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Redefining Excellence

Explore the importance of character formation and moral education in schools to create virtuous communities and responsible citizens. Discover how excellence of character leads to true happiness and fulfillment in life.

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Redefining Excellence

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  1. Redefining Excellence

  2. LA SALLE = Academic Excellence Is this adequate ?

  3. FORMATION TOWARDS A LIVING FAITH TRUE CHRISTIANS RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS FORMATION IN VIRTUE EDUCATION FOR LIFE IN SOCIETY HOLISTIC EDUCATION Meditation for the Feast of St. Louis

  4. Reading the Signs of the Times “Poverty and inequality have increased over the past 30 years. A new form of moral leadership – focused on reducing poverty and maximizing human potential is imperative. . . .These leaders must inspire others to mobilise for their own futures.” Joan Dassin, Executive Director Ford Foundation Int’l. Fellowships

  5. Corruption which kills the poor calls for a morally enlightened and determined citizenry to resist it.

  6. How do we bring out the hero within? “I believe there’s a hero in all of us that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride. . . even though sometimes we have to be steady, and give up the thing we want most . . . even our dreams.” there’s a hero in all of us

  7. We need a better definition of excellence.

  8. EXCELLENCE = ARETÉ EXCELLENCE OF CHARACTER

  9. Can our schools become VIRTUOUS COMMUNITIES with moral education and character formation as their unifying focus? EXCELLENCE = VIRTUE

  10. CHARACTER IS WHO YOU ARE WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING Character is the established pattern of dispositions , attitudes and motivations that shape our way of perceiving, feeling, judging, and acting.

  11. Why Character Counts Our ability to do what is right depends on character. Nothing essential for happiness—no relationship, commitment or work—can be achieved without excellence of character. Good character is the foundation of a just and peaceful society.

  12. Academic performance rests on the foundation of sound character.

  13. Moral rules and regulations keep me from being truly free. Being good is no fun. Morality is anti-happiness. IN TODAY'S WORLD . . . Morality vs. Freedom Morality vs. Happiness

  14. The moral life is essentially a response to our deep spiritual longing for joy and fullness of life. The moral life is a quest for happiness. : Moral Life: A Quest For Happiness

  15. Happiness is... a way of living that actualizes what is specifically human to us - our powers of knowing, loving, and creating - so that human beings attain the excellence and fulfillment proper to them, and so fulfill the purpose of life.

  16. The desire to be happy and the desire to be good are not different desires. The desire to live a moral life is as intrinsic to us as the desire to be happy.

  17. The moral life is rooted in natural inclinations which move us towards . . . • Goodness • Truthfulness • Preserving life • Marital union and child rearing • Friendship and life in society Properly developed and directed, these inclinations lead to freedom and happiness. But they can also be corrupted or destroyed.

  18. Freedom: A Key Issue

  19. Freedom is the capacity to do whatever I want. FREEDOM OFINDIFFERENCE Freedom is the exercise of the will without constraint or external pressure.

  20. GOOD FREEDOM EVIL To be free is to be able to choose either good or evil equally. Thus, freedom must be constrained in order for good to flourish.

  21. Freedom of indifference engenders an ethic of rules and obligations meant to constrain freedom and prevent us from making bad choices. • Favors compliance over personal initiative. • Happiness is at most irrelevant to morality. • Engenders an “extrinsicist” and “minimalist” morality.

  22. When disciplinary policy is formulated within the framework of freedom of indifference, discipline becomes power assertion which doesn’t favor internalization and leads to resentment.

  23. FREEDOM OFEXCELLENCE Freedom is the exercise of reason and will in pursuit of the happiness and excellence proper to humans.

  24. Freedom is not given to us whole and complete. It is given to us in embryo. The development of freedom is the project of a lifetime that involves overcoming the forces of unfreedom within us and outside of us.

  25. Human acts are our steps towards or away from freedom and happiness. Good acts done well free us by strengthening our inclinations to the good and forming virtues. Acts which are evil or poorly executed diminish our freedom by corrupting the inclinations and fostering vices. We become what we do.

  26. Plan your actions well.

  27. A VIRTUE IS A stable disposition to act well in pursuit of the excellence proper to human nature.

  28. “When anyone both possesses and exercises the virtues, that person is brought to the wholeness proper to human nature; conversely a lack of virtue constitutes a deprived nature and a diminished self.” P. Waddell

  29. We need virtues because: Human excellence is not a given. Virtues perfect human nature. Virtuesperfect freedom. Virtues set us free from our vices.

  30. All voluntary evil is self-sabotage, a self-inflicted wound that diminishes our freedom to achieve life’s purpose.

  31. Moral Formaton: Education in Freedom Moral formation involves the education and strengthening of our natural inclinations though the cultivation of the virtues. This education for freedom requires a combination of modeling, instruction, apprenticeship, and practice.

  32. Who am I ? What has life taught me about my strengths and weaknesses? What kind of person should I be ? What does becoming a better person mean in my case? What virtues do I need to develop? How do I become this? What practices and actions will help me grow in virtue and thus become the person I believe I should be? Key Questions in Formation

  33. MORALRECONSTRUCTION: A NEW BATTLECRY For education?

  34. To Free the Young for Excellence Education should free people to attain the excellence and perfection proper to them as humans—physically, intellectually, relationally, politically, morally, spiritually.

  35. Every member of the school community is a moral formator.

  36. The moral life is training for happiness. Therefore . . . • Examine and if necessary revise the underlying paradigm of moral formation in the community. • Create programs for helping persons to grow in reflectiveness and self-possession.

  37. We are attracted by the witness of moral exemplars. Therefore . . . • Inspire! - celebrate moral heroes. • Get in touch with your own moral core. • Witness! Witness! Witness!

  38. Virtues grow through practice. Therefore . . . • Promote practices for growth in self-awareness and virtue. • Recognize the formative dimension inherent in all work and human interaction – we become what we do! • Reformulate existing policies to encourage moral initiative and growth in virtue. • Provide special opportunities to practice virtue together.

  39. Virtues are acquired as we build caring relationships. Therefore . . . • Create opportunities for “bonding” and community-building. • Create opportunities for persons to reconnect with shared dreams and visions through quality conversations. • Encourage mentoring.

  40. The virtuous life requires a community of virtue. Therefore . . . • Create awareness: every stakeholder a formator! • Agree on a schoolwide code of ethical conduct and courtesy

  41. 5 Things Our Graduates Should Be Convinced Of They are loved. They have gifts. God calls them to serve his love and justice in the world. Each has a responsibility to society and to the poor. We will all be judged by how well we have loved.

  42. FAITH COMMUNITY PARADIGM An community that struggles to live virtuously educates not only through religious or instructional activities but through all the attitudes, values, relationships and purposeful activities that make up the life of its members. In this model, belonging and participation in the entire life of the school community is potentially formative.

  43. Curriculum: The Total Life of the School

  44. CONTEMPLATIVE CURRICULUM RELATIONAL CURRICULUM MINISTERIAL CURRICULUM INSTRUCTIONAL CURRICULUM Formation occurs in the interplay of these four curricula.

  45. RELATIONAL CURRICULUM • The quality of our relationships constitutes the most powerful formative influence. Human love, care and friendship are sacramental— potential instruments of grace. Character friendships are the most fertile ground for moral and spiritual growth. • Teachers/ministers /friends often take on the roles of • Moral Mentors • Witnesses • Caregivers-Counselors

  46. MINISTERIAL CURRICULUM This embraces all opportunities for embodying love through service to corporal and spiritual needs within and outside the school community.

  47. CONTEMPLATIVE CURRICULUM Embraces all personal and communal opportunities for prayer , devotion, and worship. It fosters communion between God and one another by nurturing the awareness that we are never apart from God but that he is the Hidden Ground of Love that holds all of us in existence.

  48. INSTRUCTIONAL CURRICULUM This embraces all forms of instruction and runs the entire continuum from humanization, through the dialogue of faith and culture to explicit catechesis/ religious education. Explicit catechesis clarifies, deepens and purifies the spiritual insights and values acquired from human experiences and secular learning.

  49. CONTEXTS FOR FORMATION

  50. YOUTH GROUPS, TEAMS & ORGS COUNSELING & SPIRITUAL DIRECTION CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION LITURGY & WORSHIP LEADERSHIP & ADMIN WORK RETREATS & PRAYER GRPS SOCIAL ACTION COMTY SERVICE RELATIONSHIP WORDS SERVICE WORSHIP CONTEXTS FOR MORAL FORMATION

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