Leadership education is often cookie cutter “team building” exercises that do not really address the needs of children in terms of true empowerment, engaging and educating children on the true meaning of leadership, much less truly empowering them to be actual leaders. The proof of this is the fact that many students who seem to have topnotch careers, as students are actually spending their lives cheating.
Cheating is on the rise according to several studies in high schools and colleges in America and abroad. The pressure to succeed in a very narrowly defined way is creating a nation of cheaters. Just look at the recent political news and it is easy to see that ethics is sorely lacking even among our elected and stated leaders. With these kinds of examples how can our children learn ethical leadership?
Just knowing something is wrong is not enough to stop people from performing unethical behaviors because in our culture winning seems more important than right and wrong. According to the studies the peer pressure to get the mark rather than learn the material is at the root of the issue. To empower children to be ethical:
Develop an Honor Code — Creating an honor code with the help of the students will enable a conversation to take place about what honor is, thus empowering children to take a leadership role in their own lives.
Reward Whistleblowers — While we probably don’t want our children to go around telling on each other continuously the current situation with beating up on whistleblowers is dangerous to the integrity of all of us.
Demonstrate Honesty and Integrity — By setting a good example of doing the right thing in the face of adversity, you are showing children a new way to behave. This example empowers children to become leaders in their own lives by learning to do the right thing.
Reward Learning Over Testing — This may not be able to be accomplished at all levels of education, but students need plenty of opportunity and examples that show how learning the material is more important than learning to take a test.
Many times our children are not engaged because no one is doing anything extraordinary to catch their attention. If you really want to educate children in a way that is empowering and carries a lifelong positive effect on them, be extraordinary yourself. Be how you hope they will be as they grow up.