Character Education and Civic Education of the Youth book 8 chap 3

1. The school: An extension of the family
2. The different types of education
3. Education in values
4. Character education
5. Civic education
6. The educational role of the media
CHAPTER 3 REINFORCE THE CHARACTER EDUCATION AND
CIVIC EDUCATION OF THEYOUTH THROUGH THE
EDUCATION SYSTEM AND THE MEDIA

As Lopez-Barajas states, «youth should be considered as a social good.The
health of peoples depends largely, especially in their immediate future, on this
social group.»
Youth is a precious treasure that parents, educators and social leaders should
pledge to safeguard, because the wealth, health, well-being and future
happiness of society depend on them, hence the importance of strengthening
the character education and civic education of youth.
Something very much needed now that youth are being affected by serious
problems of moral corruption, such as the increase in sexually transmitted
diseases, teenage pregnancies and the proliferation among young people of
compulsive behaviors such as alcohol, smoking and drugs abuse, bulimia and
anorexia among others.
Emilio López-Barajas Zayas, «La familia es una institución permanente», en La familia en el
tercer milenio, UNED, Madrid, 1995, p. 12.
INTRODUCTION

THE SCHOOL: AN EXTENSION OF THE FAMILY
 Family ethics serves as a
model for teaching ethics
 School education should be
an extension of family
education
 Love is essential in
education
 Character education and
civic education at school

Family ethics serves
as a basic model for the
different social ethics.
In other words, social
ethics are essentially an
extension of family
ethics. As Sung Hun Lee
explains:
«From the perspective of Unification Thought, human
relationships in the wider society are simply an extension of the
relationships carried out among family members at home.
For example, in relationships where people’s ages differ by
thirty years or so, the senior individual should love the younger
person as their child, and the younger individual should respect
the senior individual as their parent.
If the difference in age is ten years or less, the elder person
should love the younger person as a younger brother or sister,
and the younger person should respect the elder person as an
elder brother or sister.»
Sung Hun Lee, New Essentials of Unification Thought, UTI, Korea, 2006,
p. 285.
THE SCHOOL: AN EXTENSION OF THE FAMILY

Vertical and horizontal relationships in the family
Horizontal relationships
SistersBrothers
WifeHusbandVertical
relationships
Children
Parents
In a family there are two basic types of human relationships; A type of
relations that we could designate as vertical relationships, that is, between
people who are in different positions or levels of responsibility, some superior
and some inferior; and other type of relations that we could call horizontal
relationships, namely, between people who are in a similar position or level of
responsibility, that is, between equals.

In the vertical relationships between parents and
children, children trust, respect and feel gratitude
to their parents, whom they consider superior in
age, experience and wisdom, because parents
love and protect them. And, in contrast, parents
are in the position of having given birth to their
children and become responsible to offer them
love, protection, care and physical and emotional
well-being, which gives them their parental
authority.
The horizontal relationships between husband
and wife, or between brothers and sisters, are
basically relationships between equals that are
due to trust, fidelity and mutual respect.
Vertical and horizontal relationships in the family
Children
Parents
SistersBrothers
WifeHusband

From this perspective, it can be
seen that the school is an
extension of the family home.
This is because teachers
perform their educational
function as substitutes for parents
or grandparents, providing the
education that parents cannot
offer, that is, more wide and
specialized knowledge and
adequate technical and
vocational training to play a
future role in the society.
Family ethics serves as a model for teaching ethics

The vertical relationships between teachers and
students are similar to those between parents and
children. For this reason, teachers should exercise
their educational labor as substitutes for parents,
showing a paternal or maternal heart, a sacrificial
dedication and a good example.
Students, on the other hand, should correspond
to teachers with the same gratitude, respect and
admiration they feel towards their parents.
The horizontal relationships of fellowship and
friendship between students are similar to the
relationships of trust and mutual help that exist
between brothers and sisters within a family.
Vertical and horizontal relationships in school
Students
Teachers Parents
Children≈
≈
Female
Students
Male
Students
Brothers Sisters
≈
≈

General education at
school, and especially its
inner or moral aspect, should
be an extension of parental
family education.
Therefore, the first
requirement for teachers to
be good educators is to love
their students, dedicate
themselves to them in a
selfless way and show them a
good personal example.As
Sun Myung Moon explains:
«Teachers should educate their students with love,
standing in the place of parents (in loco parentis). They
should teach with love that is eternal, building ties with
their students that last beyond their school days. They
should make such efforts to form such deep, loving
relationships with their students that they never forget
them for the rest of their lives.
True teachers imbue their teaching with love. They do
not teach just to earn a living; they teach out of an
irrepressible love and desire to teach, even at great
personal cost.»
Sun Myung Moon, Speech Collection Books, Seoul, HSA-UWC,
127:17, (May 1, 1983).
School education should be an extension of family education

«Love, the good love is the engine of all education; the
indispensable condition to educate.»
Rogelio Medina Rubio, La familia en el tercer milenio, UNED, Madrid, 1995, p. 48.
«One can only dare to give moral education when he loves
the student: amor magister est optimus, “Love is the best
teacher,” says Pliny (Ep., 4, 16).»
José María Quintana Cabanas, Pedagogía Moral, Dykinson, Madrid, 1995, p. 593.
Medina Rubio and Quintana Cabanas also emphasize that love is
essential in education.
Love is essential in education

It could be said then that in school —in
addition to general education— teachers
should provide a character and a civic
education that would be the extension of the
same moral education that parents inculcate
their children.
The character education in the school would
have the purpose of helping the students to
reach a personal moral maturity or self-
control, whereas the goal of civic education
would be to help students to establish
harmonious and peaceful co-operative
relationships with others.That is, to become
good citizens of the world. QuintanaCabanas
comments:
«The school, in fact, does not only have a
teaching mission, but has an educative mission,
tending to provide a comprehensive education.
In moral education, this means to seek not only
the development of moral judgment, but also the
development of attitudes and moral actions.
Otherwise, Rousseau's lamentation will prove
to be true: “I see enormous establishments
everywhere, where young people are educated
with huge costs, in order to teach them
everything except their duties.”»
José María Quintana Cabanas, Pedagogía Moral,
Dykinson, Madrid, 1995, p. 598.
Emilio, o De la educación, Alianza Editorial, 1990, p. 131
Character education and civic education at school

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF EDUCATION
 Scientific-technical and artistic external-
type education and moral, philosophical or
religious internal-type education
 Both external and internal aspects of
education are complementary and mutually
necessary
 From a classical and traditional
comprehensive education to a neutral and
value-free education
 The renewed interest in an education in
values

It could be said that the function or
mission of education is to motivate and
facilitate the necessary means for human
beings to make voluntary and responsible
efforts to fully develop their human
potential.
Human mind has three main faculties,
intellect, emotion and will, which drive
human beings to pursue truth, beauty and
goodness respectively.
Therefore, education should motivate
human beings to perfect their mind, heart
and character, through satisfying their
cravings for truth, beauty and goodness.
THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF EDUCATION

Education encompasses two aspects, one that we could designate as
external and another as internal. External-type education essentially
consists of three main aspects:
1) Training of the understanding and reasoning faculties through
receiving information and knowledge from the outside world of a
scientific, social, historical or linguistic nature.
2) Cultivation of the talents and the aesthetic sensibility through
receiving education, and practicing the different arts.
3) Acquisition of practical skills through the exercise of many types of
instrumental techniques, methods or procedures.
In this type of education the external aspects of the classic values of
truth, beauty and goodness, are pursued, that is, knowledge of the
visible reality, exterior beauty, utility and instrumental techniques.
Scientific, technical and artistic external-type education

Internal-type education, on the other hand, has to do
with the search for the inner or Socratic sense of truth,
beauty, and goodness.
1) Seek to know the meaning of life, the role of
human beings in the universe and other
fundamental questions, and also how to become a
wise person.
2) Search for the inner beauty in the love relationships
with other human beings, and to know how to
become oneself a beautiful and loving person.
3) Know how to act well or do right, and to become a
just and good person useful to others.
Moral, philosophical or religious internal-type education

Man is the observer of the
universe, the lord of creation who
wants to know, modify and
transform his environment in order
to satisfy his physical needs and soul
aspirations.
External-type education, or
scientific-technical and artistic
education, is the one that helps man
to develop this external creativity
and become a good scientist, a good
physician, a good artist, a good
businessman, a good professional,
an expert, a technical, etc.
The goal of the external-type education

Instead, the internal-type
education, or moral, philosophical
or religious education, is what helps
human beings to create oneself, to
perfect the character, to mature
morally, to achieve inner peace or
self-control, to cultivate the
capacity to love, to establish
harmonious relationships with
fellow men.
That is, this education helps to become a wise, beautiful, loving and
good person, a good husband or wife, a good father or mother, a good
citizen, a good leader or a benefactor of humanity.
The goal of the internal-type education

With scientific-technical and artistic education —
that is, the acquisition of knowledge, skills, or
techniques— people get powerful tools and learn to
handle them.
However, these instruments can be used both to
benefit others or to harm them, to build or to
destroy.
Thus, this type of education itself is blind because
it can lead to both good or bad consequences.
Therefore, this education needs the complement
of the ethical education that is the one that sets the
aims, that teaches how to use well these
instruments.
Similarly, if only an ethical, philosophical
or religious education is taught, it would be
one-handed because would lack the
necessary tools to carry out the purposes.
Both external and internal aspects of education are complementary and
mutually necessary

In order for education to be
balanced, comprehensive and
complete, scientific-technical and
artistic external-type education
must be based on an internal-type
education, which include an
education of the heart and character
Education should include both the
external and the internal type, the
latter being the most basic or
fundamental aspect, because it is
the education that helps the person
to use well their knowledge or
techniques acquired.
An education such as that currently taught in
school, in which internal education is neglected,
is unbalanced, partial and incomplete, and can
lead to the use of knowledge and techniques
acquired in an erroneous and destructive way.
The education should be balanced, comprehensive and complete

In its classic or traditional origins, the concept of
education combined these two aspects, which were
considered as inseparable, since education was aimed to
a complete or comprehensive formation of the person.
However, with the loss of consensus about ultimate
beliefs or values, both aspects of education were
separated, at least in public education.
At the beginning of the last century, under the
influence of pragmatism, moral, ethical or religious
education was relegated to the private, family or
ecclesial sphere.
It was thought that public education should only
impart objective, testable and neutral scientific
knowledge, that is, free of values.
The social sciences were promoted because it
was believed that only knowledge obtained
through methodical or statistical research was the
one that could solve all human problems and not
religious superstitions, metaphysical fantasies or
moral taboos.
From a classical and traditional comprehensive education to a neutral
and value-free education

Perhaps the main reason for the
renewed interest in values and
ethics in the latter decades of the
last century was that, since the
1960s, youths were affected by
serious problems that persist
today.
Problems such as juvenile delinquency, increased violent
attitudes, academic failure, lack of discipline and respect for
teachers in schools; proliferation of sexually transmitted
diseases, teenage pregnancies, and compulsive behaviors such
as alcohol, smoking and drug abuse, among young people.
The renewed interest in an education in values

EDUCATION IN VALUES
 Values clarification
 Kohlberg's method of ethical dilemmas and
development of moral judgment
 The failure of Kohlberg's moral education
 There is no neutral value education
 What objective values or substantive moral
contents deserve to be taught?
 An education in values based on respect for
human dignity and rights, and democratic
values is insufficient

In order to solve or alleviate these problems,
many educators, moral philosophers and
politicians thought that was necessary to
reintroduce an education in values back into
the public educational system.
This is the current name that is commonly
assigned to an education that seeks to
inculcate attitudes, cultivate moral judgment,
foster appreciation for values and respect for
norms, and, eventually, the good behavior of
young people.
The education in values tried to fill the void
created by a public education that pretended
to be neutral and abstemious of values.
Therefore, this education in values
became the modern substitute for the
previously neglected traditional
philosophical and religious moral
education.
EDUCATION IN VALUES

One of the first methods of teaching values that
emerged in America was the Values Clarification, that
sought to impart a neutral education in values, since it
simply consists in exposing and clarifying the various
moral options and letting the student choose the one
that appeals to him best.
Kilpatrick tells us: «Values Clarification got its start in 1966 with the
publication of Values andTeaching of Louis Raths, Merril Harmin and Sydney
Simon, all professors of education.What the authors offered was not a way
to teach values but a way for students to “clarify” their own values. (…)
Values Clarification makes students “aware of their own feelings, their own
ideas, their own beliefs… their own values systems”.»
William Kilpatrick, Why Johnny Can’tTell Right fromWrong, Simon & Schuster, NewYork, 1992, p. 80.
Values Clarification

In spite of the alleged neutrality of this method,
in reality, with this type of education students are
conditioned to think that values are relative, that
is, they depend of the taste of each person.
In fact, what its promoters implicitly tried to
teach was something like this: «If something
seems good to you, or makes you happy, then it is
something valuable for you.»
In the end, we arrive at the absurd conclusion
that, since each one has the right to choose their
values or invent their own norms of conduct, we
should suppress all norms and tolerate
everything, that is, the complete moral
permissiveness.
“If something seems good to you, or makes you happy, then it is something
valuable for you”

Lawrence Kohlberg has the merit of having
given a strong impulse to moral education. He
proposed a method of values education, also
supposedly formal and neutral.
His method is not to inculcate substantive values
or virtues but rather help students to cultivate
their own capacity for reasoning or moral
judgment, regardless of the contents.
That is, to help children and young people to be
autonomous, to make their own decisions, but
not decisions that are based on likings or
inclinations, but on correct moral reasoning.
Kohlberg's method of ethical dilemmas and the development of moral
judgment

Kohlberg, unlike the promoters of the
Values Clarification, defended a position
contrary to moral relativism. Based on his
research in moral psychology, he affirmed
that children progress morally by passing
through several levels.
From a childlike, self-centered and
interested attitude, people gradually
progress towards autonomy or moral
maturity, in which they show an
unconditional respect for universal ethical
principles, which they believe are the most
valid or the best ones.
These principles are the classic values of
respect for human dignity and equality,
universal brotherhood and the pursuit of
happiness for all.
Kilpatrick says: «¿How could students be
brought to higher levels of moral reasoning?
Kohlberg felt thet the Socratic dialogue… was
ideal.
The Socratic dialogue provided a way of
drawing out ideas without imposing values or
moralizing. Moreover, the dialogue seems to
create an atmosphere of equality between
student and teacher —a goal that at the time
seemed highly desirable.
Accordingly, Kohlberg and his colleagues
developed a curriculum based on the discussion
of ethical dilemmas. Like Socrates or Plato, the
teacher poses one of these dilemmas and then
encourages an exchange of ideas and opinions
while keeping his own values in the background.»
William Kilpatrick, Why Johnny Can’tTell Right from
Wrong, Simon & Schuster, NewYork, 1992, p. 83.

This model of moral education of
Kohlberg, more judicious and sensible,
which intended students to develop
their own reasoning or moral judgment
through the discussion of moral
dilemmas, has also proved ineffective
because it is partial and incomplete.
Kohlberg acknowledged this after
witnessing the educational failure of
the Cluster experimental school which
he founded in 1974 in Cambridge,
Massachussets, which was called the
«just community.»
«Some years of active involvement with the practice
moral education at Cluster School has led me to realize
that my notion… was mistaken… the educator must be
a socializer, teaching value content and behavior, and
not only a Socratic or Rogerian process-facilitator of
development…
I no longer hold these negative views about
indoctrinative moral education. Now I believe that the
concepts guiding moral education must be partly
“indoctrinative.” This is true, by necessity, in a world in
which children engage in stealing, cheating and
aggression.»
L. Kohlberg. «Moral Education Reappraised». The Humanist,
November/December 1978, pp. 14-15,
The failure of Kohlberg's moral education

Today, almost all philosophers and educators recognize there is no education in values that
can be neutral, as Cortina and Camps corroborate in the quotes that follow.
There is no neutral value education
«To realize that there is no neutral education, which is
humanly impossible, is an action that has taken a lot of time
for a good number of people.
After the supposed empire of the unique moral code, it
was thought that a non-authoritarian society is the one that
does not transmit any form of moral values, the one that
invites to establish “conventions” and not to forge
“convictions.”
However, the very truth is that building a democracy, like
doing any other undertaking that requires human efforts,
needs people convinced that it is a worthwhile project.»
Adela Cortina, «Autoridad, responsabilidad y libertad en el proceso
educativo», en Valores en una sociedad plural, Papeles de la Fundación,
Madrid, 1999, pp. 160-161,165.
«In any way we take it, education
is not free of values. It has to be
ideological.
If educating is directing, forming
character or personality, leading the
individual in a certain direction,
education cannot and should not be
neutral.
Educational objectives are values
insofar as they are options,
preferences, and choices.»
Victoria Camps, Virtudes públicas, Espasa
Calpe, Madrid, 1990, p. 124.

Therefore, the question, rather than
how to educate in values, is to know
what objective values, what convictions,
what substantive moral contents
deserve to be taught in education, given
the plurality of beliefs and values that
exists in our democratic societies.
For many authors the solution to this
question is to reach a consensus or
maximum common denominator of
values. Marin Ibáñez writes:
«The technique of finding the maximum common
denominator of the accepted values in an educational
center or group is excellent for selecting those that will
penetrate the teaching programs.
Universal experience has shown that, while there
may be disagreements, different approaches and even
conflict of convictions, beliefs, political and religious
ideologies, what one could designate as natural or
universal morality that springs from the human
common condition and dignity is fundamentally
coincident.»
Ricardo Marín Ibáñez, Los valores, un desafío permanente, Cincel,
Madrid, 1993, p. 196.
What objective values or substantive moral contents deserve to be
taught?

In general, although some moral philosophers
and educators advocate for minimal ethical
agreements or principles of justice, and others
for a richer core of shared values, most of them
agree that objective values, substantive
convictions, which should be promoted through
education, are the respect for human dignity,
human rights and democratic values.
As we have already explained on several
occasions, although this consensus on human
rights and democratic values is a very important
and necessary step, it is not yet sufficient to
resolve all individual, family, social and
intercultural problems in order to move towards
a world peace.
This is because it is a minimal and
incomplete consensus, which forgets human
duties or responsibilities and
overemphasizes individual rights, which
causes skepticism or rejection of non-
Western cultures.
An education in values based on respect for human dignity and rights,
and democratic values is insufficient

Values education in schools, which is usually based
on a somewhat superficial, propagandist and
publicity promotion of democratic values, does not
seem to be very effective in resolving the serious
problems of the increasing of compulsive, violent and
antisocial behaviors affecting youth.
It would require a deeper reflection, a more
comprehensive or global vision that explains the
hierarchy of values and how they interrelate with
each other. Nor should speak only of rights, but
should include duties.
Education in values would also have to study values
from various points of view, fields or disciplines,
going deeper into their ultimate premises. Besides
being a reasonable and understandable reflection, it
would have to appeal also to feelings, and to the
good will.

An character education that teaches
students respect for norms and the
cultivation of individual moral virtues, and
whose aim is to attain moral maturity and
self-control
REINFORCE THE CHARACTER EDUCATION AND CIVIC EDUCATION OF THE YOUTH
THROUGH THE EDUCATION SYSTEM
A civic education that teaches students to
establish harmonious and peaceful relations
of cooperation with their classmate,
cultivating the social ethical virtues, and
whose purpose is to make them good
citizens and professionals

 Moral dilemmas or character education?
 An character education that teaches
respect for norms and the cultivation of
individual moral virtues, and whose aim
is to attain moral maturity and self-
control
 Character education must help young
people to understand for themselves the
ethical principles taught to them, and to
achieve their own moral autonomy or
self-control, so that they no longer need
external control, but only the guidance
of their own conscience
CHARACTER EDUCATION

William Kilpatrick, an
American educator, tells us that
when parents are introduced to
the two models or options for
education in values described
below, most parents prefer,
without a doubt, option B.
In fact, the prevailing model
in U.S. education in values is
currently the character
education that tries to guide the
students toward the acceptance
of some substantive virtues and
rules which are considered
positive and beneficial to their
personal development.
Moral dilemmas or character education?
A. The first approach encourages students to develop their own
values and value systems. This approach relies on presenting the
students with a provocative ethical dilemma and encouraging
open discussion and exchange of opinion. The ground rule for
discussion is that there are no rights or wrong answers. Each
student must decide for himself/herself what is right or wrong.
Students are encouraged to be nonjudgmental about values that
differ from their own.
B. The second approach involves a conscious effort to teach specific
virtues and character traits such as courage, justice, self-control,
honesty, responsibility, charity, obedience to lawful authority,
etc. These concepts are introduced, explained, and then
illustrated by memorable examples from history, literature, and
current events. The teacher expresses a strong belief in the
importance of these virtues and encourages his/her students to
practice them in their own lives.
William Kilpatrick, Why Johnny Can’t Tell Right from Wrong, Simon & Schuster, New
York, 1992, p. 93.

Moral education is neither complete nor
effective if it is limited to helping the pupil
develop his capacity for reasoning or
moral judgment, as Kohlberg originally
intended.
As QuintanaCabanas says, it has to be
«an integral moral education» which is an
education «that inculcates morality at the
same time in the understanding, in the
feelings and in the deeds of the student,
considering that, although behavior is the
end of moral education, its motive is the
ideas, and its engine, the feeling.»
José María Quintana Cabanas, Pedagogía Moral,
Dykinson, Madrid, 1995, p. 536.
«Morality is conceived as something related to
character, motivation and behavior, as well as
reason. Striving to achieve a virtuous character is
more than developing the skills of practical
reasoning; It also requires being motivated by the
meaning that is found in what is done, and having
the necessary willpower to channel feelings and
resist the irrational demands of appetites. (...)
It is then a matter of integrating reason, will,
feeling and behavior.»
Maria Victoria Gordillo, Desarrollo moral y educación, Eunsa,
Pamplona, 1992, p. 182.
An integral moral education directed to the understanding,
the feelings and the will
Gordillo also tells us something very similar:

One of the main objectives of this
education is to help people
overcome their childish immature
and egocentric attitudes and
motivations, and to achieve that
individuals voluntarily give priority
to the purpose of making others
happy above the purpose of
pursuing own satisfaction.
Put another way, teach people to
subordinate the desires of their
body to the dictates of their
conscience.
This harmony or inner peace is
impossible when people place individual
satisfaction as the sole or primary goal of
their lives, and relegate to a second term
the purpose of serving others.
This egocentric attitude causes human
desires to drift in the wrong direction,
resulting in an inevitable inner conflict
between consciousness and body desires,
which in many cases lead to compulsive
behaviors in which individuals lose control
of themselves, as well as to continuous
conflicts and struggles between individuals.
Character Education

Character Education
BODY DESIRES
Own benefit and
individual satisfaction
MIND DESIRES
Help, be useful and
make others happy
MIND
CONSCIENCE
BODY
Moral perfection or maturity, Self-control
Individual moral virtues
honesty, integrity, purity, moderation,
courage, wisdom, perseverance,
independence, autonomy, fairness,
impartiality, diligence
Respect for moral norms
Harmony, Inner peace
Priority
BODY DESIRES
Own benefit and
individual satisfaction
MIND DESIRES
Help, be useful and
make others happy
MIND
CONSCIENCE
BODY
Lying, stealing, violent behavior,
compulsive habits
Childish egocentric attitudes,
selfish desires
Contradiction, Inner conflict
Priority

Put simply, character education is about helping students
become good, balanced people who have control of their own
desires.
Just as parents want their children not to be selfish, to lie, to
steal, to be violent, to acquire compulsive habits, or to fall into
sexual promiscuity, but to keep themselves healthy, pure and
innocent, teachers —who exercise their teaching role as
substitutes for parents— should promote these same values as
the preferred option for their students.
Teachers should encourage students to overcome self-centered childish attitudes,
voluntarily respect basic moral norms, and acquire individual moral virtues such as honesty,
integrity, purity, moderation, courage, wisdom, perseverance, independence, autonomy,
fairness, impartiality, diligence, etc.
A character education that teaches respect for norms and the
cultivation of individual moral virtues, and whose aim is to attain
moral maturity and self-control

When teaching this type of character
education, one must avoid the old errors
of falling into dictatorial, authoritarian
and paternalistic attitudes of trying to
impose moral norms by force, or by
severe punishments, or threats of eternal
punishment, or by repressing freedom
and individual responsibility, trying to
keep youngsters or even adults as eternal
infants.
We have to keep in mind that
human beings are not configured
to be forced to obey moral norms,
or to have always external control,
but they are made to achieve
enough moral maturity or
autonomy to understand for
themselves the need to respect
moral norms.
Character education must help young people to understand by themselves
the ethical principles taught to them, and to achieve their own moral
autonomy or self-control, so that they no longer need external control, but
only the guidance of their own conscience

 A civic education that teaches students
to establish harmonious and peaceful
relations of cooperation with their
classmates, cultivating the social
ethical virtues, and whose purpose is to
make them good citizens and
professionals
 Both character and civic education are
based on the same ethical principles
and mutually reinforcing
 The civic education that is taught in the
school should be an extension of the
education of the heart that is imparted
in the family
CIVIC EDUCATION
 Civic education promotes vertical
and horizontal civic virtues
 Vertical civic virtues are the root
from where horizontal civic virtues
springs
 To overemphasize a critical and
suspicious attitude towards all
kinds of authority kills the trust
and admiration that young people
feel towards their parents and
model persons, as well as the
desire to imitate them and do
things that benefit others

One of the main objectives of this
education is to persuade and
encourage individuals and families to
voluntarily serve their communities or
contribute creatively to the welfare
and happiness of their societies and
nations with their work, talents or
qualities.
It is not a matter of denying
particular interests, but rather achieves
a balance between the purpose of
serving a broader social group and the
purpose of the preservation and
enrichment of individuals.
This harmony between the two purposes is
only possible when individual interests are used
as means to fulfill the purpose of serving the
larger whole. In other words, there will be peace
and national harmony when individuals,
families, groups and parties, while pursuing
their own interests, freely place their priority in
serving the general interest.
In the opposite case, if people, because of a
selfish individualism, put self-interest above
common welfare and happiness, then this will
generate continuous conflicts of interest,
fratricidal struggles and widespread corruption
in society.
Civic education

While character education has the mission of
teaching an individual morality that encourages
students to achieve inner balance or peace, civic
education, on the other hand, is responsible for
teaching a social or community ethic that
encourages students to serve their classmates with
their qualities and innate talents, and promote
good coexistence.
A civic education, which teaches students to establish harmonious and peaceful
relations of cooperation with their classmates, cultivating the social ethical virtues,
and whose purpose is to make them good citizens and professionals
Teachers should encourage students to try to
understand and put themselves in the place of others,
adopt altruistic attitudes and acquire social or
community ethical virtues, such as trust and mutual
assistance, friendship, cooperation, fellowship,
solidarity and tolerance.

Civic Education
SEEKING SELF-INTEREST
Purpose for the individual
SERVING AND HELPING OTHERS
SEARCH FOR GOOD COEXISTENCE
Purpose for the whole
Good citizens, professionals and civil servants
Social ethical virtues
Trust and respect for public servants, and
mutual aid, friendship, cooperation, solidarity
and tolerance among fellow citizens
Putting yourself in the shoes of others
Altruistic and solidary attitudes
Priority
Selfish, antisocial, and violent behaviors
Egocentric and self-centered childish
attitudes, selfish desires
Priority
SEEKING SELF-INTEREST
Purpose for the individual
SERVING AND HELPING OTHERS
SEARCH FOR GOOD COEXISTENCE
Purpose for the whole

Both character and civic education are based on the same ethical principles and mutually
reinforcing
And conversely, to the extent that people
strives to cooperate with others, understand
them, put themselves in their place, love them
or serve them, they will change their childlike
egocentric attitude more quickly, and thus
mature their character and achieve greater
inner peace or balance.
When preference is given to the desires of the
body over those of the mind, or self-interest is
placed before the general interest, people will not
only fall into a state of internal contradiction
between mind aspirations and body desires, but
they will have conflicting relationships with others.
If, on the contrary, you give priority to the desires
of the mind over those of the body, or to the
common interest over individual satisfaction, you
can live in peace with yourself and with others.
In addition, as a person strives to improve his
character and gain control over oneself, it will
become increasingly easy for him to maintain
harmonious relationships with others.

The child in the family first develops his capacity
to give love, through the relationship with his
parents, to whom he feels gratitude, filial love,
trust, respect and admiration, and then through
the relationship of fraternal love with his siblings.
The process of school socialization and civic
education helps children to project to their
teachers and other older people this same feeling
of respect, love, trust, and admiration for their
parents.
An admiration that, when they grow up, they
will also project to their idols, heroes or exemplary
people to which they want to emulate.
At the same time, civic education helps
children to extend to their classmates and
friends the same brotherly love they feel
toward their brothers and sisters.
The civic education that is taught in the school should be an extension of the
education of the heart that is imparted in the family

Vertical
relationships
Horizontal relationships
SistersBrothers
WifeHusband
Children
Parents Vertical
civic
virtues
Civic education promotes vertical and horizontal civic virtues
Horizontal civic virtues
Therefore, it could be said that civic education promotes two types of civic virtues, vertical-type
and horizontal-type, which correspond to the vertical relationships between people who are in
different positions or levels of responsibility —whose family model is the relationships between
parents and children— and to the horizontal relationships between equals, that is, people who
have a similar position or responsibility —whose family model is the relationship between
brothers and sisters, or between husband and wife.

Vertical civic virtues would include, on the one
hand, benevolence, sacrificial dedication,
unselfish attitude, spirit of service, protection of
general interests, good personal example, good
exercise of responsibility, and good governance
by teachers, professionals, executives, social
leaders and rulers.
And, on the other hand, the corresponding
gratitude, respect, trust, admiration, loyalty,
diligence, collaboration and active participation in
public affairs by students, employees, colleagues
and citizens.
Vertical civic virtues

Children
Parents
Students
Teachers
Benevolence, affection, compassion, protection, dedication, sacrifice and good
example by the parents
Filial piety, respect, trust and devotion on the part of the children
Employees
Citizens
Paternal and maternal heart, dedication, sacrifice and good example by the
teachers
Respect, admiration and obedience on the part of the students
Good management and protection of the rights and interests of partners and
employees by the employers
Good governance, service attitude, defense of public interests and respect for
human rights by the rulers
Loyalty, cooperation and active participation in public affairs on the part of the
citizens
Loyalty, hard work and diligence on the part of the employees
Businessman
Rulers

refer to cooperation,
reciprocity, fraternity,
tolerance, solidarity,
fellowship, friendship,
courtesy, sympathy,
commiseration, help,
assistance, fidelity and
mutual trust among
relatives, friends, and
citizens in general.

WifeHusband
StudentsStudents
FriendsFriends
RelativesRelatives
Brothers Sisters
Colleagues Colleagues
Citizens Citizens
Trust, solicitude, fidelity and
mutual respect
Friendship, fraternity and
fellowship
Cooperation and reciprocity
Solidarity, courtesy and sympathy
And compassion, mutual help
between relatives,
colleagues, friends and
citizens in general

In the family, the parents represent the
whole family and love equally of all brothers
and sisters.Then, when the children trust
and admire their parents, induced by
parents’ love for their siblings, they also feel
moved to protect, love or care for their
younger siblings.
In fact, when children lose this confidence
in their parents, or hate them due to
abandonment or mistreatment, they often
become rebellious and violent against their
brethren and against the whole world.
Vertical civic virtues are the root from where horizontal civic
virtues springs
Something very similar happens in the
social field. When young people trust,
respect or admire an exemplary leader or
public figure who works for the common
good, they feel moved to emulate him and
dedicate themselves to an altruistic work
that benefits their fellow men.
If, by the contrary, young people or
citizens lose their confidence in social
leaders because of their corruption, they
may become rebels, adopting antisocial
behaviors.

Children
Parents
Paternal and
maternal love
Gratitude, trust and
admiration
Encourage children to imitate them
They care and love their siblings
Teachers, sages, heroes, patriots or
leaders who show an example of love
and sacrifice for others
Young people trust, respect
and admire them
The desire to imitate them awakens
They undertake an altruistic or caring work
that benefits their fellow citizens
Vertical civic virtues are the root from where horizontal civic virtues springs
Exemplary
people
Youth
Citizens
Brothers Sisters Citizens Citizens

The vertical civic virtues are those that induce and motivate the
practice of the horizontal civic virtues
Vertical Civic
Virtues
Horizontal
Civic Virtues
Paternal and maternal love, benevolence, good
examples of dedication and sacrifice
Trust, faith, loyalty, respect and admiration for
exemplary persons
Fraternity, camaraderie, friendship, cooperation,
reciprocity, courtesy, solidarity, help and mutual
assistance among colleagues, friends and citizens in
general

Civic education centered on human rights
and democratic values —due to its marked
individualistic liberal imprint and strong
anti-authoritarian prejudice inherited from
the Enlightenment— emphasize almost
exclusively the horizontal virtues, that is,
freedom, Independence, equality,
fraternity, solidarity, tolerance, etc., while
despise or relegate to a second term the
vertical virtues such as faith, trust, respect
or veneration for parents, teachers, leaders
or rulers.
It is obvious that rebellion against a tyrannical
and unjust authority is necessary and justified,
but what is not logical is to maintain an eternal
critical and rebellious attitude, a hermeneutic of
permanent suspicion against all kinds of
authority.
In fact, if civic education instills only this
critical and rebellious attitude, the feelings of
gratitude that young people should feel towards
their parents, rulers or nation will vanish away,
and therefore they will also lose the desire to
respond by fulfilling their duties or
responsibilities.
In the civic education based on human rights and democratic values, the horizontal
virtues are exclusively emphasized because of a strong anti-authoritarian prejudice
inherited from the Enlightenment

Trust, respect, or veneration for parents,
teachers, leaders, or exemplary people
Desire to imitate them and do things that
benefit others
Freedom, independence, equality, fraternity,
tolerance and solidarity among colleagues,
friends and citizens in general
To overemphasize a critical and suspicious attitude towards all kinds of authority kills
the trust and admiration that young people feel towards their parents and model
persons, as well as the desire to imitate them and do things that benefit others
Selfish individualism
Anti-authoritarian prejudice
Critical and suspicious
attitude towards all kinds of
authority

When democratic civic education overemphasizes the attitude
of criticism and suspicion towards all authority, young people will
be left without moral examples to emulate and therefore they will
not feel moved to actions of solidarity or even to fulfill their
minimal social duties.
Then, even though fraternity and democratic solidarity are
strongly preached, young people will become selfish, irresponsible,
and incapable of fulfilling their social duties.
They will criticize everything and think that the authorities and
society are to blame for all their problems.And they will end up
fighting or suing each other continuously claiming for themselves
more and more rights or individual benefits.
The unjustified attitude of criticism and suspicion towards all kinds of authority
leaves young people with no moral examples to emulate and eventually destroys
the democratic virtues of solidarity and fraternity

The problem becomes greater because in our
democratic societies there is an individualistic
and materialistic way of life among the adults,
encouraged by a fierce economic competition
and by the struggle for political power that
makes those in charge of public affairs
continually criticizing and discrediting each other
in order to scratch a handful of votes, which give
a very unjust example.This social climate leaves
young people without exemplary behaviors
worthy of imitation.
Thus, democratic societies should reform
morally, moderate their individualism, and
correct this conflicting social climate between
adults and political leaders, striving to show
better examples.
Democratic societies should be reformed morally, moderating their individualism and
correcting the conflicting social climate between political leaders

Young people should therefore receive a
more complete or balanced civic education
that emphasizes at the same time the vertical
and horizontal civic virtues we have just
mentioned.
In this way, the current tendency for youth
of lack of respect for parents, seniors and
elders, teachers and others public officials
could be corrected, something which is very
common in Western societies, but has not yet
been completely lost in some traditional
Eastern societies.
It is not a question of committing the old
mistakes again and trying to instill in young people
a blind faith and an unconditional obedience to the
authorities for the simple fact of occupying a
position or having a public office.
It is simply a matter of fostering the confidence,
respect and the admiration of young people
towards responsible persons who deserve it or who
are able to win by their example that respect.
Even parents could not authoritatively claim
blind obedience simply because they are parents,
but they would have to earn their children's trust
and respect with their love and personal example.
Need for a more balanced civic education that harmonizes the vertical and
horizontal virtues

Since the school is an extension of the family, parents and
teachers should actively collaborate in character education and
civic education of students.
Parents should not ignore the education of their children, simply
leaving their children in school and waiting for the teachers to take
care of everything, alleging the need to work or lack of time.
Parents are precisely the people who have the greatest
responsibility in the moral education of their children. Medina
Rubio rightly writes about it:
Parental involvement in the education of children should be encouraged
«It is necessary to promote a more intense, qualified and
active participation of the parents in the educational problems of
their children and of the school institutions. A co-participatory
culture of parents in education requires socio-cultural changes,
in depth, that need to be stimulated and developed, if parental
involvement is truly desired.»
Rogelio Medina Rubio, «La familia y la formación de las actitudes personales ante la
vida», en La familia en el tercer milenio, UNED, Madrid, 1995, p. 48-49.

As a suggestion, it would be highly
recommendable to make more flexible the
strict system of school segregation by age
groups, allowing greater interaction and
communication between students of
different ages.
Within a family, the older brothers and
sisters exercise in taking responsibility by
taking care of their younger siblings, and
these in turn learn faster by imitating their
older siblings.
In a similar way, in schools, older students
should also learn to help, teach or be
responsible for the younger ones.
It would be advisable to make the segregation system by age groups
more flexible and to encourage students to do voluntary work
In addition, students should be encouraged to
show their gratitude to school and society
through doing small services or volunteer work
that benefits other people.

It seems somewhat kafkian that, on the one hand, our
public institutions invest huge amounts of money and human
resources in the education of our children in order to turn
them into good professionals and good citizens, and, on the
other hand, from the media, entertainment and publicity
industry are dedicated to preaching a hedonistic,
materialistic and selfish morality, a cult of sex and violence,
an obsessive and narcissistic veneration of image, body and
physical beauty, or even an incitement to smoking, alcohol
abuse or pornography, all with the sole purpose of becoming
rich at the expense of the vices and degradation of others.
As a result of this, adolescents and even children,
influenced and deceived by this hedonistic preaching, acquire
all kinds of antisocial, violent and compulsive behaviors that
eventually produce serious social problems, which also
generate tremendous economic and human costs in sanitary,
police, judicial or penitentiary measures.
Would it not be infinitely simpler,
more economical, and easier to
stop preaching these new forms of
religion or hedonistic worship to the
body, sex, and violence from the
public pulpit of the media, which
are such nefarious influences on
adolescents and disastrous social
consequences?
Would not it be better for the
media, entertainment industries
and multinationals to collaborate
with academic institutions in their
educational role of youth in order to
train good professionals and good
citizens of the world?
THE EDUCATIONAL ROLE OF THE MEDIA

Lopez-Barajas comments on this same problem in the quote that follows.
The siren songs of the entertainment and advertising industry
More and more young people and adults,
conquered by the fascination of deceptive mirages,
abandon themselves to the uncontrolled forces of
their instincts, or adventures on paths seemingly rich
in promise, but deprived of authentically human
perspectives. (...)
The abandonment of the difficult road, the pursuit
of mirages such as the illusory worlds of alcohol and
drugs, ephemeral sexual intercourse without family
commitment, cynicism, indifference and even
violence are paths that leads to a social desert of
infidelity and aggression.»
Emilio López-Barajas Zayas, «La familia es una institución
permanente», en La familia en el tercer milenio, UNED, Madrid,
1995, pp. 21-22, 17.
«I am also referring to the siren song
that represents the diffusion —especially
in the most prosperous countries— of an
entertainment market that separates
people from a serious commitment to life
and educates passivity, selfishness and
isolation.
The threat to the inhabitants of the
Techno-structure is the misuse of
advertising techniques, which stimulate
the immediate satisfaction of all desire;
while consumerism, coupled with them,
suggests man to seek self-realization
above all in the gratification of material
goods.

Thus, the same protection, care and concern
that we show today for the physical and
psychological well-being of children should also be
extended to adolescents, because it is an
especially sensitive age and vulnerable to external
influences.
Youth is a good of humanity that needs protection
Youth is a precious treasure that parents,
educators and responsible persons in the
finance, media and politics fields should commit
to safeguard, protect and educate, because the
future social wealth, health, well-being and
happiness depend on them.
«Youth should be considered as a social
good. The health of peoples depends largely,
especially in their immediate future, on this
social group. (...) Youth... is a special good of
all. A good of humanity.»
Emilio López-Barajas Zayas, «La familia es una institución
permanente», en La familia en el tercer milenio, UNED,
Madrid, 1995, p. 12.
As López-Barajas rightly states:

It must be recognized that very often the entertainment
and media industries contribute very positively, through their
informative or artistic work, to raising public awareness of the
serious social and humanitarian problems affecting us,
nationally and globally, and also to encourage citizens to
show their solidarity.
However, freedom of expression, freedom of artistic
creation, freedom of the market, and even freedom of
conscience cannot be used as an excuse for —through the
media, the arts and publicity— to incite in a deliberate
manner children or adolescents to violent, self-destructive,
compulsive —which clearly denigrate human dignity—
behaviors, for the sole purpose of profiting from the vice and
the physical and moral degradation of youth.
Freedom of expression and artistic creation are not absolute

The limits of freedom of expression
In addition to taking more restrictive legislative
measures that prevent this type of enrichment at the
expense of destroying mentally or physically others,
better than censorship would be, without a doubt, that
people could reach gentlemen's agreements among
those responsible persons of the media and
entertainment industries in order to stop these actions,
which can be lucrative for them particularly, but are not at
all beneficial to public health or general well-being of
citizens.
It would be much better if the media collaborated with
the groups of parents, educators and the academic world,
in general, in its mission to transmit a character and civic
education youth, and illustrate it through stories of
exemplary life characters who can serve as models to
imitate.

Character Education and Civic Education of the Youth book 8 chap 3

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