As we began the new year last week, I had occasion to read several things on the Internet about teaching tolerance to children and teenagers. Most educators and those teaching character lean toward teaching tolerance as acceptance – of nearly everything.
The exercise of tolerance, educators and coaches tell us, involves acceptance of other people’s individual differences and individual beliefs without passing judgment on them. The only things we should judge, they say, are the abilities, character, and conduct of others. They equate this with the exercise of respect.
Really?
This is not tolerance, but many people are presenting it this way.
Teaching tolerance is made difficult by the “new tolerance” that is aggressively taught in today’s society. The new tolerance wants us to accept everything. Not only are we to accept differences as stated above, we are to accept them as right and good. We are expected, in a word, to practice Cultural Marxism.
We are expected to turn aside from building character and honing convictions. We are no longer to strive for moral excellence. Those who do so will be punished. They will be punished by seeing others who exert no effort on character rewarded with the same or greater acceptance. The wealth of character will be, in a sense, taken from those who built it and distributed among those who chose not to build. Those who did not build will be accorded the same acceptance as those who labored for moral excellence.
A six-page article on this subject, entitled “Tolerance, a Difficult Character Trait” explains this in detail. It points out that Cultural Marxism in the matter of tolerance is similar to political Marxism, which operates on the principle that each must work according to capacity, but receive according to need. As in political Marxism, many decide in cultural Marxism not to work to capacity. All will be rewarded equally, so why work for the reward?
Teaching tolerance, says the author of “Tolerance, a Difficult Character Trait”, must include an aggressive presentation of the need for personal convictions. It must help students understand that tolerance never blindly accepts and allows everything. Tolerance never blindly indulges differing beliefs and practices. Most beliefs are, by nature, exclusive of other beliefs. Most convictions are, by nature, exclusive of other convictions. Tolerance recognizes this.
Teaching tolerance requires that the educator, whether parent or professional teacher, make clear to students that we accept the fact of differences in people, but we never accept wrong things that they believe and do.
That, to me is teaching authentic tolerance.
Tolerance is not for those who shy away from challenges. It cannot be taught with a handful of warm platitudes. It cannot be understood without effort. Rather, it demands that we form convictions. It demands that we sift through our convictions. It insists that we decide between good and evil, accepting the good and rejecting the evil.
On a practical level, tolerance makes us decide things such as why we should or should not accept a teenager’s determination to carry a Bible to class in a public school. It makes us stop and think about things such as why we should or should not accept homosexuality and teach it in a public school.
Teaching tolerance requires much thought and effort. It is not for wimps.
That’s the view from my chair. What’s your view?