Why Children need to be taught manners!
[Excellent article from Tradition, Family, and Property concerning the great importance of teaching children proper manners. Of course this goes against modern-day "wisdom", which teaches that manners are just a mere personal preference. Thank god my parents had the common sense to teach me manners and how to act like a gentleman.]
The Educational Importance of Manners
By John Horvat II
At first glance it might seem rather forced to make a connection between education and manners. In our secular society, manners like morals seem to be optional in the formation of youth.
It is something relegated to parents to teach children at the dinner table if and when they eat together. Manners are a feel good thing, a way to be nice to people, or maybe even a “social lubricant” that helps one get ahead but hardly an essential part of education.
If we accept the premise that education is the mere imparting of knowledge to children, then manners are indeed superfluous and really serve no purpose
However, if we believe that education involves the formation of the whole character in addition to imparting knowledge, then we must enthusiastically endorse manners as something that has an enormous educational importance.
Indeed, when we say in Spanish that a person is “educado,” or literally “educated,” it is not to say he is a Ph. D. candidate. Rather it means he is well mannered. Similar distinctions were made in the Portuguese and Italian languages which show how these traditional societies definitely made the connection. The teaching of manners was a very important part of the whole education of a child.
And so manners and education definitely do mix.
However, it would be quite premature to recommend a mandated Manners 101 course in public schools or turn an edition of Manners for Dummies into a standard textbook.
This is because manners cannot be seen as a kind of a feel-good set of rules for being nice-to-everyone or a politically correct framework for tolerating just about anything. There are those who are all too ready to spin manners into, for example, “evolution's solution to easing the stresses of communal living.”
If manners are to be taught, it must be within their proper framework. We must go beyond the rules of etiquette and into the very nature of manners themselves.
Read the rest of the article at Tradition, Family, and Property
The Educational Importance of Manners
By John Horvat II
At first glance it might seem rather forced to make a connection between education and manners. In our secular society, manners like morals seem to be optional in the formation of youth.
It is something relegated to parents to teach children at the dinner table if and when they eat together. Manners are a feel good thing, a way to be nice to people, or maybe even a “social lubricant” that helps one get ahead but hardly an essential part of education.
If we accept the premise that education is the mere imparting of knowledge to children, then manners are indeed superfluous and really serve no purpose
However, if we believe that education involves the formation of the whole character in addition to imparting knowledge, then we must enthusiastically endorse manners as something that has an enormous educational importance.
Indeed, when we say in Spanish that a person is “educado,” or literally “educated,” it is not to say he is a Ph. D. candidate. Rather it means he is well mannered. Similar distinctions were made in the Portuguese and Italian languages which show how these traditional societies definitely made the connection. The teaching of manners was a very important part of the whole education of a child.
And so manners and education definitely do mix.
However, it would be quite premature to recommend a mandated Manners 101 course in public schools or turn an edition of Manners for Dummies into a standard textbook.
This is because manners cannot be seen as a kind of a feel-good set of rules for being nice-to-everyone or a politically correct framework for tolerating just about anything. There are those who are all too ready to spin manners into, for example, “evolution's solution to easing the stresses of communal living.”
If manners are to be taught, it must be within their proper framework. We must go beyond the rules of etiquette and into the very nature of manners themselves.
Read the rest of the article at Tradition, Family, and Property
posted by Perun at
12:53 PM
2 Comments:
Thanks for the link!
Ignorance about the importance of manners is widespread these days. In the most important sense, education is inculturation, preserving the traditions and customs and principles of a society by imparting them to the young. Manners are an essential part of culture and often the manners of a Christian society are intimately connected with virtue, particularly the practice of justice and charity.
Teaching manners to young children is one of the best ways to train them in self discipline, especially starting with the, "don't interrupt" song and dance. So much virtue can be acquired throught he practice of manners! It is natural for kids to interrupt regardless of what's going on around them, or to sit with their elbows on the table, eat lasagna with the delicious feel of it between their fingers, etc. The earlier manners are taught and demanded of children, the earlier they can begin working on self-denial and self-restraint.
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