Moral Culture, and a few other things

[RCastillo]

One of the things the General(ITF) points out in his encyclopedia is Moral Culture, specifically on Community Service. Is that something that should be pushed, and required of it's members?

Another thing is sacrificing for ones art. I think we've all done that somewhere, and I've worked a few tourneys myself. What I don't like is that it's a required thing in order to work for promotion, while the Promoters make the money.

While there are important values that we all need, I wonder if that should be an intregal part of the arts, considering where Americans are concerned. Being that I'm a school teacher, I find myself having to correct these students, but where are their parents, and what did they teach them?

If I'm wrong, please give me your opinion.

Thanks, and Respects to you!

 

[Ty K. Doe]

I too, am a school teacher and have noticed that many of these kids are not taught moral values at all. For those students who begin to take an interest in the martial arts they seem to have no interest in being corrected or disciplined and quickly lose interest in the martial arts (at least where I'm from). There are a few exceptions.

Many people tend to believe that when Americans began to insist that religion be removed from schools in any form that the moral fiber of our youth began to shred. I feel this way to an extent, but if you look at the Asian culture, which is full of disciplined individuals, without some form of christian religion, they seem to have done a pretty good job. Perhaps there is some way to integrate what they teach as far as discipline and respect without pushing some component of religion. Granted it is difficult to teach moral values without some religious content, because after all, without some deeper meaning why should kids have morals. What are the real consequences.

I find that to these kids, their adulthood is an eternity away and they can't grasp that what they do now will ultimately shape the way they are in the near future.

As far as their parents, well many are blind to the fact that their child is aweful because they're not home because they have to work 2 hours away. People don't have time for their children anymore, which is a big contributor to these kids behavior, according to many statistics. Not to mention all the single parent families. Most of the time the Mom has the kids and just aren't menacing enough to have any effective discipline. They just don't have the power to control the kids. I'm not talking beatings. I'm saying that mothers are just to sweet to really maintain control. Kids aren't afraid of getting in trouble. They're not afraid of mom and they're not afraid of detention, and it seems they are not afraid of bad grades either. There are no consecuences. Not until it's too late anyway.

Perhaps the answer is to bring back the "Board of Education," i.e. paddlings.

Sorry if I turned this thread into something it wasn't intended to be.

 

[kickerfour]

Moral Culture is an important part of Taekwon-Do as far as I'm concerned. Many people come to us (or send their children) because of this aspect.

While I don't believe it is necessarily our job to teach right from wrong, we do have the ability to give guidence and set an example for our students.

 

[Cthulhu]

Unfortunately, I think Moral Culture gets thrown out the window by many Western instructors. Instead of Moral Culture, they preach competition, trophies, and win win win so they can attract more students for more $$$.

Cthulhu

 

[Klondike93]

But, is what's moral to one person moral to another? If that's the case then which morals do we teach?

:asian:

 

[kickerfour]

Klondike said
"But, is what's moral to one person moral to another? If that's the case then which morals do we teach? "

Be very careful about what I call moral relativism. Also becareful not to confuse morality with religion. They are not the same thing. There are some truths that are absolute.

I may get time to go into more detail in the next few days. Sorry, but things are nuts right now.