The idea behind positive psychology is contained in the adjective “positive.” It’s not about trying to be positive or optimistic. Positive psychology is an intentional departure from a focus almost solely on diagnosing and treating psychological pathologies. This shift saw research begin to investigate concepts like wellbeing, excellence and human flourishing. Instead of viewing every human as containing a set of psychological pathologies, there emerged a view that a human could be coached and counseled towards a better version of themselves.

In this article, we will consider the history and key figures of positive psychology and relate this work to some practical practices we can use in our classrooms. In many ways, positive psychology promotes many of the ideals of classical education and some of the tenets of a biblical worldview. Yet, there may be ways in which we should critically examine this work to capture what is most valuable, while clearly defining points of tension with a Christian perspective.

History of Positive Psychology

We can actually trace the main concepts of positive psychology back to the work of ancient philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle. These philosophers sought to articulate what it means to live a good life, which is aimed at achieving happiness or eudaimonia (εὐδαιμονία). In the Phaedrus, Plato shares the story of a charioteer driving two winged horses each having an opposite character. The charioteer must train the noble horse so that the horse full of vices cannot lead the chariot astray. Similarly, Aristotle in his Nichomachean Ethics lays out the pathway to eudaimonia via the acquisition of virtues which are acquired through the practice of habits. These virtues or excellences (aretai) leading to a life marked by happiness or joy is what modern positive psychology seeks to promote.

Maslow’s Hierarchy

Abraham Maslow, famous for the hierarchy of needs, set a course towards health in his groundbreaking work Toward a Psychology of Being (1968). In this he notes that psychology had up to that point been inclined to treat “sickness.” In the Freudian framework, the individual and the therapist ask the question, “How do I get unsick?” But what if the interior person can be aimed towards higher values and principles? Can a person be pointed towards a new question, “How do I get healthy?” Maslow famously quipped, “It is as if Freud supplied us the sick half of psychology and we must now fill it out with the healthy half” (Toward a Psychology of Being 5). Aiming towards health is a worthy aim and a good corrective to the dominant model of psychology of his time.

What Maslow developed was a theory that aimed to explain human motivations towards peak experiences. Why do some people aim for excellence and actually achieve satisfying results? Most people languish in a state of unfulfilled potential despite having a sense of motivation towards certain goals in life. He developed a hierarchy of needs, depicted with a pyramid in most expositions of his model. The five levels begin at the base with physiological needs like food and shelter. Above this are safety needs such as job security. He identifies love and belonging as the next level, which includes family and friendship. Esteem is the penultimate level including concepts such as respect, status and recognition. Finally the tip of the pyramid is self-actualization where an individual achieves meaningful goals. Maslow did not consider that one progress linearly through this hierarchy, nor that the categories were rigid. Multiple levels of needs can be satisfied, for instance, by landing a job that fulfills physiological and safety needs while also being an achievement of one’s potential.

Christians have not been entirely comfortable with Maslow’s work. The hierarchy of needs, where one must address basic need before arriving at a place of self-actualization seems to miss the mark when it comes to understanding our nature as fallen beings in need of salvation accomplished by another individual—Christ Jesus. McCleskey and Ruddell critically evaluate Maslow’s theory of motivation from a biblical worldview. In their assessment, they find his theory actually offers little of actual help. “So, there is no real hope in Maslow’s approach beyond a vague belief in a secular, utopian, theoretical possibility” (“Taking a Step Back—Maslow’s Theory of Motivation: A Christian Critical Perspective,” JBIB 23 [2020] 14). A fundamental flaw seems to be the individualistic paradigm. Even though connection to others is included in the hierarchy, family and friendship seem to be expressed as a need that support personal achievement. A biblical vision of life fulfilment seems to reverse this, as a deepening walk with Christ brings one closer to God and others.

In fairness to Maslow, he was not aiming to develop a theory that adhered to Christian theology, and in some respects, we can perceive that some basic elements of his theory can be connected to Christian practices. The Bible showcases a variety of personal spiritual disciplines—such as prayer, meditation, fasting, and giving—that foster spiritual growth and a deeper connection to Christ. There seems to be a simplified hierarchy of the disciplined life at the base and greater freedom at the pinnacle. Interestingly, the Christian disciplines seem to promote abstinence from elements of Maslow’s hierarchy—fasting, solitude, humility—on the journey to spiritual fulfilment.

Seligman and Peterson on Core Virtues

A different take on human flourishing was articulated by Martin Seligman and Christopher Peterson in the book Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification (2004). Here they apply historical and cultural analysis to identify six core virtues that seem to have a high amount of similarity across different cultures. These core virtues—courage, justice, humanity, temperance, transcendence, wisdom—aggregate other similar virtues, such that we might consider these master virtues that entail other excellence qualities. Whether we fully agree with the listing or definitions of these core virtues, it is interesting to see a shift towards values that would be appreciated within both classical and Christian spheres.

The six core virtues are spelled out in detail by Seligman and Peterson. Courage is “the capacity to overcome fear” (Character Strengths 36) that is manifested not only in the physical sphere, but also in the moral and psychological spheres. They note that courage is not only seen in single acts of courage but also in persistent or chronic spans of courageousness. Additionally, courage is readily seen in heroic examples of the soldierly type, however it is most often an internal state pertaining to things like motivations and decisions.

Justice connotes fairness that is often associated with equity and equality. This virtue can manifest itself differently in collectivist versus individualistic cultures. Concepts of justice can skew towards merit-based reward systems and need-based systems. What seems to transcend this cultural divide is that justice is prevalent in traits like “fairness, leadership, citizenship, and teamwork” (37).

Seligman and Peterson classify the third virtue as “humanity,” defining this as “the virtues involved in relating to another.” Concepts such as generosity and altruism are central to this virtue. They write, “We are quite capable of and often willing to engage in acts of generosity, kindness, or benevolence that are consensually recognized and valued and that elevate those who witness them” (37-38).

Temperance is “the virtue of control over excess.” Seligman and Peterson include in this virtue concepts pertaining to abstinence from various appetites such as eating, drinking and sex, general self-restraint, and the ability to regulate one’s emotions. “Thus,” they write, “temperance is a form of self-denial that is ultimately generous to the self or others—prudence and humility are prime examples” (38). I think their inclusion of the word “generous” provides a positive hue to what might otherwise be construed as potentially harmful to self.

Transcendence can be difficult to define. Seligman and Peterson borrow from Kant and call this “the connection to something higher—the belief that there is meaning or purpose larger than ourselves” (38). People can feel this when they look up at the expanse of stars in the night sky or stand on the beach by the ocean, feeling a sense of the immensity of the universe and our own smallness within it. There is a sense of awe, however, in this perception of one’s insignificance that has an uplifting effect.

Wisdom is a virtue that has classical and Christian traditions associated with it. Seligman and Peterson call wisdom “a form of noble intelligence” that can be described as “knowledge hard fought for, and then used for good” (39). The enumerate strengths included within this virtue such as creativity, curiosity, judgment and perspective.

The turn to virtues as a marker of human flourishing has been found to be more consistent with a biblical worldview than what we found with the hierarchy of needs. We see similar kinds of character traits listed in the virtue lists of Paul’s letters (e.g., Col. 3:12-13). There is a practical wisdom that connects the biblical tradition with the same kind of classical virtue ethic of the ancient philosophical tradition we investigated earlier.

Csikszentmihalyi on Flow

A final figure who has contributed significantly to our understanding of positive psychology is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced “me-high chick-sent-me-high”). Famous for the term “flow,” he has studied the internal experience of high performance. Instead of looking at the character traits we are aiming for (virtues) or the pyramid of requisite conditions to achieve high performance (hierarchy of needs), by looking at the feeling of optimal performance, he has attempted to articulate a common human experience. We often think of high performance as the domain of peak experiences, such as winning a tournament or being awarded a Nobel prize. However, getting “into the zone” is something children experience when they are absorbed in play. This differentiates achievement from the cognitive state of high performance.

It’s one thing to describe a common shared experience, and another to figure out how one can enter into this state. Flow is a state of complete immersion in an activity such that one experiences a state of effortless concentration and timelessness. Some of the factors the lead to a state of flow come from 1) the optimization of requisite skill and perceived challenge, a state described by Vygotsky as the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), and 2) the amount of personal motivation to engage in a task. In other words, this is a goal-oriented activity that matches skill to challenge. As Csikszentmihalyi describes it:

“The pursuit of a goal brings order in awareness because a person must concentrate attention on the task at hand and momentarily forgoes everything else. These periods of struggling to overcome challenges are what people find to be the most enjoyable times of their lives” (Flow 6).

Notice how the word “struggle” implies that at times there might be feelings of strain or even pain in the experience. Csikszentmihalyi describes how a swimmer might feel aching muscles whilst fully absorbed in training. An author might feel a sense of mental strain while fully absorbed in typing out the next moment in the emerging plot of a novel.

Csikszentmihalyi himself sees connections between the classical tradition and what he calls “the flow of thought.” Jason Barney, in his book The Joy of Learning, expands on this with a view to how to incorporate the concepts of flow in the classical classroom. In many respects, the work being done on deliberate practice stems from the idea of flow. The sense of effortless absorption in a task actually comes through applied effort in skills development.

Practices for Classical Educators

Having looked at the history of positive psychology, especially through an examination of three prominent figures, we can make some generalizations that will be helpful for classical educators. To begin with, the idea that psychology has something to contribute to our understanding of healthy internal processes provides us with some grounding to move away from solely viewing the person as a set of potential psychological disfunctions. Many students and parents self-diagnose things like ADHD, anxiety and depression. Understandably, many people react to negative feelings by trying to understand what is going on at a mechanistic level internally. Regrettably, individuals who lock in on such concepts can rely on misconceptions of these disorders, blaming them for deficiencies in knowledge and skills, and then limit their full engagement in productive practices that would cultivate positive feelings about their work and their selves. This does not mean that we would caution individuals from seeking help from qualified professionals. But interestingly, these professionals would actually prescribe some of the very practices associated with positive psychology—techniques to enhance singular focus, quite meditation, and deliberate practice.

Practically, there are several ways we can bring concepts of positive psychology into our classrooms in highly productive ways. First, cultivate virtues through well-planned habit training. For instance, when we think about temperance, it is rather difficult simply to tell students to be more self-controlled. So we need to put in the work of articulating what this looks like in daily life. We might choose some daily practices like sitting in “ready position” or organizing their locker. We support their efforts by succinctly describing the habit (two feet on the floor, back straight, energetic face) and reinforcing this consistently over the span of several days and weeks. It’s wonderful to see how a positive feeling about their work emerges as they are coached in what it looks like to work effectively in a classroom. Self control leads to self satisfaction.

Second, the disciplined life leads to higher orders of freedom and privilege. I think this may be what Maslow was attempting to describe, even though I think his hierarchy of needs is flawed in many ways. There’s something biblical about a shift in our thinking. The person who disciplines themselves to read scripture and pray daily gains the privilege of a closer walk with God and experiences freedom in Christ more consistently. The same can be said for more mundane aspects of life. The person who learns to effectively budget their income gains freedom to spend their money according to the plan they’ve set out. The athlete who has disciplined their body through regular training can run faster and farther through less effort. So, when we are training our students to “show their steps,” this disciplined approach in mathematics leads to great freedom in understanding mathematical processes and the privilege of working on higher orders of mathematical concepts.

Third, being more rigid on skills development up front leads to the experience of flow later. There are indeed better ways of doing things, and teaching these ways early assist students to fly higher long term. For instance, teaching students how to create flash cards on paper and being insistent on regular daily review is a skill that helps students learn things like vocabulary, math formulas and historical information in a thorough way. I used to think this was a nice add on for students to use if they had time and inclination. But over the years, I’ve seen the pattern that students who really thrive have put this tool into practice regularly. So this, for me, is no longer a nice add on but a first-order practice. You can think of other practices like showing steps in math, formatting a page in MLA format and sentence diagramming that cause early sweat but aim towards mastery, which entails greater ease and joy later.

It is interesting how positive psychology has championed the cause of encountering challenge and doing hard things. An impression some might have of positive psychology is that people need to boost their internal attitudes artificially by maybe telling themselves they’re great. Instead, much of the literature points toward how valuable challenge, grit and discipline are in cultivating a life of ease and happiness. Hopefully this brief overview of positive psychology gives you a few insights and practical tools that helps you to explore this field more.

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Introduction to Ourselves

Within the six-volume series on education written by Charlotte Mason, her book entitled Ourselves is unique unto itself. It is written directly to the student unlike the other books which are written to educators. The intention is to teach students about themselves so that they have a deep understanding of their own inner working. She likens the person to a kingdom—the “Kingdom of Mansoul.” Even this analogy teaches the young person that they are to master themselves. Mason aims to equip young people with knowledge of themselves in order to make good choices in life and to be of good service to God and the world.

The book is highly structured, falling into two major parts: self-knowledge and self-direction. Within the first part, there are four main headings—body, mind, heart and vocation—each addressing aspects of personhood in keeping with the kingdom analogy by casting these aspects as offices within a ruling counsel or cabinet. Then in the second part, there are three main headings—conscience, the will and the soul. Throughout the volume there are references to the Bible, literature and poetry, which ornament this imaginative approach to Mason’s work. I have found it to be an enjoyable read and has the feel of a spiritual classic such as Pilgrim’s Progress or The Interior Castle.

Our selected chapter comes towards the end of the book, as part of self-direction within the soul. Mason defines the soul as a temple dedicated to “the service of the living God.” (174). Living out our Christian faith takes practice, so one can hear in this section advice for the young person to heed in terms of the dangers that would beset us and the ways we ought to practice gratitude.

Thanksgiving: The Nine

Mason begins with the story in Luke 17:11-19 of the ten lepers who were cleansed. Only one of the ten, a Samaritan, returns to give thanks to Jesus. The one who gave thanks was honored, but Jesus questioned, “Where are the others?” In our fallen condition, are we not like the nine when we neglect to give thanks.

The Nine: “Whoso offereth Me thanks and praise, he honoureth Me,” saith our God; and we are abashed when we realise that it rests with us to add honour to the Highest, and that we refrain our lips.

“Were there not ten cleansed, but where are the nine?” Alas, how often are we among the nine, the poor, pitiful souls who received everything and gave nothing, not even a word of thanks! It is worth noting that “the unthankful and the evil” go together in that list of lost souls which we find in the last book of the Bible. Even if we have our moments of thankfulness, when we cry,

“When all Thy mercies, O my God,
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view I’m lost,
In wonder, love and praise”

our fault, and our very great misfortune, is, that we fail to take at regular intervals that survey of our life which must indeed cause us transports of gratitude. We fail to give thanks, partly because we are inert, partly because we are preoccupied with some fret or desire of the moment, and partly because of the petulant turning away of the shoulder from God which is our danger. But let us take time for the survey, if only on the Sundays, or, less frequently still, at the great seasons of the year. (191-192)

As we train our children and students, we can highlight the preoccupation that distracts us from reflection and offering our thanks to God. Moreover, there should be times set aside, even if it is only once a week, to spend in reflection and to articulate thanks to God.

Thanksgiving: My Rising Soul Surveys

Next, Mason helps to shape our gratitude towards God around the common things of life. Notice how she is cultivating the affections very much in the tradition of Augustine. The simple things that cause us delight are the springboard towards the upward thoughts that rise to the Father.

‘My Rising Soul Surveys:’ How good is life, how joyous it is to go out of doors, even in the streets of a city! Surely a pleasant thing it is to see the sun! How good is health, even the small share of it allotted to the invalid! How good and congenial all the pleasant ways of home life, all family love and neighbourly kindness, and the love of friends! How good it is to belong to a great country and share in all her interests and concerns! How good to belong to the world of men, aware that whatever concerns men, concerns us! How good are books and pictures and music! How delightful is knowledge! How good is the food we eat! How pleasant are the clothes we wear! How sweet is sleep, and how joyful is awaking!

The Soul that surveys these and a thousand other good things of our common life is indeed a ‘rising soul,’ rising to the Father,––who knoweth that we have need of all these things,––with the gratitude and thanksgiving that are forced out of a heart overflowing with love. Even an occasional act of thanksgiving of this kind sweetens the rest of life for us; unconsidered thanks rise from us day by day and hour by hour. We say grace for a kind look, or a beautiful poem, or a delightful book, quite as truly as for a good dinner––more so, indeed; for it is true of us also that man doth not live by bread alone. (192)

The goal of habit training is to instill the best practices of life so that they easily flow as a matter of course. Consider how the habit of reflection on the simple events and happenings of the day followed by an expression of thanks to God can support the spiritual life of the child throughout the rest of his life.

Thanksgiving: We Honor God by Thanking Him

Mason rounds out her thinking about the habit of thanksgiving by contrasting the thanks we offer in exceptional circumstances with the daily thanks we offer for simple things. It reminds me of what the ancient philosophers taught about virtues such as courage or prudence. We ought not to wait for exceptional circumstances to show courage, for in those moments, we might not have the strength to withstand such circumstances. Better to practice the virtues daily in simple circumstances so that we are well acclimated to the virtue at the hour of need. The same holds true for offering thanksgiving to God.

We honour God by thanking Him: But we think so little of ourselves that it does not seem to us to matter much whether or no we thank God for all His surprising sweet benefits and mercies towards us.

Indeed, we should not have known that it does matter, if, with the condescending grace that few earthly parents show, He had not told us that He is honoured by our thanks! How impossible it seems that we should add anything to God, much less that we should add to His honour! Here is our great opportunity: let us give thanks.

Perhaps most of us fall on our knees and give thanks for special mercies that we have begged of our Father’s providing care––the restored health of one beloved, the removal of some cause of anxiety, the opening up of some opportunity that we have longed for. For such graces as these we give ungrudging thanks, and we do well; but the continual habit of thanksgiving is more;––

“Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if Thy blessings had spare days,
But such a heart whose pulse may be,
Thy praise.”

HERBERT. (192-193)

Three Practical Applications

As we think about these concepts from Charlotte Mason, I think there are many practical applications for us as teachers in our classrooms. Here are three that seem most immediately applicable.

First, schedule time in your classroom each day to have students reflect on the simple thinks and offer thanks to God for those things. This can be a great practice at the end of the morning or the end of the day. As students trace back over the day, have them notice people, events, activities or objects that catch their attention. Once they have something in mind, then coach them on appropriate ways to express thanks to God. A moment of prayer at the end of the day can occur in small groups or as a big group.

Second, gratitude journals can be a helpful tool in cultivating the habit of thankfulness. Designate a line in a homework steno or a section in a copybook for writing short expressions of thanksgiving. Start each day by reminding students to be on the lookout for opportunities to express gratitude for simple things in their gratitude journals. These journals can feed into an end-of-day gratitude session, by having students review their journals to populate their minds with occurrences from the day.

Third, lead by example from the front of the classroom. Find things to be grateful for and express your thanksgiving regularly. You can set the tone for this habit by demonstrating what it looks like to be a person who gives an “occasional act of thanksgiving” to sweeting your own life as well as the atmosphere of your classroom. Furthermore, by acknowledging and honoring God in this way, it serves as a regular reminder of His presence in our midst.

Watch an in-depth training session on how to apply Charlotte Mason’s method of habit training in your classroom. Dr. Egan briefly reviews the basics, and then takes you to new levels of understanding that has practical benefits for students of all ages.

Learn practical strategies to cultivate attention, piety, penmanship, and other specific habits. Whether you are a classroom teacher, administrator or homeschool parent, you will find helpful tools to take your craft of teaching to the next level.

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Of course, not all resolutions are created equal. There’s a resolution to get in shape by working out more, and then there are The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards, full of profound thought and purposeful Christian spirituality. Are written goals and resolutions classical? Should personal goal setting be a deliberate feature in our educational programs? I believe the answer to both questions is yes. There is a rich classical tradition of personal goal setting, especially as it relates to virtue and habit development. Helping our students cast a positive vision for their own personal growth and detail the steps they can take toward their own development is a powerful and undervalued lever in the classical, Christian educator’s hands.

Classical Goal Setting

To demonstrate that resolutions and goal setting are classical, we need look no further than the Stoic philosophers. Their handbooks and meditations are full of the stuff of resolutions. Classical goal setting might be said to differ from many modern New Year’s resolutions in its overarching focus on character as the outcome rather than money, beauty or career. Living a good life, developing areté or virtue, and serving God and neighbor better should be the aim of a classical and Christian set of resolutions. This is in contrast to goals centered merely on increased discipline to promote personal fulfillment. 

At the same time, even goals with a narrow focus tend to work, or at least substantially increase the likelihood that a person will hit their goal. The reason why is articulated well by Aristotle. It is as simple and profound as saying that those who have a clear target are much more likely to hit it:

If, then, there is some end of the things we do, which we desire for its own sake (everything else being desired for the sake of this), and if we do not choose everything for the sake of something else (for at that rate the process would go on to infinity, so that our desire would be empty and vain), clearly this must be the good and the chief good. Will not the knowledge of it, then, have a great influence on life? Shall we not, like archers who have a mark to aim at, be more likely to hit upon what is right? If so, we must try in outline at least, to determine what it is, and of which of the sciences or capacities it is the object.

Aristotle, Ethics and Poetics (Veritas Press: 2019), 10 

Aristotle believes the chief good is eudaimonia, happiness or, we might say, personal fulfillment. We have already had occasion to modify Aristotle’s endorsement of happiness to suit the transcendent frame of a Christian worldview in the opening foray into a series on Aristotle’s intellectual virtues (see “Aristotle’s Virtue Theory and a Christian Purpose of Education”). We can merely note for our purposes here that Aristotle’s metaphor of archers having a goal or target is incredibly helpful. 

In life we all make choices. In fact, we all deliberate about what is good for ourselves. Having in mind the ultimate goal that we are aiming at will necessarily clarify the mechanics involved in taking a successful shot. Of course, here Aristotle is showing how our life is not an infinite regression of goods that are merely useful for some other good. Classical goal setting does not settle for the immediate desired end but pushes its participants to ask why. Why do you want to go to the gym? Why do you want to be more physically fit? Why do you want to have more energy and vibrancy as well as look better? For Aristotle, these questions lead up and out to his big picture vision of eudaimonia and the good life. 

This questioning and clarification process helps sort our immediate wants from bigger goals and our future vision. It also makes classical goal setting more effective, because in the process we are also sorting out our various priorities and connecting our short term goals and objectives to our ultimate telos and vision of human flourishing. The clarity achieved will then increase motivation to stick to a new habit or practice in spite of obstacles. If our goals are connected to a lesser vision, which, say, identifies human pleasure as the end-all-be-all, the misguided vision of happiness that Aristotle says most human beings operate with, then we will be easily led astray from our goal of regular exercise when the pain increases and the Siren song of some other pleasure is calling our name (read Educating for Self-Control, Part 1: A Lost Christian Virtue).

Modern Research on Goal Setting

Similarly modern research has shown that there are better and worse ways to set goals. Brian Johnson explains the importance of imagining both a positive future vision and the presence of obstacles to making that vision a reality. He draws from the research of Rick Snyder in his book The Psychology of Hope to detail the need for not only goals, but a sense of agency and multiple pathways (i.e. plans B, C, D, etc.) to get there (Areté: Activate Your Heroic Potential, Heroic Blackstone: 2023; 88-89). Genuine hope distinguishes itself from mere wish by involving both a sense that I can personally contribute in some way toward a better future and the realism that struggle, failure and the need to try-try-again will be part of that process.

Johnson also draws from the work of Gabriele Oettingen to much the same effect (90-91). In her book Rethinking Positive Thinking Oettingen uses the acronym WOOP to delineate the most effective set of steps to turn resolutions into reality: Wish, Outcome, Obstacles, Plan. Each step should be written down and articulated. A wish for the future must be connected to the overall purpose or vision of the good life (think Aristotle’s eudaimonia). Obstacles must be anticipated with some plans or “implementation intentions” for how to deal with them. This process helps us stick to the vision when the rubber of good intentions meets the road of reality. 

Jordan Peterson, the now famous Canadian Psychologist and author of 12 Rules for Life, has independently worked out something similar in the form of his Future Authoring program:

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto, decided to ask his students to sit down and write about their ideal future. They were asked to specifically describe the type of person they wanted to be, the skills they wanted to attain, and the relationships they wanted to have, among other things. (see Self Authoring – Future Authoring)

Notice that writing out the “ideal future” constitutes the major element in this process. From public lectures we know that Peterson’s Future Authoring program also involves imagining a negative picture as well of what the hellish version of the self would be if it went down a dark path instead. 

(Read Patrick’s series on Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life: Rules for Schools?, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.)

In addition, like the work of Snyder and Oettingen, Peterson’s process also involves getting down into the nitty gritty of daily habits and potential obstacles. It also has the support of research studies to demonstrate its effectiveness (see Self Authoring – Research). For instance, a single intensive goal setting session significantly improved the GPA of undergraduate students who were struggling academically within a semester (see Hirsh and Peterson, “Setting, Elaborating, and Reflecting on Personal Goals Improves Academic Performance,” 260). The research is clear, despite the low success rate of New Year’s resolutions. Goal setting in a detailed way with written goals and articulated obstacles has been shown to be incredibly effective. 

Applying Goal Setting to Education

The study cited above makes the application of goal setting to education obvious in one sense. It can be used powerfully as an intervention for students who are struggling academically. This should not be overlooked in our K-12 classical Christian schools and homeschools. Too often we resort to lecturing a student about what they should do or not do in order to improve their academic performance. Part of why this does not work is because it doesn’t appropriately harness a student’s autonomy or will, in Charlotte Mason’s terms. 

Sometimes we are tempted to think of habit training as something we do to a student, rather than something we do with a student. But Charlotte Mason is clear that a student must own his or her own character development, otherwise it is a mere veneer: 

We who teach should make it clear to ourselves that our aim in education is less conduct than character; conduct may be arrived at, as we have seen, by indirect routes, but it is of value to the world only as it has its source in character…. What we do with the will we describe as voluntary. What we do without the conscious action of will is involuntary. The will has only one mode of action, its function is to ‘choose,’ and with every choice we make we grow in force of character. (vol. 6, p. 129)

A goal setting process allows an individual student to make their own assessment of their future vision, their obstacles, and the pathways forward. The student then choses to follow the positive goals that they set for themselves. The voluntary and personal nature of this process make it ideal for developing character. 

Now we must add in to this process the classical goal setting features we discussed before. We should direct them in their resolutions not just toward improving academic performance or an exercising habit but their ultimate purpose from a Christian perspective and how their immediate goals relate not only to their personal fulfillment but also to the glory of God and their salvation in Christ. Christian classical goal setting should not only WOOP (Wish-Outcome-Obstacles-Plan), it should do it Jonathan Edwards style. 

What does this look like in our education settings? The first and most obvious note is that a classical goal setting exercise should most likely not be an assignment with a grade. The tang of artificiality and forced reflection might undercut the autonomy and will of the student. It is important to have times and seasons set apart perhaps at the start of the year and the beginning of a new quarter or semester, or even a unit in a course, where students are given the opportunity to reflect in writing on their own learning and progress, as well as their ultimate goals and personal growth. I have conducted a writing session similar to the future authoring prompts for students during an Upper School student orientation time. Students were told that what they wrote would not be collected or graded and were encouraged to reflect seriously and purposefully on their own future vision of themselves and their goals for the year. 

In some classes and courses, specific virtues and vices can be used as prompts or options to articulate their own assessment of themselves. The classical and Christian content of history, literature and biblical texts can be helpfully applied in a meditation journal, where students regularly react personally to questions that ask them to apply the examples and thoughts of these subjects to themselves. Most of all, we can conclude that the development of character and specifically the intellectual virtue of prudence or practical wisdom hinge on these sorts of practices. Prudence involves a person deliberating about the real decisions they are making on a daily basis in light of a future vision of flourishing. Goal setting and resolutions are necessary part of that process. In order to turn out men and women of prudence we should carve out periodic class time for intentional reflection regarding personal development.

A series entitled “Counsels of the Wise” explores and applies the intellectual virtue of prudence or practical wisdom (Greek: phronesis):

1. Counsels of the Wise, Part 1: Foundations of Christian Prudence
2. Counsels of the Wise, Part 2: Why Reviving Moral Philosophy Is Not Enough
3. Counsels of the Wise, Part 3: The Practical Nature of Prudence
4. Counsels of the Wise, Part 4: Preliminary Instruction in Prudence
5. Counsels of the Wise, Part 5: Principles and Practice, Examples and Discipline
6. Counsels of the Wise, Part 6: A Pedagogy of Prudence
7. Counsels of the Wise, Part 7: Leadership, Liberal Arts, and Prudence
8. Counsels of the Wise, Part 8: Aiming at the Intermediate or Aristotle’s Moral Virtues

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It is likely that Jefferson borrowed the three rights from John Locke. Almost a century prior to the American declaration, the English philosopher had written in Two Treatises on Government that government existed to protect a person’s “life, liberty and estate.” By estate, Locke surely meant property or “the possession of outward things,” as expressed in A Letter Concerning Toleration. We can find, however, in Jefferson’s revision of Locke’s three rights, a synthesis of Lockean philosophy, particularly drawing upon Locke’s phrase the “pursuit of true and solid happiness” in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Jefferson’s synthesis of Lockean philosophy marked a turn away from previous expressions of rights in the Americas, particularly in the “Virginia Declaration of Rights” adopted in his home state a month prior to the ratification of the U.S. Declaration.

What all this means in terms of political philosophy is for greater minds than mine to figure out. The idea of happiness and the pursuit of it ought to capture our attention. What is “true and solid happiness?” To answer this, we need to address the matter of what we mean by “the good life.” I like how Jonathan Pennington puts it in Jesus the Great Philosopher:

“The Good Life is not referring to the lives of the rich and famous as revealed in the tabloid or expose show. The Good Life refers to the habits of practiced wisdom that produce in the human soul deep and lasting flourishing.”

Jonathan Pennington, Jesus the Great Philosopher, 29.

The good life requires an amount of practice in the habits of virtue. Only when well-practiced in the way of wisdom can a person experience “true and solid happiness.”

What is Happiness?

So what exactly is happiness? This is a question that goes all the way back to the ancient philosophers. Plato, for instance, understands happiness as the highest aim or goal of life. There is a moral aspect to this happiness encompassed in the word eudaimonia (εὐδαιμονία). It could be the stronger feeling of unhappiness occurs when one falls short of this goal or target. Sin or hamartia (ἁμαρτία) in this understanding is a falling short of the highest aims of life or missing the mark, to draw upon the imagery of archery. This is the essence of tragedy, according to ancient writers. The individual who is not heroic enough to live up to the highest aim of life and yet is not truly a villain, falls short of the eudaimonic standard. Misfortune befalls that person though the simple circumstances of life, and that individual falls prey to their own frailty, thereby experiencing unhappiness not because they are the worst of villains, but rather because of not living up to the high ideal of the good life.

Plato spells out different forms of happiness in the allegory “The Charioteer” that is instructive. In the Phaedrus, he shares the story of a charioteer driving two winged horses each having an opposite character. The first is wild with passion and impulsivity. It is easily distracted by fleeting desires and would easily be led off course. This horse is most interested in instant pleasures. These characteristics make it such that the charioteer must ever be watchful over this horse and can never have a moment of ease, because he cannot trust the horse to guide itself toward the proper path ahead.

The second horse is a noble creature. It loves what is honorable, modest and temperate. Guided by a simple direction, this horse pursues a pathway to that end despite the many distractions that might meet it on the highway. The charioteer has instilled many good habits, training the noble horse such that the charioteer has implicit trust in the animal, safe in the knowledge that nothing could cause this horse to stray from the proper path ahead.

I think this allegory speaks to something within all of us. We are simultaneously the wild and the well-trained horse, contain both base passions and noble bearing. And yet, we can differ from one another in how much we entrust to which horse to guide us in life. It is this very idea that has caused confusion as to the meaning of Jefferson’s phrasing, “the pursuit of happiness.” In the guise of the first horse, this is the pursuit of fleeting desires, it is the distracted life of instant pleasures. These are simply not the hallmarks of the highest aim of life. Rarely would we say that a life spent in fleeting desires and instant pleasures is a life well lived. After many years inundated by advertisements that equate these desires and pleasures with the good life, we are often tempted to consider these as the status symbols of nobility. But I think this is hardly the Jeffersonian vision. It is certainly not envisioned in the ancient philosophical tradition. And hardly the biblical vision of the good life.

Our definition of happiness seems more associated with the second horse. The horse of noble bearing charts a course towards the true end of the journey, recognizing fleeting desires and instant pleasures as distractions from the deeply satisfying bliss of accomplishing life’s highest aim. Now it might be argued that we cannot arrive at that highest aim, so wouldn’t it just be good enough to simply enjoy the fleeting desires and instant pleasures life affords. But what one notices about the second horse is that the deeply satisfying bliss comes not in the conclusion of the journey, but on the entirety of the pathway towards that end. Whether we arrive at our highest aim or not, it is the pursuit of that deeply satisfying bliss that is itself deeply satisfying. This, then, must be our definition of happiness.

The Dopamine Problem

I alluded a moment ago to the fact that both horses reside within. It would be too simple to equate our dopaminergic system with the wild horse, even though dopamine generally gets a bad rap. Our motivational system utilizes an array of neurotransmitters to reward us, giving us that feeling of pleasure in response to stimuli our body wants more of. It would be all too easy to equate happiness with hormones in our brains. And yet, this whole system is entirely relevant.

Suffice it to say that the dopaminergic system is rather blind to the type of stimulus it receives. One can experience a dopamine release from reading a good book or taking a bite of cotton candy. You and I know there’s a significant difference in time invested as well as the relative the health benefits of these two activities. But our neurology cares not. There is a release of dopamine for either activity. To put it another way, both horses get fed even though one is a wild horse liable to go astray in pursuit of fleeting pleasures while the other is a noble and faithful creature.

A recent study was able to find, though, a dopaminergic answer to the question of instant versus delayed gratification. Yes, we get a dopamine hit regardless. However, a 2021 study investigated the dopaminergic (DAergic) release differential during delayed gratification in comparison to instant gratification. They write:

“We found remarkable and sustained DAergic activation when mice managed to wait longer and further demonstrated a causal link between DAergic activation and the increase in transient waiting probability. Furthermore, we found DAergic activity ramps up in a consistent manner during waiting, mimicking the value of waiting along with a series of states in our Continuous Deliberation RL model, both of which presumably contributed to pursuing a more valuable future goal and resisting the distraction of the less-optimal immediate options in our task.”

Gao, Zilong et al. “The neural basis of delayed gratification.” Science Advances vol. 7,49 (2021).

In exchange for an allegory of horses, we now have the mythology of mice in rather modern garb. Let’s break down what this study finds. For mice that waited, or experienced delayed gratification, the dopamine release was stronger, and there was more of it experienced over time. Not only that, but there was another impact in that the anticipation of a future goal caused an amount of dopamine to be released. In simple terms, the dopamine experienced with fleeting desires and instant pleases does not stack up against the dopamine experienced with deeply satisfying bliss. Or to put it yet another way. Although both horses get fed, one gets a basic meal while the other receives a more balanced diet.

So what keeps us from the pursuit of this better quality dopamine reward? Why is it that today we tend not to feed our better horse with a healthy diet and are quite happy to go on feeding a fattened wild horse? The answer to this is effort.

The pursuit of true happiness is effortful work. The pathway to deeply satisfying bliss is often not much fun and is associated with highly demanding practices. If we take seriously, however, the thesis of Cal Newport’s book Deep Work, it is the effortful work that is both rare and valuable in our world of distraction. What emerges is an economy of higher and lower values. I could scroll Facebook, and my dopaminergic system really likes that in the moment. In fact, it will tell me to keep on scrolling to squeeze out just a little bit more dopamine. But when I wake up from the rather shallow world of Facebook scrolling, I end up feeling empty and hollow. I get the symptoms of effortful work, but nothing to show for it. I feel like I did something, but in the end it amounts to nothing.

Compare this to, say, writing a 3000-word article on happiness (or reading a 3000-word article on happiness as you are now doing). It takes genuine effort to piece together a stream of thoughts. One must be careful to write clearly and accurately. There is intellectual work to be done both in the writing and in the reading of such a work. And when one is done with such a work, the feeling of tiredness occurs because effort was spent. It is demanding work. Attention must remain focused. There are moments when it is not quite fun. But in the end, not only does one feel like something was done, there is something of quality to show for one’s effort. Obviously, the reader will have to evaluate the relative quality of the writing and the thinking. But let’s say the writing is of rather middling quality. It still stands as something accomplished. Sure, one could go on to improve upon the ideas and the clarity of expression. The deep satisfaction comes at the thought that good effort has been spent, even if one has not arrived at the highest ideal.

Practicing Happiness

Practicing happiness has been a bit of a catch phrase in positive psychology. It is a method of proactively cultivating positive emotions to improve our wellbeing. When we cultivate gratitude, kindness, and optimism, there are positive effects that can be seen in our physical and mental health. In light of the discussion above, I want to add to this line of reasoning that effortful work put into our moral formation seems to be exactly the kind of endeavor that aligns with this concept of practicing happiness.

Many turn to positive psychology in an effort to alleviate stress. So it might seem strange to engage in effortful work. Here I think the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on “flow” gives us a framework for understanding how effortful work can actually be a stress management tool. A very basic understanding of flow is the experience a person has when they are fully immersed in what they are doing. I often imagine my son immersed in building with Legos when he was younger. He could sit for hours building without any real sense of an outside world. He was fully absorbed in what he was doing.

In his work on “flow” Csikszentmihalyi considers two realities that are present. The first reality we might call detachment. The immersive state causes an individual to “forget all the unpleasant aspects of life.” (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Happiness) Thus, a deep engagement in effortful work can be a practice of detachment from anxiety and stress. We frequently engage in stress relieving activities such as watching YouTube videos or playing video games to create a type of detachment. But these activities are rarely ones that get us into the flow state that Csikszentmihalyi describes. So, the next time you are beset with anxiety or stress, consider some kind of more effortful practice that could get you into a state of flow. It could be as simple as piecing together a puzzle, tending a garden plot or reading a book.

The second reality we might call experiential happiness. Csikszentmihalyi shares how the flow state is associated less with hedonic pleasure and more with eudemonic happiness. This sounds rather familiar! By choosing experiences that immerse us into effortful work, we build up a reservoir of happiness that deepens as we acquire greater skill, see progress in our work, and have something to show for our work. Consider the happiness that is gained as a puzzle is completed, a garden bed blooms in season after season, or our bookshelf showcases a number of beloved favorites. For me the practice of running has been a place of flow. For years I have tracked my mileage and feel a deep satisfaction in the places I’ve run, the people I’ve run with, and the insights I’ve gained out on the trails.

This kind of deep work, of entering into flow, is an investment in yourself and you reap the reward of better mental and physical health. Now what I would like to add to my basic thesis here is that effortful work on our moral formation can’t help but contribute to a betterment of our mental and physical health. This takes me back to the ancient philosophers. Happiness or eudaimonia occurred as a result of virtues or arete (ἀρετή). Both Plato and Aristotle see virtues as excellences that we practice.

Newport, for his part, seems to have a profound understanding of this philosophical tradition when he describes the “sacredness inherent in traditional craftsmanship.” (Newport, Deep Work). Virtues are practices just like a wheelwright or blacksmith practices their craft. We grow in the skill of courage or faithfulness. We don’t acquire courage and then consider that done. In other words, there is always more to learn as we exercise the moral part of ourselves.

This leads to a consideration of how all of life is the pursuit of virtue. I really like how Alasdair MacIntyre captures the interplay of the virtues and the good life in his book After Virtue. He writes:

“The virtues are precisely those qualities the possession of which will enable an individual to achieve eudaimonia and the lack of which will frustrate his movement toward that telos. But although it would not be incorrect to describe the exercise of virtues as a means to the end of achieving the good for man, that description is ambiguous.”

Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue, 148.

From this we gather that one cannot pursue happiness without the possession of virtues. This speaks to how important it is to set our young ones on a path of virtue from an early age. To do otherwise is to set them on a course of frustration throughout life. This does not mean that virtue cannot be acquired when older. But how much easier is it when a course is set properly from the beginning. MacIntyre goes on, though, to elaborate how the good life entails the continual practicing of virtues.

“But the exercise of the virtues is not in this sense a means to the end of the good for man. For what constitutes the good for man is a complete human life lived at its best, and the exercise of the virtues is a necessary and central part of such a life, not a mere preparatory exercise to secure such a life.”

Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue, 149.

This sounds like a call for daily exercise, not of the physical sort, but of the moral sort. The virtues are to be practiced like a basketball free throw is practiced. One considers good moral exemplars, and then tries to “follow through” like they do. Each new day brings a new opportunity to practice patience or moderation or humility or any other virtue. Many of us will have daily practices such as a time of prayer, a run, or a family dinner. These are highly commendable and worth maintaining. To these I would recommend a daily virtue practice. It might look like the virtue journal kept by Benjamin Franklin. Or it might simply be a daily contemplation of a virtue you will practice. The idea here is to treat virtue as something to be continually exercised in the pursuit of true happiness.

A Biblical Exposition on Happiness

Far from being a coda or a proforma addition to what has largely been a philosophical article up to this point, I find it striking how the biblical testimony has always had an undercurrent of moral direction connected to personal happiness in communion with God. I recollect coming across this in my research on 1 Peter where Peter quotes Psalm 34. Despite his reputation as an “uneducated, common” man (Acts 4:13), Peter’s epistle stands alongside the great philosophers for its depth of thought and expression.

Psalm 34 as he quotes it reads:

“Whoever desires to love life and see good days,

Let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;

Let him turn away from evil and do good;

Let him seek peace and pursue it.

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,

And his ears are open to their prayer.

But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Surrounding this quotation, Peter calls his readers to live a blessed life through the practice of virtues. He list several in 1 Peter 3:8—unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, a humble mind. In this life, we won’t be able to follow the path of happiness unhindered. This he writes, “But even if you should suffer for righteousess’ sake, you will be blessed” (1 Peter 3:14).

What we can take from this is that the Christian life is a well-practiced life. I am quick to point out how much we are reliant on the work of Christ to make us righteous and to provide the energies of our sanctification. But let us be clear that in following in the footsteps of Christ (1 Peter 2:21), we are indeed a fellowship of virtue practicers. Our course in following Christ is set on seeing good days and desiring to love life.

I am mindful as I conclude that I haven’t mentioned one word about education. And that is fine. As this is the summertime, this article is meant first and foremost to feed the souls of educators rather than to provide a teaching methodology. Yet, I think one can discern in and through much that is written here how central these ideas are to a sound philosophy of education. What is the highest calling for us as educators, but to show our students the pathway to happiness in life. And that will come as we ourselves enter into this pursuit of happiness.

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Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) lived during a time of great upheaval in British society. Hardly a decade prior to his birth, the restoration of Charles II (1658) concluded a period of internal strife in England with the Civil War (1642-1646) followed by the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell (1653-1658). The reign of Charles came to an end at the Glorious Revolution which established William, Prince of Orange on the English throne in 1688, the consequence of which was the constant threat of a Jacobite rebellion throughout Swift’s adult life.

Born in Dublin of English parents (who had fled the Civil War), Swift would have been greatly influenced throughout his life by two powerful political forces. One was the divide between Tories and Whigs, the former generally supporting the Jacobite cause and the latter a more progressive policy. The lines that divided these parties were hardly clear and never consistent, but they led to many intrigues and infighting. A second force was the subjugation of the Irish originally by Cromwell’s Commonwealth. Swift moved back and forth between England and Ireland which indicates a struggle to consolidate his identity with one nation or the other. Ultimately late in his life he became a stanch Irish patriot writing works such as A Proposal for Universal Use of Irish Manufacture (1720), Drapier’s Letters (1724), and A Modest Proposal (1729). It was in this patriotic phase during which Swift wrote Gulliver’s Travels.

The great majority of scholars analyzing Gulliver’s Travels pick up on these political influences. It is noteworthy that Swift in many ways was writing his travelog against the backdrop of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719). Robinson was an emblem of English society, and the plot of the book highlights a view of English colonial power as superior to the natives located in distant lands. Gulliver, on the other hand, is similarly English, but becomes much more skeptical about his English society. He travels to many different lands that have well-formed cultures. He is presented less as a conquering force and more as a learner, pitting each new culture against his own native England.

In my analysis of Gulliver’s Travels, I recognize the importance of these political forces, but would like to set them aside – to the extent that is even possible – in order to draw out the educational themes presented by Swift. Now, even as I set this limitation, it should go without saying that there is an inextricable link between education and politics in the classical sense that a well-ordered polis depends upon the quality of education provided to the populace. In that sense, Swift’s pursuit of an educational ideal actually contributes to his critique of British politics.

Lilliput: Education Based on Class Rank

Lemuel Gulliver’s first destination is the island nation of Lilliput, inhabited by a civilization of tiny people measuring only six inches tall. At first Gulliver is mistrusted by Lilliputians, but soon ingratiates himself, which enables him to learn more about their society. He learns that they are educated based on class rank. It seems that Swift is perhaps providing a critique of the boarding school system in England. He writes:

“Parents are the last of all others to be trusted with the Education of their own Children: And therefore they have in every Town publick Nurseries, where all Parents, except Cottagers and Labourers, are obliged to send their Infants of both Sexes to be reared and education when they come to the Age of twenty Moons; at which Time they are supposed to have some Rudiments of Docility.”

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (Dover, 1996), 35.

Here we have compulsory education of the ruling class who are separated from their family at a very young age. Swift is given to exaggeration, so we should not read into this a description of the actual historical situation he is criticizing. It is possible he has in mind models of education proposed by Richard Mulcaster or Roger Ascham. Both men had a progressive bent, perhaps incited by Queen Elizabeth being herself a well-educated lady. It was desired that all children be educated, and they promoted the education of young ladies as well. They recognized that not all could afford an education but insisted that at the very least the local vicar should be charged to at minimum teach the youths to read their Bibles. The work of Mulcaster and Ascham likely atrophied in the 17^th century into something of a pro-forma educational regimen the left Swift disillusioned with what we might call the Etonian model of education (a boarding school for the elites with almost guaranteed admittance to either Oxford or Cambridge).

The education of the children of the nobility contained training in “Principles of Honour, Justice, Courage, Modesty, Clemency, Religion, and Love of their Country” (35). In short, the ruling classes were trained in the array of virtues necessary to lead the nation. Today we would be wise to espouse these ideals, but Swift goes on to identify how the ruling classes in Lilliput were mired in the idiosyncrasies of political life and the imperial court. For instance, these well-educated leaders of society were of two parties or factions, those who supported the wearing of high heels on their shoes and those who insisted on low heels (25). So, despite the lofty values of the education received by the nobility, it serves little to no purpose in public life.

The distinction between the classes is made evident when Gulliver observes the education of the lower classes:

“The Cottagers and Labourers keep their Children at home, their Business being only to till and cultivate the Earth; and therefore their Education is of little Consequence to the Publick.”

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (Dover, 1996), 37.

Despite the progressive outlook of Mulcaster and Ascham, it seems that by Swift’s time the prominent educationalists of the era had not effected any lasting change. This is genuinely the tragedy of what we might consider old world classical education – the English model coming out of the Middle Ages, refined through the Renaissance, and vivified by the Reformation. Its inability to reform over time left it susceptible to more radical forms of progressivism especially after the turn of the twentieth century. Swift views the educational system of England as brittle and stultified, espousing high ideals that never truly get embodied by the leadership of the nation.

Brobdingnag: A Rudimentary Education

Gulliver – having escaped from Lilliput, returned to England, and crashed once again – lands on the island of Brobdingnag. Here the people are enormous, standing about 70 feet tall. It is an agrarian society that is both simple and peaceable. He is first taken into the home of a farmer and becomes the favorite pet of the farmer’s daughter. As was the case on Lilliput, he is presented to the King, which once again provides him a perspective on the whole of the Brobdingnagian society. As regards education, Swift describes it as “very defective,” indicating his disdain for such a system:

“The Learning of this People is very defective, consisting only in Morality, History, Poetry, and Mathematics, wherein they must be allowed to excel. But the last of these is wholly applied to what may be useful in Life, to the Improvement of Agriculture, and all mechanical Arts; so that among us, it would be little esteemed. And as to Ideas, Entities, Abstractions, and Transcendentals, I could never drive the least Conception into their Heads.”

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (Dover, 1996), 96.

Here we have a system of solid, bread-and-butter education. The subjects described would feed a populace well. But Swift notes how the scope of their education is only valuable insofar as it relates to life, and in particular their agrarian society. He depicts them as a very simple people who are not used to flourishes of intellect. Swift goes on to describe their legal system, an outgrowth of their educational system:

“No Law of that Country must exceed in Words the Number of Letters in their Alphabet, which consists only of two and twenty. But indeed few of them extend even to that Length. They are expressed in the most plain and simple Terms, wherein those People are not Mercurial enough to discover above one Interpretation. And, to write a Comment upon any Law, is a capital Crime.”

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (Dover, 1996), 96.

Their education is simple, and their laws are simple. Swift seems to be indicating that such a society founded on a rudimentary educational system cannot have an elaborate legal system, but also doesn’t need one, as the populace is not all that creative in their criminal activity. They are simple people of the earth who are not prone to crime anyway.

Now, we might question Swift on this point, as the gentleman farmer is one of the ideals of a democratic society. Obviously Swift is making a point that the alternative to the class-based system of education in Lilliput is not a return to the simpler times when the populace only needed a rudimentary education. The discovery of the New World and the emerging Industrial Revolution pointed toward new horizons which the Brobdingnagians were poorly equipped to handle. As much as we might pine for simpler times, we must march forward and incorporate new ways of educating our young to meet the new challenges ahead.

Laputa: An Education Based on Scientism

The next destination Gulliver discovers – or actually is discovered by – is Laputa, a floating island that rules over Balnibarbi. The island itself is a marvel of engineering, as it can be steered in any direction over Balnibarbi by magnetic levitation. The King of Laputa uses the floating island to dominate the inhabitants of Balnibarbi by maneuvering the island over any rebellious cities to block any sun or rain from over the city, and to hurl rocks down on the inhabitants below. In extreme cases, the island can be made to slam down on a city. Lindalino is an example of a city that rebelled against Laputa. The rebellion of Lindalino is an allegorical representation of Ireland’s relationship with Great Britain.

As regards education, the Laputans were fond of mathematics, astronomy and technology. They founded an academy to research science and technology that would contribute to the advancement of their society. So enamored are they by their scientific thinking that “the Minds of these People are so taken up with intense Speculations, that they neither can speak or attend to the Discourses of others” (114). Their scientism, in other words, while aiming as the betterment of society in actuality has made them less capable of living meaningful lives through distraction.

Their scientific endeavors are governed by professors who “contrive new Rules and Methods of Agriculture and Building, and new Instruments, and Tools for all Trades and Manufactures” (130). Swift points out that “none of these Projects are yet brought to Perfection; and in the mean time, the whole Country lies miserably waste, the Houses in Ruins, and the People without Food or Clothes” (130). The point Swift is making is that scientific speculation is of no use if it does not actually solve problems that people face in real life. Among the many ridiculous projects undertaken by the Academy of Lagado is a new approach to architecture:

“There was a most ingenious architect, who had contrived a new method for building houses, by beginning at the roof, and working downward to the foundation; which he justified to me, by the like practice of those two prudent insects, the bee and the spider.”

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (Dover, 1996), 133.

In Jason Barney’s twin articles on technicism and scientism, he addresses the same issues we encounter today in a culture where undue focus is placed on STEM without proper attention being paid to how education ought to be cultivating wisdom amongst our students. Without growing in wisdom, the moral framework of care for people’s actual problems is absent from our educational system. This is why STEM wedded to a liberal arts tradition is so powerful.

Now, to be fair, the scientific thinking in Swift’s age directly led to the Industrial Revolution, which in total benefited society in many different ways. But Swift recognized that there is a cost in human terms that perhaps could have been averted had the scientists of earlier generations been more conscientious about the tragic impact on human lives. The same goes for today. Very little ethical planning goes into creation and launch of new technologies. True, our smartphones have become everyday carry for the entire population. Yet, we are seeing the cost in lack of attention (see Nicholas Carr, The Shallows and Maggie Jackson, Distracted) and mental health issues (see this review article in Psychology Today).

The Land of the Houyhnhnm: An Education in Pure Reason

The final destination on Gulliver’s journey takes him to a location that is inhabited by Houyhnhnms and Yahoos. The Houyhnhnms (pronounced “hoo-IN-um” or “HWIN-um”) are talking horses whose intelligence exceeds that of humans. They tend to flocks of Yahoos, who are irrational humans (or human-like creatures). Swift creates a contrast between the Yahoos who represent the worst of humanity and the Houyhnhnms who are noble, rational and peaceable. Gulliver comes to learn the language of the Houyhnhnms and undertakes instruction from them. He is rather looked upon as a brute in most ways similar to the Yahoos, which offends Gulliver.

Gulliver learns that the Houyhnhnms are both noble and virtuous as a result of their education in pure reason. “As these noble Houyhnhnms are endowed by Nature with a general Disposition to all Virtues, and have no Conceptions or Ideas of what is evil in a rational Creature, so their grand Maxim is, to cultivate Reason, and to be wholly governed by it” (202). The purity of their reason is arrived at without disputation or debate. They neither take into consideration “both sides of a question” nor do they put any stock in opinions or disputes. Now, we might consider this a liability as we train our students in dialectic or logic to pit ideas against one another to arrive at the truth. However, a truth once known need not be debated or disputed, it is only necessary to use the tools of dialectic in the search for truth. So it seems the contention Swift makes here is that this equine civilization has used their rationality to ascertain what is ultimately true and have thereby dispensed with dialectic.

The guiding virtues of the Houyhnhnms are laudable. Swift writes:

“Friendship and Benevolence are the two principal Virtues among the Houyhnhnms; and these not confined to particular Objects, but universal to the whole Race. For a Stranger from the remotest Part, is equally treated with the nearest Neighbour, and where-ever he goes, looks upon himself as at home. They preserve Decency and Civility in the highest Degrees, but are altogether ignorant of Ceremony. They have no Fondness for their Colts or Foals; but the Care they take in educating them proceeds entirely from the Dictates of Reason.”

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (Dover, 1996), 202.

Swift looks upon the education of the Houyhnhnms fondly:

“In educating the Youth of both Sexes, their Method is admirable, and highly deserves our Imitation. . . . Temperance, Industry, Exercise, and Cleanliness, are the Lessons equally enjoined to the young ones of both Sexes: And my Master thought it monstrous in us, to give the Females a different Kind of Education from the Males.”

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (Dover, 1996), 203-204.

In these quotes we see Swift holding up a moral standard against the prevailing educational model of his time and finding it wanting. The educational vision is simultaneously traditional in its use of reason to acquire virtue – the Houyhnhnms upon learning about Socrates “agreed entirely with his sentiments” (202) – and yet progressive in that it is equitably dispensed to all. This is not to say that the Houyhnhnms did not have their faults. They are so rational as to lack compassion or any scruples about what we would consider propriety. For instance, they had no qualms about trading their children at the annual meeting so that each household had an equal number of boys and girls. One might be reminded of Spock from Star Trek, although his humanity at times wins out over the rational Vulcan half of his ancestry.

The most telling aspect of Gulliver’s relationship with the Houyhnhnms occurs after he returns to England. Gulliver struggles to relate with other humans, even his own family. “I must freely confess, the Sight of them filled me only with Hatred, Disgust and Contempt” (220). From the time of his departure from the Land of the Houyhnhnms, he refers to humans as Yahoos and his experience as “my unfortunate exile.” To compensate for this, he purchase “two young Stone-Horses, which I keep in a good Stable.” He writes:

“My Horses understand me tolerably well; I converse with them at least four Hours every Day. They are Strangers to Bridle or Saddle; they live in great Amity with me, and Friendship to each other.”

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (Dover, 1996), 221.

This is a bookend to the introductory letter in which Gulliver refers to his to horses as “two degenerate Houyhnhnms” (meaning they lack the speech of the actual Houyhnhnms) who influence him such that “I still improve in some Virtues, without any Mixture of Vice” (xi).

I think this indicates how the Houyhnhnm episode presents the author with an educational ideal absent in the prevailing educational model then current in the British Isles.

Renewing Our Educational Ideals

Swift’s book provides a really thoughtful engagement with what we might consider the ultimate goals of education. As such, we can productively engage with this reading to ask ourselves how we might understand and critique our own educational moment. Here are a few thoughts.

First, Gulliver reveals the vital importance of moral virtue. The simple morality of the agrarian Brobdingnag is cast in a positive light, even though it is not well informed by any high standard of intellectual engagement. Better is the Houyhnhnm set of virtues as it is connected to truth ascertained by reason. When we extract these ideas from the satirical setting of Swift’s world, there is much that we would want to establish as our own educational ideal. We ought to have as our chief aim to train our students thoroughly in virtuous living. They ought to be able to live with nobility and grace as a result of their educational upbringing.

Second, science and technology clearly have a place in education, yet it sits uncomfortably in an educational system. The humanities provide our students with a moral intuition that takes a long time to form. Moral reasoning is slow, while technological advancement is rapid. By the time the next technology burst on the scene, we are already decades late in our ability to think through the moral implications. IPads are already in the hands of toddlers, and we have not even considered whether this is a good thing. The educational system has approached STEM not as a way of thinking (scientific experimentation) nor as a means to solve meaningful problems. STEM needs to be taught such that it is properly situated within a liberal arts framework. The floating island of Laputa is a cautionary tale that still speaks today.

Finally, one of the elements drastically missing from Swift’s tale is any sense of spirituality. It is a fairly secular book that seeks utopia but cannot deliver apart from any recognition of God. The noble vision Swift provides actually falls flat (at least for me) in the absence of any notion of redemption. We truly ought to take seriously the moral vision of virtuous living. But we need the moral exemplar of Christ; to follow in his footsteps, as it were (1 Peter 2:12). My hunch is that a great deal of the ills that befell the prevailing model of education in the British Isles was a tired and impotent form of Christianity that had become overly politicized in the aftermath of so many years of political turmoil. Both England and Ireland would have felt these effects. Swift’s search for an answer looked everywhere without addressing what I would consider the root cause, the British Isles had so contested different forms of Christianity, that it had missed the Christ who could redeem them all. That is likely an overgeneralization, but perhaps one that Swift fell prey to. In our day, with social media rants befalling us from the right and the left, are we likewise susceptible to lose sight of Christ? Any educational ideal apart from Christ is likely to go off the rails. Our educational renewal movement must keep this at heart.

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Next Article in this Series: “Bloom’s Taxonomy and the Importance of Objectives: 3 Blessings of Bloom’s”

An example of this can be found in Leisure the Basis of Culture where Josef Pieper defended the role of leisure as a deeply human and transcendent experience. Leisure, for Pieper, is properly defined as a celebratory and worshipful stepping apart from the workaday world. It looks and feels more like contemplation or the philosophical act. More recently Chris Perrin, founder of Classical Academic press, has drawn from this idea to commend school as schole, returning us to the linguistic history of the word ‘school’ as leisure. 

The point here is that the purpose of education is something grander and wider than we often allow it to be when we focus on the needs and goals of the workaday world. It entails a sort of restful contemplation that does not have in view mere practical considerations. In this account, then, education is about stepping away from the utilitarian world and embracing the transcendence implied in our human nature. As the teacher of Ecclesiastes puts it, God “has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end” (Eccl 3:11 ESV). 

David Hicks too in the classic Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education zeroed in on the crass utilitarian values of a technocratic state. As he pointedly expressed in the prologue:

The modern era cannot be bothered with finding new answers to old questions like: What is man and what are his purposes? Rather, it demands of its schools: How can modern man better get along in this complicated modern world? Getting along — far from suggesting any sort of Socratic self-knowledge or stoical self-restraint — implies the mastery of increasingly sophisticated methods of control over the environment and over others. Man’s lust for power, not truth, feeds modern education. But this fact does not worry the educator. From his point of view, the new question has several advantages over the old, the most notable being that it better suits his scientific problem-solving approach. Like the ancient Sophist, he is out to build his status by proving his usefulness; and like the Sophist, he appears unabashedly confident in the efficacy of his methods, which in a peculiar way bestow on him the power to bestow power.

In doing so Hicks struck a chord similar to C.S. Lewis’ masterful The Abolition of Man which defended traditional values against the modernist aim of creating “men without chests”. In analyzing the Green Book, an unnamed modern textbook, Lewis reveals how its authors, instead of teaching English, teach a questionable philosophy that is suspicious of human values. A modernist preference for so-called “objective facts” has pushed out of consideration–and therefore out of the educational project–human values like beauty and honor. Treating such things as merely personal subjective feelings, they have stripped education of its heart and turned it into a head game. 

This modern fallacy, Lewis said, has colossal implications that pave the way for the totalitarian state to make men of its own choosing. The men at the top of the power structure (the enlightened scientists and government bureaucrats) will inevitably feel the need to use their power to condition men according to their own schemes, since traditional and transcendent values have now become subjective preferences that they can manipulate for their own ends. Lewis closes his short tour-de-force with an appendix demonstrating the trans-cultural nature of certain moral values and principles, developing on his reference to the tao or moral law in his argument. 

Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives

Less than a decade later on the other side of the Atlantic, a committee of American college and university examiners, headed by Benjamin S. Bloom, the University Examiner at the University of Chicago, set out on a project to classify the educational objectives of teachers. While we may not think of Bloom’s taxonomy as participating in this broader modern discussion of the purpose of education, their idea of creating a taxonomy for educational goals inevitably interacts with broader questions of purpose. 

Bloom’s Taxonomy of Six Categories of Objectives in the Cognitive Domain

1. Knowledge

1.1 Knowledge of Specifics

1.2 Knowledge of Ways and Means of Dealing with Specifics 

1.3 Knowledge of the Universals and Abstractions in a Field

2. Comprehension

2.1 Translation

2.2 Interpretation

2.3 Extrapolation

3. Application
4. Analysis

4.1 Analysis of Elements

4.2 Analysis of Relationships

4.3 Analysis of Organizational Principles

5. Synthesis

5.1 Production of a Unique Communication

5.2 Production of a Plan, or Proposed Set of Operations

5.3 Derivation of a Set of Abstract Relations

6. Evaluation

6.1 Judgments in Terms of Internal Evidence

6.2 Judgments in Terms of External Criteria

Bloom’s taxonomy is virtually ubiquitous in contemporary educational circles. One of my first years teaching at a classical Christian school, a list of all the verbs associated with Bloom’s cognitive domain of educational objectives was handed to me and my colleagues, with the instruction: “Be sure to ask discussion questions and give assignments that involve students in higher order thinking, and not just low level knowledge!” Colorful charts and diagrams of Bloom’s taxonomy abound on the internet, especially on teacher websites. Many reflect the revision published by a group of cognitive psychologists, curriculum theorists and instructional researchers in 2001, which renamed and slightly restructured the 6 major objectives of the cognitive domain. 

Bloom’s taxonomy has become one of those fixed touchpoints in contemporary education that simply falls into the assumed architecture of the discipline. Everyone accepts Bloom’s or revised Bloom’s. Everyone implicitly practices Bloom’s methodology when they identify learning objectives, whether for their course, unit plan or an individual lesson. Virtually no one, as best as I can judge, has actually read the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals: Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. Nor has anyone seriously questioned the underlying assumptions on which it is based. 

I began with the lead-in references to Pieper, Lewis and more contemporary classical education advocates, because their critiques have relevance for the educational project of Bloom et al. Arguably their classification of educational objectives suffers from the same modernist privileging of “objective facts” over human values. To be sure, they envisioned a project that embraced educational objectives in three domains: cognitive, affective and psychomotor. In this way, they attempted to signal the importance of the heart and the body, as well as the mind. But the way they construed the affective domain handbook (finally published a decade later) and their sharp divide between these areas ultimately ended up reinforcing the popular neglect of these domains, rather than reviving them. Ultimately, whether or not it was their fault or intention, almost no one uses Bloom’s taxonomy of the affective domain in any significant way, and the psychomotor domain was not even addressed by them, though a few other educators have proposed their own subcategories since.

For all intents and purposes then, Bloom’s taxonomy has privileged the cognitive over the affective and psychomotor; the head is focused on, to the neglect of the heart and the body. This is an outcome we would have expected of a generation of educators bred on curricula like the Green Book that Lewis so eloquently deconstructed in The Abolition of Man. Besides, their vocation as college examiners and their purpose for creating the taxonomy in the first place inevitably privileged the types of goals that could be easily measured on a modern test. Such goals too easily overlook the broader and deeper purposes of education that classical educators have tried to recover.

The outcome of Bloom’s taxonomy, then, was the contemporary privileging of the bare intellect in school settings, even if athletics and arts are still sometimes the dog that wags the tail of specific educational institutions. In his book Desiring the Kingdom James K.A. Smith has traced this modern emphasis on human beings as “thinking things,” primarily cognitive intellects at their best, back to Descartes’ philosophical project in search of objective truth and the Enlightenment as a whole. But rather than simply blaming Bloom and his committee or Descartes and his ilk–educators and philosophers who, after all, may have had the best of intentions–we may simply acknowledge that it is our modern way of thinking about ourselves and education that has poisoned the stew. 

After all, Bloom and his compatriot’s goal was relatively modest. They sought to articulate a taxonomy of generally accepted educational objectives to provide clarity for teachers, curriculum writers and examination writers. The point of the taxonomy was to gain widespread acceptance of a common language, thereby avoiding the vague, ambiguous and equivocal statements of educational objectives that were already in use at the K-12 and collegiate level. So Bloom’s taxonomy merely categorized and standardized the language that was already in use and reflected the popular trickle down of an earlier era’s philosophical trends. 

A Classical Taxonomy of Educational Objectives

The contention of this series is that, as Lewis famously quipped in Mere Christianity, we must go back to go forward. Having taken a wrong track, the quickest way forward is to turn around. Progress sometimes requires regress. 

But backtracking is more effective if one knows where one has gone astray. Otherwise we may find ourselves wandering back aimlessly with simply a regressive spirit that assumes that anything earlier or more traditional is better. We cannot ignore the real educational advances of the modern era. And so a simple tossing aside of Bloom’s Taxonomy will not do either. We must propose some account of the value of the project of classifying educational objectives, even if we reframe the enterprise in different terms. 

To this end I am proposing a return to Aristotle’s classification of Five Intellectual Virtues, as a replacement for Bloom’s six orders of cognitive domain goals. The five intellectual virtues are introduced and explained in their relation to one another in Book VI of the Nichomachean Ethics:

Let us begin, then, from the beginning, and discuss these states once more. Let it be assumed that the states by virtue of which the soul possesses truth by way of affirmation or denial are five in number, i.e. art, knowledge, practical wisdom, philosophic wisdom, comprehension…. (1139b.14ff.)

From The Complete Works of Aristotle, vol. 2 (Princeton: 1984), 1799

In successive articles, I will cite Aristotle’s discussions of each of these intellectual virtues in turn and explain his distinctions between the intellectual virtues and how that initiates a seismic shift in our understanding of the broader purpose of education, as well as our lesson by lesson objectives. However, since Aristotle’s description of the intellectual virtues in Book VI of his Nicomachean Ethics is not as detailed with sub-categorization as Bloom’s Taxonomy, it will need to be developed and re-appropriated in light of contemporary Christian educational concerns, in order to serve as a rival taxonomy. Therefore, this series could properly be called a neo-Aristotelian Christian taxonomy of educational goals, since it represents a Christian development from within the Aristotelian tradition. 

While a fair amount of this project will involve reading and interpreting Aristotle, there will be times where his assumptions and language will have to be challenged or updated, either from broader Christian philosophical considerations, practical educational circumstances, or recent developments in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. I will endeavor to signal when and how my proposal differs from Aristotle’s viewpoints, as best as I can understand them. In addition, I must confess to giving a layman’s reading of Aristotle’s ethics, as myself a lover of wisdom but without the specialization to wade into the discipline’s detailed criticism of the whole Aristotelian corpus. When my views differ from the consensus interpretation of Aristotle or there is a major division in schools of thought on an issue pertinent to my proposal, I will alert the reader in a note. 

Aristotle’s Five Intellectual Virtues

1. Techne — Artistry or craftsmanship
   1. Common and domestic arts
   2. Professions and trades
   3. Athletics and sports
   4. Fine and performing arts
   5. The liberal arts of language and number
2. Episteme — (Scientific) Knowledge
   1. Natural
   2. Human
   3. Metaphysical
3. Phronesis — Prudence or practical wisdom
   1. Personal
   2. Household
   3. Managerial and Political
   4. Understanding and Judgment
4. Nous — Intuition or comprehension
   1. Of Universals
   2. Of Particulars
5. Sophia — (Philosophic) Wisdom
   1. Mastery of induction and deduction
   2. Knowledge and intuition combined
      • Natural
      • Human
      • Metaphysical

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of reviving Aristotle’s five intellectual virtues is the light it sheds on the subsequent history of classical education. The curriculum and pedagogy of the liberal arts tradition, as recovered by Kevin Clark and Ravi Jain (and others), appears in a new clarity and radiance, when seen through the magnifying glass of Aristotle’s intellectual virtues. 

While it may seem like proposing the “intellectual virtues” of Aristotle hardly solves the issue of privileging the intellect over the heart and body, Aristotle’s concepts contain within them a proper integration of body, heart and head. For instance, techne or artistry often involves clear bodily connections that would qualify under the psychomotor heading of Bloom. In a similar way, phronesis or prudence involves the heart and Aristotle details and explains its specific connection to the moral virtues (which deserve a book of their own). This solves the problem of privileging one over the other better than Bloom’s original scheme, because what we really need is not just an account of educational objectives in each area, as if they were all equivalent and interchangeable, but also a principle for integrating the excellences or virtues that are proper to the different spheres of the human person. 

The task set before us, therefore, begins with analyzing where we have come: the good, the bad and the ugly of Bloom’s taxonomy. Next, it will be necessary to explain in some detail each of Aristotle’s five virtues as an alternate set of educational objectives. Lastly, we will work out what it might look like for our schools, our curriculum and our courses to aim at the intellectual virtues in a modern setting, including what shifts in focus and pedagogy that would entail. Such an endeavor promises to be a bumpy ride, so buckle your seat belts and hang on for this new series on Aristotle’s five intellectual virtues as a classical taxonomy of educational objectives.

Next Article in this Series: “Bloom’s Taxonomy and the Importance of Objectives: 3 Blessings of Bloom’s”

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In particular, we referenced the British educator Charlotte Mason, as she discussed “the gradual fortifying of the will which many a schoolboy undergoes” in her chapter called “The Way of the Will” from vol. 6 Towards a Philosophy of Education.

In this post we’ll continue to engage Mason’s chapter, but, as we’ll see, the results of research on self-control and willpower from neuroscience and psychology give us more reason than ever to focus on developing self-control in our schools. The science also confirms a couple tactics for strengthening willpower advocated by traditional educators like Mason.

The Benefits of Self-control

As Christians we may be inclined to think of self-control as only a spiritual grace, and it certainly is that. It’s listed as the final virtue in the fruit of the Spirit, after all. But like many Christian virtues, there’s a common grace manifestation of it that is extremely beneficial even from a secular perspective. This is what we should expect, since we know that God set up the order of reality in such a way that acting or living in accordance with certain virtues would, in general, bring blessing. The book of Proverbs is littered with examples to this effect.

In the famous Marshmallow study from the 1970s, a Stanford University psychologist invited 4-year-olds into a room cleared of distractions one at a time (see Daniel Goleman’s Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence, 78-79). They were told that that they could have one marshmallow now, or if they waited for the experimenter to return from an ‘errand’, they could have a second marshmallow as well. As we might predict, some of these 4-year-olds decided to skip the offer and immediately popped the single marshmallow into their mouths. About 2/3, however, tried to wait out the grueling 15 minutes sitting alone in an empty room with no books or toys to distract themselves. Another third caved part way through the time, but a final third made it through and received the reward. As we might expect, “the ones who resisted the lure of the sweet had higher scores on measures of executive control, particularly the reallocation of attention” (Goleman, Focus, 79).

What’s surprising and fascinating was that these same children were tracked afterward for measures of success in life (their health, wealth, avoidance of criminal behavior, etc.), and their self-control was found to be a key predictor of positive life outcomes. This study has been confirmed numerous times by other studies including one in New Zealand. As Goleman summarizes:

“The big shock: statistical analysis found that a child’s level of self-control is every bit as powerful a predictor of her adult financial success and health (and criminal record, for that matter) as are social class, wealth of family of origin, or IQ. Willpower emerged as a completely independent force in life success—in fact, for financial success, self-control in childhood proved a stronger predictor than either IQ or social class of the family of origin.” (81)

It’s important to concede that self-control isn’t everything; social class, wealth and IQ play a role in a person’s worldly success… but not the overwhelmingly determinative role that ideologues and fatalists tend to imply. Intelligence, wealth and upbringing are important, but self-control and willpower enable most children to overcome various challenges through focusing on achievable goals and working on improving their situation and abilities. This is why a growth-mindset is so important and can fuel efforts of self-control. After all, if you don’t think you can improve and grow, you aren’t likely to engage in the hard effort to deny yourself immediate pleasure or recreation for the sake of a goal.

Self-control or willpower must be exercised for many different types of goals, whether they be lofty spiritual goals like holiness and purity, or more mundane worldly goals like doing well in school, fulfilling your obligations at work, or maintaining your health. As Goleman explains,

“High self-control predicts not just better grades, but also a good emotional adjustment, better interpersonal skills, a sense of security, and adaptability.” (81)

Among psychologists self-control is one of several traits that fall under the heading of conscientiousness, which is itself a major predictor of success:

“Conscientiousness seems as powerful a boost in the long run as fancy schools, SAT tutors, and pricey educational summer camps. Don’t underestimate the value of practicing the guitar or keeping that promise to feed the guinea pig and clean its cage.” (81)

That last statement illustrates an immediate take-away for parents and educators. Sometimes we can be so focused on our students’ external development through their many activities that we fail to hold them personally accountable for faithfulness and conscientious fulfillment of their obligations. We fail to enforce rules and discipline them. The knowledge and skills they “learn” in school and extracurriculars may not in fact be nearly so important as the virtues and character traits they cultivate along the way. Instead of focusing on making sure they ‘succeed’ at these external goals, we might need to let them fail, so that they can learn the deeper lesson of the need for virtue.

Otherwise, we might be robbing them of the most valuable attainments, even from a worldly perspective. Dr. Daniel Levitin, the James McGill Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience at McGill University, summarizes the value of conscientiousness, including self-control, this way:

“Conscientiousness comprises industriousness, self-control, stick-to-itiveness, and a desire for order. And it, in turn, is the best predictor of many important human outcomes, including mortality, longevity, educational attainment, and a host of criteria related to career success. Conscientiousness is associated with better recovery outcomes following surgery and transplants. Conscientiousness in early childhood is associated with positive outcomes decades later.” (Levitin, The Organized Mind xxv)

So the benefits of self-control are many, but how do we actually cultivate self-control in our students, or ourselves for that matter?

Tactics for Developing Self-control

We’ve already mentioned that simply focusing on the virtues that a certain activity could foster, rather than the knowledge or skills alone is one of the first steps to cultivating self-control. In a way, the mere habit of attending to virtues as a key outcome for our children is half the battle. The classical tradition made virtue the main goal of education and let the chips fall where they may on less important matters. Modern education is often so concerned with perfect delivery of information and incrementally graded skill development that we can tend to miss the forest for the trees. (See, for instance, “When Bloom’s Gets Ugly: Cutting the Heart out of Education”)

Often the individual coaching it would take to come alongside a student and support him or her in taking steps for developing self-control seems like the long way around. How much easier and simpler for teachers and administrators to have an impersonal and “objective” system of grades and punishments to mete out to the masses! While the administration of fair consequences is important, when it is used to avoid the need for relationships and personal coaching for improvement, it can become ineffective and even counter-productive. The shortest way to our goal (if our goal is a student’s development of self-control!) is to work personally and individually with them on practicing the tactics and acquiring the habits that enable the virtue of self-control.

So then, what are the tactics for developing self-control? Based on modern research, Charlotte Mason, ancient Greek wisdom and the Bible, I’ve come up with two main tactics: 1) draw up a battle plan, and 2) create a diversion.

Willpower Tactic #1 – Draw up a Battle Plan

In a sense the most obvious tactic for developing self-control in a particular area is to make a plan. As long as your brain is fuzzy about what is actually off-limits or what new positive habit you’re trying to establish, it’s going to be nigh impossible to exercise self-control or willpower. Psychologists call this act of clarifying what to exercise self-control about making “bright lines.” If a person is trying to lose weight, and their resolution is something vague like “eat healthier” or “eat less dessert,” they are unlikely to be successful in the moment when impulse is pushing for just one more brownie.

This is because of how self-control works in our brains. Imagine the children trying to resist the marshmallows in front of them. The executive control centers of their brain have to reallocate attention from the tempting marshmallow in front of them to the clear goal of a second one later, and from that to other matters, so that they don’t continuously focus on the possibility of popping that tempting marshmallow into their mouths. As Goleman explains,

“Executive attention holds the key to self-management. This power to direct our focus onto one thing and to ignore others lets us bring to mind our waistline when we spot those quarts of Cheesecake Brownie ice cream in the freezer. This small choice point harbors the core of willpower, the essence of self-regulation.” (77)

Drawing up a battle plan for self-control is the first and most crucial tactic for regulating ourselves, since it gives our brain clear marching orders. Bright lines enable us to know when we’ve crossed the line into indulgence.

In the synopsis of her philosophy Charlotte Mason discussed what she called “the way of the will,” and described this process as distinguishing between desire and decision or “I want” and “I will”:

“Children should be taught, (a) to distinguish between ‘I want’ and ‘I will.’ (b) That the way to will effectively is to turn our thoughts from that which we desire but do not will.”

Effective willpower involves using those executive control centers to turn our attention from our immediate desire to our predetermined battle plan.

For example, the video game or netflicks addict has to commit to a definite time period, like 30 min. or a single show a night, and then set an alarm that gives a clear signal that it is time to stop. If your executive control center is arguing in the moment with your impulsive desires, it has to work double-time, not just at refocusing your attention on your goals but also on coming up with a plan. Overstretched in this way, it is less likely to conquer your more impulsive flesh with all its rationalizations.

Drawing up a battle plan has also been called making a pre-commitment. This could be as basic as deciding when to check email during the day, so as not to be lured through your smart-phone into the time-wasting click-bait of the internet and away from the task at hand.

The classic example of a battle plan or pre-commitment is Odysseus. Having been warned beforehand of the Sirens’ song by the sorceress Circe, Odysseus was able to prepare. Odysseus makes a pre-commitment by stopping his sailors’ ears with wax, so they don’t hear the Sirens. And in order to allow himself the opportunity of hearing them without succumbing to their deadly lure, he had them tie him to the mast, thereby making it physically impossible for him to alter his prior decision. Odysseus’ battle plan worked.

Parents and teachers can help children in this tactic by recognizing an area in which they are need of willpower support. The next step is having a supportive and understanding conversation with the student about their weakness in this area. If approached tactfully, most students will recognize the need for growth and not resent your intrusion, especially if you emphasize that you are on their side and want to help and support them. At this point the conversation should turn to developing a battle plan with them; it shouldn’t be something you simply impose.

There are two reasons for this. First, the goal is to train them in these self-control tactics, so they can deliberately apply them on their own throughout life. Therefore, the more involvement they have in the process, the more they learn by experience what it is like to develop strategies for self-regulation. Second, as human beings, we’re more motivated to enforce pre-commitments that we participated in coming up with. We have to own our self-control measures for them to be most effective.

The follow-up for this sort of process is to check in with the student periodically on how the battle plan is going. For instance, if a teacher is working with a student on not impulsively talking out in class, or on getting his homework done on time, the teacher might take a moment to ask the student how the plan is working for him before or after class. A parent might designate time limits for TV or establish guidelines for homework time or practicing that instrument. Charlotte Mason calls this process habit training, and the goal should be to develop the will of the child, not over-manage her or keep her dependent on your every whim.

Willpower Tactic # 2 – Create a Diversion

Unfortunately, given the changes and chances of life we will all encounter moments when we are caught off our guard by what might be called a surprise attack. The most famous biblical example is when Potiphar’s wife catches Joseph inside when all the other servants are away. Of course, Joseph had already experienced her advances and was able to do the only thing he could in that scenario: flee!

In our lives, though, there will be circumstances when even fleeing temptation is not an option, either because of other obligations or because the sudden temptation is more internal than external. In this case, one of the best tactics is to create a diversion. Since temptation to indulgence comes through our attention, if we can successfully divert our attention to other things, the power of the temptation is removed.

Goleman discusses how parents typically use this tactic on toddlers who are still developing emotional self-regulation and have just gotten inordinately upset. We try to distract them:

“Attention regulates emotion. This little ploy of selective attention is able to quiet the agitated amygdala. So long as a toddler stays tuned to some interesting object of focus, the distress calms; the moment that thing loses its fascination, the distress, if still held on to by networks in the amygdala, comes roaring back.” (Goleman, Focus 76)

As Goleman describes neuroscience has revealed how the brain networks for “selective attention” are crucial for the development of self-control. There’s a reason why in the marshmallow test the Stanford research team removed all the toys and games from the room. Many more 4-year-olds would have likely been able to resist the lure of the marshmallow if they had a roomful of potential diversions on hand. Of course, we still have to make the decision to divert our attention from the temptation, and in order to do that, we have to recognize it as a temptation, as crossing the bright lines we’ve put in place for ourselves. That’s why I’ve addressed the battle plan first, because we need it as a foundation for making the split-second decision to create a diversion when confronted by a surprise attack.

Charlotte Mason described this next tactic that we should train students in as the idea… “that the best way to turn our thoughts is to think of or do some quite different thing, entertaining or interesting.” If we have a mind stocked with “entertaining or interesting” knowledge and pursuits, this is an easy and effective strategy. She develops the idea further in her chapter on “The Way of the Will”:

“When the overstrained will asks for repose, it may not relax to yielding point but may and must seek recreation, diversion,––Latin thought has afforded us beautiful and appropriate names for that which we require. A change of physical or mental occupation is very good, but if no other change is convenient, let us think of something else, no matter how trifling. A new tie, or our next new hat, a story book we are reading, a friend we hope to see, anything does so long as we do not suggest to ourselves the thoughts we ought to think on the subject in question. The will does not want the support of arguments but the recreation of rest, change, diversion. In a surprisingly short time it is able to return to the charge and to choose this day the path of duty, however dull or tiresome, difficult or dangerous.”

In Greek mythology Odysseus wasn’t the only hero to encounter the Sirens. During their quest for the Golden Fleece, Jason and the Argonauts, including a host of the best Greek heroes, happen upon the Sirens by chance without having the benefit of preparation. Luckily for them, Orpheus is one of the heroes on board, and after some quick thinking he immediately begins playing and singing his own song louder and louder. In this way he is able to divert the heroes’ attention from the Sirens’ song enough to avoid crashing into the shoals and falling into the Sirens’ trap.

This illustrates how to respond with the power of diversion, when your pre-commitments fail, and you are surprised by the temptation in spite of your best efforts to avoid it entirely. For this to work, though, our minds have to have an Orpheus on board. We and our students have to have richly stocked imaginations full of lively interests. If instead our students are decidedly bored with anything because of living on a diet of low-effort entertainment and indulgence, they won’t have the resources to divert themselves as a means of self-control.

This fact draws attention to the importance of a rich curriculum and the importance of helping our students cultivate enough varied interests and hobbies. In this case, the best defense is a good offense. We need to support ours and our children’s creativity and healthy passions. As they say, idleness is the devil’s playground. Having something enjoyable and productive to do is a powerful preventative against developing unhealthy and addictive habits.

Educating for Self-control

Teaching our students these tactics explicitly and actively coaching them in the process will take us a long way toward educating them for self-control. As Daniel Goleman expressed memorably,

“Anything we can do to increase children’s capacity for cognitive control will help them throughout life.” (Focus 81)

However, the benefits are not just worldly success or positive life outcomes. From a Christian perspective self-control is a necessary ingredient in sanctification, or that holiness “without [which] no one will see the Lord” (Heb 12:14 ESV). It is important to remember that our own modeling of this virtue is as important as teaching it to our children. We can’t lose sight of Paul’s famous statements to this effect:

“But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” (1 Cor 9:27 ESV)

Preaching and teaching these things is important, but practicing them, even more so. So let’s educate ourselves for self-control first and foremost. And then as we grow in these things, sowing to the Spirit more and more, we will in time reap a harvest of self-control in ourselves, our families, and our schools. And we might even have more of an influence on our indulgent culture.

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And unfortunately, at such a moment, self-control is one of the most neglected Christian virtues–from the pulpit at least, mostly because of a misplaced concern about legalism. Yet self-control is right there, listed in Galatians 5:22-23 as the final, crowning virtue of the fruit of the Spirit. Too often we forget Paul’s admonition right after in chapter 6 of Galatians, what we might call the most anti-legalist book of the Bible:

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. (6:7-8 ESV)

The Christian virtue of self-control, explained in more detail here as like a farmer’s planting process of sowing to the Spirit, rather than the flesh, is not an optional add-on for Paul, but is actually a central requirement for reaping the Christian reward of eternal life.

The apostle Peter too tells us that “God has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness [i.e. piety]” and that through his promises we can “become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” (2 Peter 1:3, 4). Based on the promises God has given us and our rescue from the world’s corruption and incontinence, he then encourages us, not to rest on our laurels and go with the flow, but to “make every effort to supplement [our] faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control…” (1:5-6a; emphasis added). Peter closes out the paragraph emphasizing not just the connection of these qualities to effectiveness and fruitfulness (v. 9), but also their necessity for entering God’s eternal kingdom (vv. 10-11).

All this should convince us to pay more attention to developing self-control as Christians. Now let’s explore what self-control actually is by looking at the roots of the idea from its earlier Greek philosophical milieu.

The Greek Roots of Self-control

The idea of self-control, from the Greek enkrateia, was coined by Socrates’ disciples, Xenophon, Plato and Isocrates, and comes from a root word meaning power or mastery. For Xenophon self-control was not just a virtue, but was the “foundation of all the virtues,” according to Werner Jaeger’s Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture (Vol. 2: Oxford, p. 54). It’s easy to see why if we think for a moment about how courage, prudence, justice and temperance all require a person to set aside unruly passions, like fear, envy, partiality, laziness and lust to pursue some higher and more rational mode of operating towards ourselves, others and the world. Self-control seems more like a necessary ingredient in the cardinal virtues rather than a virtue itself, even if we might associate it with temperance most of all.

For Aristotle with his growth mindset, on the other hand, self-control was more like a stepping stone on the way to complete virtue. That’s partly because his developed virtue theory hypothesized that even having wayward emotions in the first place was the result of a disordered soul. The self-controlled person is certainly better than either the “akratic” person, who knows what’s right and reasonable and yet is swept away by some passion, either because they are weak (and after thinking it through, their passion still wins out) or impetuous (i.e. they don’t deliberate about it at all, but simply give in right away). But the need for self-control implies that a person is desiring things that aren’t good, that are in some sense irrational, and therefore such a person is not fully virtuous in that area.

This reflection is analogous to the apostle John’s statement that “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). Of course, from a Christian perspective the experience of temptation or sinful desire is not in itself sinful; this is a necessity if for no other reason than the fact that Christ himself, according to Hebrews, “in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (4:15). But in general reflection, we would probably agree that the person who doesn’t have to fight off the temptation for cupcakes all day long, but instead gets hungry at normal times for good, wholesome food, is in a more excellent or virtuous state. And we all likely expect that in heaven at least we will desire only what is good, and therefore the exercise of self-control will be, for all intents and purposes, unnecessary.

Nevertheless, on the road to perfect bliss, self-control and the will to refrain from giving in to our wayward desires stands clearly before us as Christians. As Paul says of himself:

Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Cor 9:25-27)

Self-control may have been named by Greek philosophers, practiced by athletes and endorsed by Stoics, but the New Testament has claimed it as a Christian virtue. Therefore, we neglect it at our peril. And peril it is. Like the Sirens of Greek mythology, the lure of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the lust of the world conspire to entrap the Christian through their seductive song, only to shipwreck our lives on the shoals of sin.

The School of Self-control

These days education doesn’t normally aim directly at inculcating will-power or self-control, partly because of the influence of pragmatism. Virtues like self-control, though incredibly practical in nature, still have fallen into neglect, since they are associated with personal values, philosophy and religion. Directly focusing on them is suspect in the modern world, where the avoidance of traditional values has become of paramount importance, especially in public schools.

But for us as Christian educators, the power and ubiquity of the Sirens’ call in our world should cause us concern. There may be other contributing factors to the exodus of some of our youth from church, either after high school or college, but it’s at least worth considering whether the failure of Christian homes, churches and schools to train them in self-control is a prime candidate. People don’t leave the faith for primarily intellectual reasons, but for moral and relational ones. If they are unable to resist the Sirens’ call of a self-indulgent culture, then sooner or later they are likely to abandon ship, or perhaps it would be better to say, make “shipwreck of their faith,” to maintain the image and reference the apostle Paul’s own metaphor from 1 Timothy 1:19 for what happens when someone doesn’t hold on to a “good conscience.”

But how can we teach self-control? What practical steps can be done to “make every effort,” as Peter encourages us? Of course, there’s a sense in which every person must deliberately seek self-control for him or herself. But respecting that principle of individual responsibility and the work of grace in each person’s own life, how can we work at creating little schools for self-control in our homes, our churches, and yes, indeed, our Christian schools?

Again, it may be strange to think of the purpose of a school as a gymnasium for forming virtues like self-control, especially Christian ones, though as we’ve seen self-control is of a Greek philosophical origin and it’s been studied by modern neuroscience and psychology. So in the case of self-control, it’s not as though we’re trying to tackle the science of salvation, or practical tips for manipulating students into saving faith, as if that were possible….

But the liberal arts tradition of education has often thought in terms of virtues, both moral and intellectual, as key outcomes of the schooling process. For instance, the British Christian educator Charlotte Mason famously wrote:

We who teach should make it clear to ourselves that our aim in education is less conduct than character; conduct may be arrived at, as we have seen, by indirect routes, but it is of value to the world only as it has its source in character.

“The Way of the Will” from vol. 6, Toward a Philosophy of Education

Self-control, or what’s popularly called willpower, is an element of that character that Mason claims as our “aim in education.” Conduct, or what we might call behavior, can be arrived at through easier means, according to Mason; she probably has in mind punishments and rewards, which have their place, but may not penetrate to the heart and form the long-term character of the student. And in the same context, she speaks of self-control specifically, saying “it is time that we realised that to fortify the will is one of the great purposes of education.” Here Mason seems to imply that education itself could be carried out in such a way as to strengthen students’ wills or weaken students’ wills, to bolster the virtue of self-control or encourage the vice of giving in to every whim or passion, suggestion or desire that flits into our minds.

It’s worth stopping for a moment to consider. Could we be setting up our schools, our classes, our churches and homes, such that there is no requirement for ourselves or our students to exercise discipline and self-restraint? Is every desire and whim satisfied so quickly and easily that no self-mastery is necessary in daily learning and life? Are our students kept in such a stupor of entertainment and stimulation, that they don’t need to exercise their wills to deny themselves and pursue higher goals moment by moment?

If we were seriously to view inculcating self-control as a chief goal of our schools, I think there would need to be some large-scale re-orienting of how we go about education. Commonplace assumptions about what makes learning “better” might need to be re-thought. Self-control may manifest itself in a simple act of deferring gratification, but its development requires an intentional environment of support exercising its influence over many years. As Mason says,

The ordering of the will is not an affair of sudden resolve; it is the outcome of a slow and ordered education in which precept and example flow in from the lives and thoughts of other men, men of antiquity and men of the hour, as unconsciously and spontaneously as the air we breathe. But the moment of choice is immediate and the act of the will voluntary; and the object of education is to prepare us for this immediate choice and voluntary action which every day presents.

One aspect that Mason brings up here that we have not yet mentioned is the power of example to shape the imaginations of students. Like “the air we breathe” the culture and curriculum of a school can either endorse the beauty and dignity of self-mastery, or subtly undercut it through neglect and cynicism.

Going Further with Self-control

Educating for self-control is so important a topic that it needs space to be developed more. Not only is it crucial for key educational objectives we’ve already discussed, like deliberate practice and deep reading, it has implications for the discipline and correction of children. In addition, modern neuroscience and psychology have demonstrated its value, even from a secular perspective, for all sorts of positive life outcomes. And they have described in minute detail why so much of the traditional wisdom about cultivating self-control actually works from a brain science perspective. In our next blog post we unpack more of this material and delve deeper into the tactics for developing self control and their connection to the faculty of attention.

In the meantime, how do you cultivate self-control? In yourself, your children, your students?

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