Integrity is among the most important factors playing part in having a meaningful education experience. Without integrity substantial lifelong learning is simply not possible. The students that I find most annoying are those who don’t associate their education with a core value of integrity.
Students can overcome their shortcomings in a number of ways. Everyone brings a different set of challenges to the classroom environment and it is the objective of teaching to bring students to their highest possible level of achievement. That process occurs within the relationship between teacher and their individual student.
We have culturally indoctrinated young people though, with the idea that everything should move at lightning speed. Armed with the web, information gathering and research can be as instantaneous as a simple keyword search in most cases. As much of an achievement as this is, it has also engrained in our students the idea that the synthesis of that information should be instantaneous as well.
Hard work and diligence are the hallmarks of students who overcome challenges. These two traits can come into conflict with the idea of instantaneous information and the illusion of easy learning. Accessing facts is only one small piece of the educational puzzle. Students need to use those facts in an original manner.
Students have the opportunity to gather more information now than ever before. The door to brighter, more whole minds is open. Without integrity though, this opportunity is lost and the hard work of generations before will have gone to waste. I find it annoying when students miss out on these exciting times because they’re not willing or able to apply integrity to the bounty of information available to them. These are students who are driven by results and value nothing more than a grade.