Education and character are the two things parents must provide to their children. They can lead to any part of the world with courage and confidence if educated. They can earn their livelihood and provide meaning to their lives. If they are imparted with character, they will live with dignity and honour and achieve success with integrity. Hence, parents must provide education and character to their children instead of sharing their wealth. In this way, they bring up their children correctly and add value to society. At the same time, educational institutions must impart moral education to students to enable them to grow as healthy citizens.
Emphasize Character Education
Most students work hard and smart to acquire educational qualifications. They often compete with their colleagues to stand out. One degree they must acquire is a ‘character degree’. Other degrees don’t have any value if they are not equipped with this character degree.
Most students aspire to acquire educational qualifications to secure employment opportunities. These qualifications are essential to obtaining employment. If they have a character degree, they will be enlightened and empowered throughout their lives. They can grow as healthy citizens to build a healthy nation and a healthy global society.
Your character is your asset. Like education, your character cannot be taken away by others unless you agree to lose it. You can acquire anything and everything under the sun on the earth if you have a strong character. You can earn your lost money, lost happiness, and lost peace; if you have a strong character.
In soft leadership, people often talk about charisma. But what people must learn is to emphasize character, not charisma. Charisma may gain temporary popularity, which is like a passing cloud. What character gives you is a permanent place in the hearts of the people beyond your lifetime far above these passing clouds to shine like a star forever.
Achieve Success with Integrity
Some students aspire to achieve success by hook or crook due to peer pressure and age pressure. The success achieved through wrongful means will not sustain whereas success achieved through rightful means will ensure your longevity. Additionally, it helps you command respect and become a role model and legend.
To keep their doors open, students must emphasize character degrees rather than paper degrees that serve as a foothold to be placed permanently in companies. Although paper degrees provide them with a platform to enter employment, it is the character degree that provides them a permanent platform to ensure employability. It may be easy to be appreciated but tough to be respected by others. Success may be appreciated by others but when success is achieved with integrity will be respected by others. Hence, strive to achieve success with integrity by equipping myself with a character degree.
The Role of Educators
Educators must impart character education to students to check declining ethical values among students. Educators are the true academic leaders who build a society by imparting character education to students. Students must take an interest in acquiring character because character cannot just be taught in the classroom. What educators can do is inspire students to acquire character. Ultimately, it is the students who must show interest in acquiring it based on their values and virtues.
The Role of Parents
Parents must take responsibility. They must spend some time regularly with their children at home to connect with them to build a strong value system. They must prepare their children to face challenges in life. They must teach their children to emphasize character education rather than paper qualifications. Character education helps throughout their lives whereas paper qualifications serve for a short period. Parents must not be in a mad race to apply pressure on their children to acquire scores and grades in exams. They must encourage curricular and extracurricular activities apart from inspiring them to acquire character education. They must set an example for their children at home, and educators must set an example in educational institutions to impart the right values and virtues among students. Both parents and educators must take collective responsibility in this regard. Educational institutions must emphasize the overall development of students rather than the partial performance of grades and scores. Hence, there must be coordinated efforts from all stakeholders including educators, parents, students, and educational institutions to impart character education to students.
This advice may discomfort some ambitious students. But it is worth waiting to achieve success with integrity. The intention is to inspire students to dream big and shine like stars with character education rather than to become passing clouds with their paper qualifications.
Lead by Example
Educators in educational institutions must take the initiative to impart moral education. The parents at home must impart a value system by leading by example. Currently, the technology is highly advanced, and the children are the negative rather than the positive things. It is a fact that people accept negativity more than positivity. Additionally, children are much more intelligent than their parents due to the influence of their peers and technology. Peer pressure plays a crucial role in either making or breaking children. Hence, parents must keep a vigil on their children and ensure that positive and healthy friends surround them. To conclude, moral education should be emphasized to children to enable them to grow as healthy and global citizens. It helps them achieve success with integrity and inculcates in them giving back to society to build a better world.
