The Potential To Become Great - Part 2
THE POTENTIAL TO BECOME GREAT
The Cardinal Virtues – Responsible to Yourself
Aristotle’s teaching about virtue has affected world cultures for 2000 years. He observed that every child has the potential to be a virtuous person – or what I like to call a”great person.” For Aristotle, “potentiality” needed cultivation until it became “actuality.”
Aristotle’s list of virtues is robust, but it is summarized in what has become know as the four cardinal virtues – justice, courage, self-control and wisdom. In total, these cardinal virtues encapsulate the description of a virtuous person, a great person.
Justice, or to be “right”, is listed first. It has four applications: right toward ourselves, right toward our duties, right toward others, and right toward God. The notion defies current models of self-absorption and hedonism. Instead, virtue begins by assigning young people responsibilities. As young adults fulfill those responsibilities they experience the richness and fullness of life; they nurture a deep sense of personal satisfaction, and mark themselves out as a noble people.
The first of these applications - right toward ourselves - tells the young child that maturity and personal fulfillment lie in your effort to become what you can become. It explains that you – personally, primarily and foremost - are responsible to develop your skills and your talents. Furthermore, you are also responsible to help shape your attitudes and dispositions toward life and its complexities. Even though life’s journey begins with your genetic make-up, virtue takes that basic foundation and helps it reach its highest potential.
Yes . . . we can, should and must teach our children to think and act with this kind of virtue. It may be hard for parents to believe it’s possible; our culture has drifted far from the confidence that children could or would take such personal responsibility for their own lives. Tracy Cross, Distinguished Professor of Gifted Studies at Ball State University, explains that during the past 50 years, the metaphor for life among young people has changed. In the first half of the 20th century the metaphor was life as achievement; its models were Edison, Einstein, Jackie Robinson. Now the metaphor has become life as entertainment: its models are entertainment and sports icons. The change deeply affects how young people approach life.
But, parents, you should believe that children are capable of listening to, responding to, and taking action upon challenges that require them to be responsible to themselves. Actually, I have found that children love it when I talk to them this way, when I place the responsibility of becoming what they can become squarely upon their own shoulders. Somehow, intuitively, they know it is true. They simply need the courage to think it is so and the support that helps them act upon it. Then, of course, they need adult encouragement and guidance. But because this virtue is intrinsic to their human make-up, they are able to respond.
My basic premise in teaching mathematics, and my central expectation, is that students will assume responsibility for their progress and success. It is their job to do well. Certainly I will help in every imaginable way, from classroom instruction to after-school tutoring. But I cannot make my students learn math. They must learn and practice virtue toward themselves. I use the language that inspires this responsibility and offer the continuing support that brings it to fruition.
My wife and I take the same approach in our Leadership Class for middle school students. “Leadership is proactive,” we tell the students, “You should not wait for us to tell you what to do. Open your eyes. See what is needed. LEAD! Cultivate the talents and capacities you have.” We understand that the maturing process will take time. But it starts with our expectations and instruction.
Children, as a part of their human constitution, possess the capacity to be responsible toward themselves. We adults must believe it is possible and then offer our guidance, encouragement, and support.
By Charles Debelak
