John Bingham, Social Affairs Editor, writes about a study involving 10,000 British children and 250 teachers, conducted by the Jubilee Centre.
From the Telegraph article:
Children who sing in a choir, play in an orchestra or take to the stage are more likely to make good moral choices than their fellow classmates, a study has concluded.
Are you surprised that children who learn how to collaborate and work with each other in artistic disciplines show greater moral reasoning? Do you have an anecdote or similar experience to share? Do you think something else accounts for the higher scores in morality?
You can review the Jubilee Centre report, Character Education in UK Schools, in full via their website.
Posted by David Streever
All Content © 2017 Episcopal Café
I played cello in in school orchestra from age 9-18, then played in college too. The kids that play instruments have to exercise self-control for hours & hours. (those not predisposed, weed themselves out pretty quickly). There is no talking, just watching the conductor and listening intently. You don’t even get the satisfaction of playing that much, you have to wait for the concerts to play a piece all the way through. With classical music, there is a built-in, healthy outlet for emotions and feelings . Put together, I think these life skills are conducive to accepting moral teachings.
….Do you think the orchestra/choir/theatre kids (age 13 & under), would say that abortion is ‘immoral’ ?
I would hope that children 13 and under didn’t think about abortion at all.
George:
I think it depends on the kid and what they’ve learned about abortion. I genuinely think there are a lot of factors and issues that make it hard to objectively determine the morality of abortion as a stand alone topic. Kids who have learned biological facts about pregnancy and gestation and fetal development for instance might have a very different opinion on the morality, when compared to a kid who knows nothing at all about the science, but has a personal belief that an independent human consciousness like themselves is present at the moment of conception.
That’s the one problem with some morality appeals; having or not having specific knowledge can drastically change the answer, but two people who strongly disagree can each believe that they are the morally correct one.
In other news, people who read to their children have more literate children and people who teach their children dental hygiene have better dentist visits.
Meaning that parents who teach their kids the difference between right and wrong are more likely to put their kids in choir rather than football? That’s what I wondered, too, Bill. We do need to consider the source of the self-serving study.
Judging by the likes and shares of our item on Facebook, there are plenty who would like to believe that its music that causes goodness. It is hard to recruit for the childrens’ choir when you’re up against Sunday morning soccer.
https://www.facebook.com/TheEpiscopalCafe/posts/10152988200939792
This Cafe contributor sees 30 shares in 3 hours. That’s a lot.
Maybe hearing the Word of God as they sit in the choir helps as well. Maybe the words they sing run through their young minds during the week. I clearly don’t think it is counter-intuitive.