Recently, I have been looking at the Fethuallah Gülen educational movement. The more I think about it, the less confident I am that schools will change for the better. The difference between Gülen-inspired schools and most others (not all, of course) is sacrificial love. Other teachers and staff "model" character, Gülen teachers live it. Students are not deceived, and surrounded by a culture of individualism, corporate greed, and political scandal, there's little reason for them to become any different. It's great to master content knowledge and teaching strategies, but to motivate students to want to master knowledge and develop character, teachers must love them.
None of this is new. Schweitzer, Russell, Fromm,Huebner, and others have all said the same: living a life worth living requires knowledge and love. As Russell (1961) put it,
There is only one road to progress, in education as in other human affairs, and that is: Science wielded by love. Without science, love is powerless; without love, science is destructive. (p. 158).
