Schools should focus and put more emphasis on character developmentthan on academic excellence. Do you agree or disagree?

I agree that schools should focus and put more emphasis on character development than on academic excellence. Students spent most of the time they are awake in school than at home when receiving secondary education or higher, which make the school an vital factor when it comes to the character development on students, especially during secondary school when students are under-going puberty. Teachers also have more experience handling students then parents who are generally amateur when it comes to talking to their children. Lastly, academic excellence can be independently achieved, but characther development requires guidance from experienced guardians, which is achievable from experienced teachers in schools.


An average secondary student would spend half his day in schools for lessons, and staying back for afternoon lessons or co-curriculum activities are not of any rarity when receiving secondary education or higher. People name schools as a 'second home', and in some cases, students spent more time in school then at home, awake. Being in school more often, students would mix around with their friends more, of which may include negative influences. Thus character development when the child is at school is important and focusing on it is no lesser of an importance.


Having interacted with different students, teachers would have the upper hand when it comes to coaching, compared to an ordinary parent. Especially if the child is their first one. Teachers would naturally come across various cases of which students face emotional problems, or when their students get rebellious and do things that are against the school rules. Teachers would then have to interfere with such matters and have the equal responsibility to help their students get back onto the right track, and not be suspended on the rusty and broken track that they have been riding on. As such, teachers would have more experience in guiding their students. Parents on the other hand, have lesser experience, as being a parent has never been experienced by them in the first place. thus parenting and even talking to their children may be a chore to them.


Academic excellence can be achieved independently at home after lessons in schools, but when a student is alone, character development cannot be achieved without guidance. A student can study by himself, but certainly, when an action is made, he/her would not have thought as much, as they have relatively immature minds, thus making it hard for them to guide themselves proper. In response to this, school time can be used to help out different students through character development. Character development does not have to be specifically moral education. It is proven that learning the different forms of arts can help with the students' character.


In conclusion, I agree that schools should focus and put more emphasis on character development than on academic excellence since they spent much time in school and that the teachers there are more experienced compared to parents who do not have experience at all. Adding on, academic excellence may be achieved by the child alone but this is certainly not the case for character development.