formation. The part they do play, however, has obviously been weakening in its dogmatic certainty for some time. For most young people a whole spectrum of values from religious belief, patriotic loyalty, to the etiquette of being a lady or gentleman, have all gone over the horizon. Most no longer possess the language even to discuss ethical issues in these terms.

Yet respect for a residual moral code in terms of honesty, mutual respect, love and friendship remains. One influence these books do not examine is the hyperbolic explosion in the use of electronic media even in the last 5 years. The mobile phone and the laptop linked to Facebook and Twitter mean that the young exist in a cyber-world of personal contacts and information totally divorced from their parents and teachers. Just how important this is has yet to be worked out. Middle-aged sociologists have yet to catch up. The second book contains a series of contributions taking the issue further. Robert Harding gives a gloomy survey of the level of trust in a relatively deprived area of East Birmingham. There is not much. Young school students do not trust their neighbours, or society at large, or its official representatives. Only Moslems have more trust in their immediate community. Yet a civilised society depends upon mutual trust. There is a section on how hard it is to be a four year-old, but it would be rather more relevant to consider just how hard it is to be a fourteen year-old. Yet the problems of sex and sexuality are not discussed here despite their crucial importance to the values of the young. David Lorimer lightens the gloom with an analysis of the success of his "Learning for Life" poster scheme for schools. As many SMN members will know, this is a project whereby school children examine essential human qualities such as enthusiasm, love, wisdom, generosity and so on, do research into the lives of men and women who have exemplified these qualities, and finally summarise their insights in a poster. There is a very detailed statistical analysis of the project and its results. By every test the project deepens the pupils' self-awareness, and strengthens their commitment to values they often had not consciously considered or focussed on. Considering the present governing Coalition's commitment to mending our "broken society" one wonders why he has not already been besieged by experts from the Ministry of Education wishing to know more. Despite the reluctance of some teachers to be "judgmental" Tom Harrison gives practical examples of schools that have asserted positive values as part of the school ethos, and have reaped the reward of a happier and educationally more efficient school. This can work especially well, if it is linked to an involvement in the wider community. The deep issues these books raise are not going to be solved in two thin paperbacks. Perhaps for that reason they are very important. Exactly what is David Lorimer's poster scheme doing? Is it discovering the last reflections of a vanishing moral light and magnifying them? Or is it showing that human nature has a fundamental goodness independent of any indoctrination, and that it only requires self-aware reflection to bring it out? The last question, which is beyond the scope of these books, but which has to be asked is this: are the positive ideas at the end of the second of these books sufficient to fill the black hole in the middle of the moral consciousness of our society? Will it be sufficient to evoke what is within, or is the answer a new dynamic spiritual vision?