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Education - "Moral Intelligence"

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Question: What is "Moral Intelligence" and who is Dr. Michele Borba?

Answer: Dr. Michele Borba, Ed.D. is "a former classroom teacher, is an internationally renowned consultant and educator who has presented workshops to over half a million participants. She is the recipient of the National Educator Award and the author of eighteen books including Parents Do Make A Difference....." For more information visit her website at http://www.moralintelligence.com

On her website, Dr. Borba offers a "The Step-By-Step Plan to Building Moral Intelligence. This page tells us that "moral intelligence is the capacity to understand right from wrong; it means to have strong ethical convictions and to act on them so that one behaves in the right and honorable way."

She promotes "seven essential virtues" in her workshops: empathy, conscience, self-control, respect, kindness, tolerance and fairness. They all sound good, don't they? But if you are a follower of Christ, you would discover that some of her definitions and usage of these words turn your traditional definitions upside down. The chart we used to illustrate a similar set of virtues in "Character Training For Global Citizenship" seem to fit her training programs well:

	CHRISTIAN Context or Paradigm "Modern" (from Biblical perspective)	GLOBAL Context or Paradigm "Post-modern" (from global perspective)
respect	for what God calls good	for politically correct values and persons
responsibility	to God first	to the collective community
understanding	from God's perspective	from global perspective
co-operation	according to God's plan	according to changing rules
citizenship	obey God's guidelines	serve and conform to group
altruism	God's love through us to others	mandatory "voluntary" service
empathy	compassion for the needy	emotional oneness with all
justice	fair trial, compensation for wrong	socialist equality, redistribution

Some of Dr. Borba's seven virtues -- respect and kindness -- sound neutral on this this particular page (Building Moral Intelligence). If separated from today's education agenda and taught in a Christian context, the two sets of guidelines could be helpful. But that's not the case. Since they have already been placed into the new education context, the virtue "respect" would most likely be used as described in "Character Training For Global Citizenship."

The other four match today's worldwide education "reform." They would help build "lifelong learners" trained to cooperate with the consensus process (see Mind Control) and conform to today's politically correct "common ground" no matter how contrary to Biblical truth.

1. "EMPATHY ... Develop empathy for another person’s point of view."

Any view? Even the beliefs of the uncompromising Christian student? 

2. "CONSCIENCE ... Foster moral discipline to help kids learn right from wrong."

What is the standard for right and wrong? When trained to tolerate unhealthy and unbiblical lifestyles, students must also learn to twist God's standards for right and wrong. See Isaiah 5:20

3. "SELF-CONTROL: Regulating your thoughts and actions so that you stop any pressures from within or without and act the way you know and feel is right."  

Is what you "know" and the way you "feel" based on group consensus, peer pressure or Biblical Truth?

6. TOLERANCE: Respecting the dignity and rights of all persons, even those beliefs and behaviors we may disagree with. ...  Instill an appreciation for diversity."

This demand for multicultural "appreciation" of beliefs and values that clash with God's guidelines creates a painful choice for many Christian students: conform to the group or face the offense of the group. Those who choose the latter may stand alone among their peers but they will surely enjoy God's strength and loving presence. See Joshua 1:9

7. FAIRNESS: Choosing to be open-minded and to act in a just and fair way. ... Teach your child ways to stand up against unfairness and injustice."

In schools across the country, "fairness" has become an argument for involving students in social action. For those who have only been exposed to today's revised history America (see The International Agenda), it makes sense to join the crusade for socialist programs that would "end poverty" and create economic equality around the world. Sounds fair when you don't consider the true costs of socialist "welfare" and government control.