Forgiveness education.

Abstract

thE principLEs undErLyinG ForGivEnEss EducationWe considered eight principles when devising forgiveness education:1. the learning should take place in a nonstressful environment, such as a family setting or a classroom. 2. What is discussed initially does not center personally on the child but instead on story characters. the child sees first that story characters have conflicts. next, the child sees that there are many ways to solve and deal with conflicts and that forgiveness is one of those ways. next, the child sees that forgiveness does not directly solve a situation of injustice. instead, forgiveness is one way of dealing with the consequences of injustice. once a child understands what forgiveness is and what it isnot and understands the nature of interpersonal conflict (when one person acts badly, others can be hurt), he or she is ready to explore the pathway of forgiveness, the "how to" of forgiveness. this, again, is best taught by having the child first see others (story characters) go through forgiveness as a way to model it. 4. then it is time for a child to start trying to forgive someone for a real offense against the child. this is best accomplished initially by choosing a small offense (e.g., being pushed on the playground) and only later building up to more serious injustices. 5. as children learn about forgiveness, the instruction should be developmental. By this we mean that at first the child can see a story character forgiving one other story character for one offense. then the child should begin to reason that if a story character can forgive one person for one offense, maybe that story character can forgive that same other person again and again, learning to generalize forgiveness across situations. 6. next in the developmental sequence, the child learns that the generalization can occur across divergent other people so that he or she can forgive a variety of people for a variety of offenses. 7. then in adolescence comes the more mature idea that "i can be a forgiving person." in other words, forgiveness is not just something that one does in a behavioral sense, but instead forgiveness can go beyond actions to an internalized response that is part of the self, part of one's identity as a person. it is here that the desire to forgive becomes more stable and enthusiasm for this moral virtue begins to develop. it is what aristotle called "the love of the virtues."

Facilitation of Forgiveness

“…For any rigorous research program to be successful, a thorough conceptual analysis must precede it. Most scholars agree that forgiveness is not an act of pardoning, condoning, excusing, forgetting, calming down, or reconciling 8,9. Although there is not consensus on the definition of forgiveness in the literature, views on what forgiveness is continue to vary 9,10…”

“…Despite the growing empirical studies on forgiveness, empirical findings do not determine the defining characteristics of forgiveness. Based on the Aristotelian perspective of defining moral virtues, Enright and Fitzgibbons8 argue that forgiveness is a moral virtue that focuses on the forgiver and an internal motivation to participate in the act of forgiveness and unconditional love. First, the character of the forgiver focuses on a concern for goodness and human welfare, cognitively aware of their actions, internally motivated to do good, and practices a moral behavior that reflects the goodness of heart.…”

“…There are variations in individual expressions of forgiveness. The forgiver is not perfect in his or her expression of forgiveness, which varies depending on the situation while avoiding extremes, including that of hasty reconciliations 8. Moreover, the forgiver is driven to be consistent in his or her practice of the virtue.…”

The Value of Forgiveness in the Eyes of High-School Teachers: Do They Perceive it as Related yo Testing and Grading Students?

“…Nevertheless, forgiveness-in the sense of allowing students to err until they succeed, and eliminating the assessment of all students by standardized tests (one size fits all)-is not part of the educational conversation about values. In this article we draw on research that has found empirical evidence for the idea that forgiving mistakes people make generates surprisingly positive results (Worthington, 2006;Enright & Fitzgibbons, 2015).…”