Contributed by NIE Global Education Innovation Initiative
What will help our children grow to become successful citizens with good values and character? Does it require a new way of teaching or a transformation of our education system? An ongoing University of Otago study that spans four decades points to the answer of self-control.
Professor Richie Poulton, Director of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit at the University of Otago of New Zealand, believes the answer to a successful life is already in all of us: self-control. Self-control, as the phrase implies, allows an individual to be in better control of oneself rather than to be controlled by external circumstances. And the good news is that everyone can harness and cultivate this behaviour. | Read More |
Professor Poulton and his colleagues at the Dunedin Research Unit have been conducting their holistic longitudinal research project since 1972. With more than a thousand participants to date, the study seeks to uncover what are the possible predictors of success in life. Participants, who were children when the research first started, provided strong evidence that self-control has led to success in adulthood in areas such as education, physical and emotional health, happiness, wealth, job satisfaction, family happiness, reduced obesity, reduced crime, reduced social welfare dependency, and other areas. Those with more self-control have achieved greater success in life than those with less self-control.
Self-control may be known by many other names like self-regulation, and there is a clear distinction between self-control and submission, as explained by Professor Poulton. To him, self-control is not about becoming more compliant. It is actually the reverse. Each of us is special, different and unique. We can maximise our potential if we do not let our passion and emotions control us but to be in control of them to direct our capacities toward a particular set of goals.
Professor Poulton feels that self-control should receive more attention, especially in education. Although it is good to cultivate self-control early in children, adults can learn to develop self-control later in life—just that it might take longer to cultivate the behaviour.
Professor Poulton shared his study on self-control in two lectures at NIE under the CJ Koh Professorship in Education programme. His lectures can be found in the 8th issue of the CJ Koh Professorial Lecture Series at https://www.nie.edu.sg/our-people/departments/office-of-the-chief-planning-officer#cj-koh-professorial-lecture-series.