Why don't we teach Wisdom anymore?

Why is it that public education emphasizes teaching information and not wisdom?

Many cultures still value wisdom, America does not seem to be one of them. Children are taught dates, events, facts, names, numbers, and words.

What happened to teaching right and wrong?

What happened to good and evil?

What happened to how to live well?

What happened to virtue? Why shouldn't a child learn about honesty, justice, chastity, wisdom, prudence, compassion, benevolence, forgiveness, goodness?

If you look up virtue here's what you find in an American Encyclopedia, virtue: extinct when it was discovered there are no exclusive truths to base good upon.

In our society, due to our inability to recognize anything as true, we have paralyzed our ability to be wise as a nation. Our children learn vices rather than virtues. They are taught sloth, lust, gluttony, jealousy, and greed. They sit and watch media that promote such vices and have no exposure to virtue with which to combat.

How is it that we have agreed as a society to promote vices, but we find ourselves unable to teach virtues because there is no standard, no truth upon which to base such a teaching about virtues? I mean, who's virtues would you use? You can't use the Christians virtues because of the Muslims. You can't use the Muslim's virtues because of the Christians. And oh don't forget the Buddhists. Then, how can we agree to promote vices through the popular media? Who made that call and I find it offensive because they have chosen a worldview and standard that idealizes vices :) Obviously, someone has determined a standard, which is no standard and no virtues, only vices are acceptable curriculum?

Why don't we teach Wisdom anymore?

We wonder at the state of America when we flip on Jerry Springer, Montel, People's Court, Cops, or Bridezilla's and why in the world there are so many people that do not seem to have any noticeable wisdom. We chalk it up to the shows paying people to act like they are idiots and putting a show on, but I hate to burst your bubble I don't think its an act.

Why don't we teach Wisdom anymore?

I think people were wiser when they didn't have television. I think people were wiser when they lived off the land, looked at the stars at night, and made a life in their community. Sure, they didn't know all the information we do today, but what good does information do if you have no truth, if you loose mankind? Mankind has a history available to draw out virtues, to draw out truth. Mankind is not mankind if he does not exercise his mind to decipher what is good. For those who deny what is good, they rob man of his soul.

The Cross in All

What's the secret to a happy marriage? The Cross
What's the secret to a deep, life-changing conversation? The Cross
What's the secret to serving others? The Cross
What's the secret to holiness? The Cross
What's the secret to deep friendships? The Cross
What's the secret to positive working relationships? The Cross
What's the secret to listening? The Cross

You might say, "You simply apply the Cross as your answer to everything, how can this be?" "You assert the Cross as some mindless blanket statement for everything."

I would answer, "It simply is."

Think about it.

For a successful marriage relationship, one must die to self and look out for the interest of the other in God.

For a successful conversation where someone is listened to, one must remove self-interest from the conversation and allow the other person to express what needs to come off their heart. Meanwhile, the listener searches for guidance by the Holy Spirit.

For deep friendships, its about them, not us.

For progress in the spiritual life, its about God, not us.

The Cross can be seen as the ever-present reality of successful living.

The Cross, everywhere I look, I see the Cross.

Tending to the physically sick

Healing takes place in the midst of intention and community.

Intention in that you purposefully withdraw your own desires and needs for a conversation and allow a person to open up and share their feelings and fears. We should recognize this tendency to be "selfish" in our conversations with others. Rather than truly listening, we are jumping ahead to what we want to share.

Those in pain are the ones who need to share and we should be intentional with "dying to self" or "withdrawing our own needs" from a conversation.

Community in that you walk through the pain with them. You need not offer answers or attempt to make false promises. When in the valley of the shadow, one needs to walk through it. Disguising the vally does not make it go disappear.

They need to know we are there, we love them, and we will walk with them through this ordeal.

(Thanks to Henri Nouwen for many insights from, The Wounded Healer)

Morals

I wonder if you could have a graph displaying the decreasing standards of television/media content over the past fifty years, if there would be a direct corelation with decreasing moral standards of Americans over the same time-frame?