LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION

                                                                                                                  Essential Values in Curriculum

                                                                                                                                    Values and Learning Context

      There are certain values that must be part of every curriculum in education. These are values that are essential to learning and cannot be compromised in education if learning is to be more than just the memorization of facts and the depositing of information into the heads of students. Our founding fathers of American Democracy had several of these values in mind when they drafted the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. They included the values of critical thinking, service to others and collaborative participation. If our students are to practice what they are learning in ways that benefit our democratic society, American Culture and humanity, we must find ways of weaving these values into the context of our curriculum. In doing so we will not only enrich our educational curriculum and make our teaching and learning more interesting and relevant, we will help to make our students better people and future leaders who will contribute to a better world through their chosen careers.

       At present, this is not happening in the classrooms and curriculum of American Education and it is producing graduates who have no moral compass, understanding or appreciation for the social implications of their actions on others. Leaders, whose only guiding principles are profits or power, have led us away from those American values and beliefs that make us who we are and give us the ability to guide others. The catastrophe on Wall Street that has led to the collapse of the economy is just the tip of  the iceberg and it is not limited to just a few misguided people who financially engineered the CDS (Credit Default Swap) system and the sub prime lending process without regard for the implications of their actions. There is now a culture of thinking that has made anything done for profits or self-interest seem good with little or no consideration of how it might affect others.  

       This “greed is good” attitude pervades not only Wall Street. It has infiltrated our entire society and it did not just begin with a few bad people on Wall Street or in the White House. Even our Nobel Prize Winning Professors have spoken out about the fact we have created “monsters” who financially engineered the disaster on Wall Street that now pervades the entire banking, investing and lending system of the world (See Motivating Students). The situation has now become a crisis with the economy, but people are just beginning to realize that the sources of the problem and the solution are found in our educational system. It is through education that we are able to teach and hopefully develop future leaders who can guide us to a better world. Building the contextual values of democracy, critical thinking and collaborative learning into the curriculum of education can make all the difference in reversing the present trend to enable our future generations to avoid the mistakes of the past and build a better nation and world in the process.

       It is not too difficult to imagine courses in economics that not only teach the naked tools of financial engineering, but build in the democratic context that give them meaning. If students learn that Democracy gives the tools of economics and profit making meaning and provides the substance that supports free enterprise, they would be more likely to practice what they learn in a way consistent with these values. And, professors who have failed to do this because of a misguided concern about “objectivity” do not appreciate or understand the very foundations of democracy, education and critical thinking that make every aspect of learning meaningful, interesting and relevant. Teachers who are unable to help students to make the connections with their subjects in ways that improve the human condition and are consistent with democratic values have failed in a significant way to provide them with the values that will enable them to lead and help others. This is not a burden anymore than it is a luxury to include these values as the context for learning in economics and other areas of educational curriculum. It is an essential part of the learning process in order to connect the social and cognitive aspects of learning in a way that gives real meaning, relevancy and richness to curriculum.

       Even subjects in science that may not appear to be connected directly with democratic context can contribute in a very significant way to the ability of students to think critically and therefore become better team players, collaborative learners and contributors to their fields of study. In addition, teaching science in a way that encourages contributions to humanity will not only help develop projects that qualify for federal funding, it will help students to find new ways to use their knowledge to help others by curing diseases or alleviating suffering. And, with increasing numbers of collaborative leaders in their fields, greater contributions and benefits for humanity are possible. All of this can be achieved with teachers and professors who are able to build important contextual values into the curriculum of education.

 Copyright 2009, Global Leadership Resources: For teaching or classroom use only.

 Note: This article is based upon the ideas and concepts included in the published work, A Collaborative Model for Organizational Transformation and The Price of Freedom by Timothy Stagich, Ph.D.

                                                                              Discussion Questions

1. What are the values that must be built into curriculum to help students make relevant connections with democracy, career paths and benefits to humanity?
2. How do these values help students to be better leaders and contributors to society?
3. How do these values contribute to cultural context that is meaningful, relevant and rich in curriculum?
4. What are the benefits for teaching and learning through value-based context?
5. What are the dangers to society when values and important cultural context are left out of curriculum? Give some examples.
6. How can we change the present “culture of thinking” in society that implies greed is good? Why is it so important for education to change this way of thinking?
7. Why is the marriage of the social and cognitive aspects of learning essential for improving curriculum and developing future collaborative leaders?