In this post, we elucidate the top 5 important moral values for students along with a few practical ways to educate the latter on the matter.

Teaching good moral values to children at an early age can greatly shape their lives for the better. It can most definitely make it easier for them to differentiate between right and wrong and give them the ability to take well informed decisions. A strong foundation of morals and ethics also enables individuals to lead a dignified, honest and meaningful life.

What makes teaching good moral values to the upcoming generation of nation builders a crucial need of the hour is the truth that the world has been tiptoeing for quite some time now, and is in fact on the verge of falling into a never ending pit of madness. Collective growth and progress of the human species largely relies on the quality of virtues that we teach our young ones, so that they can one day create a much more peaceful, prosperous and all-encompassing world.

Of the many virtues and moral values which are existent, learning only a handful of them can significantly impact one’s personality, character, and outlook towards life. This is not to say that the virtues which haven’t been enlisted below do not serve any consequential purpose. Every good habit and thought process inculcated in the fabric of one’s mind is but a blessing. However, the ones that we have mentioned below should prove to be a good start towards creating an extraordinary breed of individuals with the ability to initiate a finer future for the rest of mankind.

Without further ado, let us begin describing the top 5 important moral values for students.

Gratitude

This is the first of the top five important moral values for students. Gratitude refers to the ideology of focusing on the positive aspects of our lives and being thankful for all our blessings and resources. There are a number of things that we take for granted on a daily basis, like healthy food, clean water, safe shelter, good clothes, etc. What most of us don’t realize is that there are thousands of people out there who lack these very basic resources, and have to fight for survival every second of every day. Gratitude refers to the practice of acknowledging the fact that we are indeed blessed.

Gratitude is important because it makes us humble. It keeps us satisfied in terms of our materialistic possessions, thereby allowing us to lead stress-free lives. At the same time, it also opens us to an ocean of wonderful opportunities pertaining to the stream of positive emotions that it generates within us. Grateful people tend to be happier individuals who end up spreading joy and kindness wherever they go. Gratitude also helps us build better relationships with those around. When we make it a point to express how thankful we are for all the nice things others do for us, it gives us an understanding, amicable, and courteous personality. This is turn fuels and nurtures meaningful relationships.

Gratitude, in terms of biology, encourages the release of, and aids in the maintenance of, optimal levels of the neurochemical serotonin. Serotonin helps maintain a positive mood, promotes emotional well-being, and aids in the stabilization of happy and cheerful sentiments. This, in turn, assists in the maintenance of a healthy mental state in any scenario. We’ve all heard stories of people who have seemingly limitless resources but no peace of mind or satisfaction. This is a symptom of lack of gratitude that can be treated with apparently simple but incredibly valuable habits and daily activities.

The good thing about gratitude is that it’s relatively easy to cultivate. All it takes is a little conscious effort everyday, and soon enough one finds himself/herself to be grateful for the most trivial of blessings. And the best part? It all comes naturally once we get used to the ideology of being grateful.

Tips for teaching gratitude to students

When trying to teach gratitude to children, make them understand the importance and benefits of cultivating the same. A good habit to develop would be to affirm “I am grateful for all the blessings, resources, and loved ones in my life” every time one finds himself or herself complaining about petty challenges and difficulties.

Parents can make it a mandatory exercise to say grace before consuming a meal. And not just for the sake of it. Your children should not perceive it as a tedious exercise to get over with as soon as possible. Take time to explain to them the positive effects of being grateful for the many blessings that we usually end up taking for granted. Now, there is a very high probability that you may face some form of rebellion against this newly introduced practice. A frown here or a few rolled eyes there are going to be natural. Try not to react in such scenarios. Be patient and continue to implement this exercise consistently.

Another excellent idea would be to hold gratitude sessions on a weekly basis wherein each member of the family will recite any 10 blessings that he or she is thankful for. This will not only help develop gratitude in your young ones, but will also strengthen your bond, love and affection towards each other. You can even gift and ask them to maintain personal gratitude journals for unprecedented results.

Students can also get into the habit of writing thank you cards and notes in case a verbal expression of the same cannot be made. Writing thank you emails, or dropping a simple text message can take them a long way in cultivating gratitude as a virtue. They can also make it a tradition to send out gratitude greeting cards to their loved ones periodically. This will push them to focus more on the positive traits of other people instead of negative ones.

Lastly, you’re going to have to lead by example. If your children see you complain about non-essential matters, they will inevitably pick up on that habit. Conversely, if they witness you practice active gratitude more often than not, they will automatically start imitating you sooner or later. The truth is, both parents as well as teachers play the role of consequential role models for children. Unfortunately, many a time, adults tend to underestimate the grasping power of growing youngsters and end up passing negative habits to them. This should be taken care of with due diligence and effort. And this is applicable to all the good values that are out there, including the ones we have enlisted here. If you really wish to make a positive impact on, and teach good moral values to your students or children, you will have to put in the effort to become a better role model first. Rest assured, the results you’ll achieve will be great and magnificent.

Compassion

This is the second of the top five important moral values for students. Compassion refers to an individual’s ability to feel, perceive and understand other people’s pain and suffering. But it does not end here. Compassion also makes the individual want to help the person in need. It is essentially a part of our natural being. It is our predisposition to provide aid to the misfortunate. The only reason many of us tend to disconnect from this beautiful trait is that we let our own selfishness get in the way of our kind persona.

As we continue to hold back and keep ourselves from expressing our compassion for others, we get accustomed to this way of life and our compassionate side becomes dormant with time. However, an exceedingly easy way to awaken the same would be to simply go out there and do something nice for someone. Anyone. Literally.

Similar to gratitude, feeling and subsequently demonstrating compassion towards those around us enables us to create deep, meaningful connections. Also, when we selflessly and freely do things that benefit others, it makes us feel good about ourselves, thereby improving our mental health and state of mind significantly. Especially in today’s world, where the pace of daily life seems to be approaching the speed of light – giving way to unnecessary competition, physical and mental exhaustion, selfish tactics and strategies – indulging in active compassion can greatly enhance our overall health and wellbeing.

Think about it. If each one of us became just a little more compassionate towards our neighbors, wouldn’t this world become a much better place to live in? Oh, how well the communities would thrive! The kind of impact that seemingly peripheral acts of kindness and compassion can have on our lives is truly remarkable.

Tips for teaching compassion to students

Start by explaining the importance of being kind and compassionate in everyday life to your children. An important point to note here would be that children often fail to understand how their actions could be hurtful to someone. For ex. a child might make fun of his classmate assuming that the other child is also enjoying the laughter. As a teacher of moral values, it becomes your responsibility to make them realize (in a polite manner) as to where they went wrong in misreading the situation. Teach them about the significance of being sensitive and respectful towards other people’s feelings and emotions.

Stories with underlying moral lessons can prove to be extremely useful for teaching compassion in case of very young children. For teenagers, you will have to resort to a more mature form of content for delivering the intended message. There are numerous movies and short films that beautifully illustrate values like compassion, kindness, empathy etc. You may very well schedule weekly movie nights with your children featuring the exemplified category of films.

Affirmations can also be used to develop this powerful virtue. Teach your children to use the following phrase should they find themselves struggling to understand a person’s pain and misery: “Thank you, dear God, for blessing me with loving kindness. Thank you for blessing me with empathy and compassion. Let me be of great help to whoever needs it most. Let my actions bring joy, hope, and light to those who suffer and live in despair. So be it!” Affirmations constitute an effective way to consciously remind yourself about your goal and keep yourself from wandering away.

Periodic acts of altruism should be made compulsory, and purposely ingrained into the minds of growing children. It shouldn’t matter if they don’t have a lot to give. If they own ten pieces of gold, teach them to donate at least one, if not more. Teach them to prioritize helping others by setting aside a portion of their income as soon as they secure it. They can easily begin with the monthly allowance they receive for their petty expenses.

Honesty

This is the third of the top five important moral values for students. Contrary to popular belief, honesty is not limited to the practice of speaking the truth. It also involves practicing truthful actions as well as refraining from indulging in wrongful activities. The general principle is, if you need to hide it, you probably shouldn’t do it. This isn’t an absolute postulation, but more like a rule of thumb. For ex. If you need to hide your smoking habit from your loved ones, you probably shouldn’t do it in the first place. Or if you need to hide your corrupt practices from the rest of the world, you probably shouldn’t get involved in them altogether. You get the idea, right?

Practicing honesty involves actively screening your thoughts, words, and actions for untruthful elements. No matter how small, unimportant, or trivial the thought may be, it must be screened with extreme prejudice, whatsoever. The next step would be to completely eliminate such elements and replace them with a alternate version – one that is true and without a trace of falsehood. Our intention at the initial stage should be to get rid of this completely self-sabotaging habit of lying to ourselves that we’ve developed our the years. In actuality, we are so used to lying that we don’t even recognize a major chunk of the lies which we tell either to others or to ourselves.

As a matter of fact, lying has many forms and facets. Saying things that aren’t real, or that you suspect aren’t true, or that you’re making up to conceal the truth, are all different ways of lying. What you say and how you act towards others are both important aspects of honesty. At the same time, whether you treat yourself in a similar fashion is also a component of the notion of honesty. Being honest with yourself entails knowing why you’re doing something in a specific manner and whether or not what you’re telling yourself is accurate. When you’re attempting to convince yourself that you didn’t actually do anything wrong, or that it wasn’t that horrible, even if you know it was, this aspect of the definition of honesty applies.

Our conscience acts as a moral compass for all of us. It immediately signals us when we are being dishonest both to others as well as to ourselves. And this perfectly illuminates the facts that honesty is essentially a part of our core living structure. It isn’t as difficult to cultivate as it may seem at first glance. The more you practice, the more you become good at it. It’s that simple.

A good motivation to put in the required conscious effort towards developing honesty as a virtue would be the concept of karma. The law of karma states, “what goes around, comes around”, and if you pay attention to the deeper meaning of this simple yet powerful sentence, you will understand why it is so imperative to teach honesty as one of the top five moral values for students. If we deliberately lie and cheat others for our personal gains, it will most definitely attract dire consequences. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Betrayal begets betrayal. Deceit begets deceit. And conversely, honesty begets honesty.

Tips for teaching honesty to students

The easiest way to teach children and students about honesty is, again, to exemplify it. Children learn best by watching and observing. A lot of the values that the younger generation picks up, both positive and negative, are absorbed by imitating the adults around them. So it becomes extremely critical that the older generation takes charge of practicing honesty first. You don’t have to lecture them about anything. You don’t have to test them or chastise them for lying. All you need to do is demonstrate what being honest looks like and how it makes you a better person.

Also, get them acquainted with the law of karma. If children and students were made aware of this one universal truth, the world would fall in place all by itself. If you wish to know more about developing good karma, check out our publication titled “5 Easy Ways To Generate Good Karma“.

You can set up a reward system in place for every time your children or students make an admirable attempt at being truthful and honest. Doing this will send a positive message to their subconscious mind and they will inevitably be compelled to act more and more in this manner so as to gain the associated benefits. Before you’ll even realize, you will have created a formidable breed of honest and truthful beings earmarked for greatness.

Contrary to this, you can also set up a punishment system for every time you catch your children or students in the act of lying. This will have the exact same effect as the positive reinforcement therapy described above, only in the opposite direction. Your young ones will understand the consequences of being dishonest, and will tend to steer clear of such activities. One downside of this could be that they start hiding their lies in a bid to protect their interests. Never forget – children are smarter than you think. When this happens, take time to gently guide them in the right direction. Tell them why it is a terrible idea to lie and then construct stories to hide that lie. Tell them how simple life becomes when one adheres to the policy of truthfulness. Do not shout, scream, or hurt their self-respect. Treat them in a delicate manner. Children are but fragile seeds that need to be fed the proper ingredients at the right time, in the right form, in order to help them reach their full growth potential.

Note: While educating about the 5 important moral values for students, it will be a good idea to prioritize compassion over brutal honesty. It is always better to tell a white lie if it saves someone from intense pain and suffering. The maturity to differentiate between choosing honesty over compassion and compassion over honesty will manifest with time and practice. Till then, just stay consistent with your teachings, and continue to throw in these crumbs of wisdom till they finally make it to the foundational mindset of your children.

Tolerance

This is the fourth of the top five important moral values for students. Its criticality stems from the fact that this planet is inhabited by several communities of people, each with a completely different set of beliefs, traditions, languages, dos and don’ts, etc. Pertaining to this, if we were to become intolerant towards each other, there would be nothing but chaos. Fortunately, to some extent, we have managed to find a way to live together. But it is not enough. If we are to thrive as a race, we will have to do much better.

There are countless stereotypes, assumptions, and negative beliefs that run deep within our societal network. This leads to unnecessary hatred, discrimination, racism, gender oriented crimes, and at times war. What we don’t understand is that it is our diversity that makes us great. And in no way has one community been created superior than others. We are all equally important, and equally worthless. We all shed the same blood, and meet the same end when we die.

Developing tolerance in the form of mutual respect and universal brotherhood becomes of utmost importance. Accepting people for who they are instead of rejecting them based on petty criteria like skin color, dialect, gender, sexuality, religion, traditions, etc. is the only way to ensure the survival of the human species. And this is where teaching tolerance to students comes in.

If we can successfully encode this virtue into the way growing children view those around, we will be able to change the world for good in one single shot. It’s not going to be easy because we will have to get rid of our own biases first. But with time, we should be able to achieve this, and more. Speaking about our own flawed paradigms, what makes us better than others anyway? What makes our culture and traditions superior to everyone else’s? There is no fair and logical answer to this. We are all driven by lifelong lessons and idiosyncrasies that we’ve picked up over the years, and this is what handicaps and limits our greatness to a significant degree.

A good place to start would be to challenge all your negative beliefs about others. If one of your male colleagues is interested in the same sex, is it a good enough reason for you to dislike him without even getting to know him? If a stranger from a different religion offers to help you with your groceries, is it a good enough reason to turn down his aid? If a person from a particular gender has hurt you in some way, is it fair to view the entire community in the same light? These are some very difficult but thought provoking questions that you will have to ask yourself before you move on to teaching the forth of the top five important moral values for students.

Tips for teaching tolerance to students

Teaching tolerance to students or children will require a multidimensional approach. You will have to work on several fronts in order to successfully make the students understand the complete idea of being tolerant towards others. The very first thing to do would be to consistently guide them in the right direction. Avoid doing this in an aggressive manner. However, you will have to be firm with them, and may have to resort to creative ways to get the message delivered.

For ex. If you find out that your child has been picking on another kid due to his or her weak financial status, you could reduce the amount of allowance you issue to your own child. This will make them realize the hardships that people with limited means go through in order to survive. You will have to face a lot of rebellion, both internal as well as from your child’s end. But stay firm and continue to guide your child in the right direction. Tell them why you’re doing what you’re doing. Make them understand their mistakes, and at the same time, give them the chance to redeem themselves.

Next, teach them the art of being non-judgmental towards others. Irrespective of how bad the situation may be, teach them to give the other person some benefit of doubt. The best way to teach any value to students or children is to talk to them about it. When you witness your children bad mouthing someone, confront them with questions like “what made them jump to that conclusion?”, or “is it possible that they overlooked a few facts before making an assumption?”, or “do they know the person well enough to judge him or her based on one incident?”, so on and so forth.

Refrain from putting negative ideas into your children’s mind. If they see you acting intolerant towards someone for reasons like caste, creed, gender, religion, etc., be certain that none of your other measures will work. Be very cautious as to how you behave in front of them. Children are master observers, and as their mentors, you should always strive to become the ideal role model for them. And it’s not just about actions. Words, expressions, speech, tone – they all count just as much.

Exposure plays a vital role in developing tolerance as a virtue. What it means is this – consider two situations in which we have two students, one who has studied in a co-ed institution since the very beginning, and the other who has never been exposed to such an experience before. Who do you think will find it easier to adjust around members of the opposite sex in the later years of his or her life? Who do you think will end up doing or saying something offensive or developing some unhelpful stereotype against the other gender over the years?

Do not be afraid to allow your children to interact with people belonging to different cultures and traditions. Let them participate in a sundry collection of religious festivals. There is so much that we can learn about other communities by involving ourselves in just a handful of events that hold some significant value for the latter. Enroll them in co-ed institutions which harbor a rich cultural diversity as well. The more your children will know about the fundamental functioning of other communities, the easier it will become for them to develop tolerance towards others.

Patience

This is the fifth of the top five important moral values for students. Learning patience as a virtue can significantly increase our odds at becoming winners in all our endeavors.

Cultivating patience keeps us from making reckless decisions in life. Many a time, it so happens that our destination lies only a few footsteps away from us but we end up giving up a bit too soon all because of our lack of patience. This underrated virtue is perhaps the most empowering one out there. It not only enables us to maintain our calm in challenging and anxiety instilling situations, but also allows us to take charge and seamlessly flow through all kinds of problems and obstacles.

Patience gives us the ability to nurture better relationships since we tend not to react impulsively in front of our near and dear ones. It allows us to make the right financial decisions, especially when everyone else seems to have entered the ‘panic’ mode. It gives us a long-term vision, and helps us lead a life of sustainable development.

Tips for teaching patience to students

Meditation is an excellent way for developing patience as a virtue. Meditating for a bare minimum of 10-15 minutes everyday can produce outstanding results. In addition, there are many different types of meditations that you can teach your students or children. Check out our publication titled “5 Easy Meditation Techniques For Beginners” to know more about the same.

Breathing exercises help us relax and center ourselves, thereby keeping our mental health in check. Nevertheless, good mental health significantly enhances our threshold for dealing with difficult circumstances.

Patience is more like a muscle. The more we exercise it, the stronger it becomes. Subjecting your children to stress inducing situations with the sole intention of helping them develop a cool-headed approach can benefit them greatly. Once again, you will have to ensure that you yourself don’t act impatiently in front of your children. Strive to model the right kind of behavior for them so that they can learn better by observing you.

Check out our publication titled “How To Cultivate Patience As A Virtue“. You can apply these techniques to improve your own patience level, as well as teach the same to your students or children for noteworthy results.

Conclusion

Moral values serve as an indispensable pillar of this world, one that needs to be provided with a strong foundation at an early age if we wish to stand tall in the years to come. Teaching virtues like gratitude, compassion, honesty, tolerance, and patience can greatly influence the lives of children and turn them into splendid individuals. The world would truly become a heavenly place to live in. The structure of our society would improve beyond imagination. Crime rate would fall drastically. And the human race would thrive collectively.

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Resources

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