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A major concern of The Way To Happiness
International is to help school-age children develop their own
standards for right and wrong conduct, standards by which they
themselves  can
guide their lives and chart their futures. This is accomplished
most notably through three programs:
The Youth Essay Contest sponsored by The Way To Happiness International
reaches approximately 90,000 students annually, primarily in
the United States. Entrants are challenged to write essays based
on the booklet’s precepts, gaining the opportunity to try
out new values and learn how they fit their lives.
Here is what a nine-year old student wrote:
“Good examples can be set in different ways.... You can
teach a younger brother or sister to make friends and that you
care. You can teach them by talking to them if they have any
problems or comforting them when they are scared. Setting a
good example also means always trying to do the right thing
because whatever you do to everyone else, the little kids will
want to do the same thing.”
Approximately 1,500 schools participate annually in a sister
contest, the Youth Poster Contest. Here students design posters
to illustrate the importance of the precepts of The Way to
Happiness.
The largest Way to Happiness contest is the Set A Good Example
Contest, sponsored by the Concerned Businessmen of America Association.
This program has reached into more than 10,600 schools, contacting
over 12 million students.  Classes
work out projects putting into use the precepts of the booklet.
Whether the project entails cleaning up litter on a beach or
roadway, running a bake sale for a local hospital, or helping
siblings and parents, the children learn the satisfaction of
helping and working positively with others.
An independent study surveyed some of the teachers and students
who participated in one of these campaigns and found:
63% of the teachers who signed up for the contest and 85% of
those submitting a project for judging noticed a positive change
in their students’ understanding of moral values.
61% of teachers who signed up and 90% of teachers submitting
a project noticed a positive change in their students’
attitudes.
85% of the students reported that they learned something from
The Way to Happiness booklet. This included learning
the importance of manners, of treating others with respect,
of taking responsibility for their actions and of being competent.
The positive impact of the program crosses cultures and life
situations. For example, more than three hundred 6th to 12th
grade students at the youth-at-risk Harlendale Alternative Center
near San Antonio, Texas, have used The Way to Happiness
as an integral part of their program. The results are described
here by one of the center’s counselors, Naida Segura:
“Although these children come from very difficult situations,
once they have been exposed to The Way to Happiness,
they are able to  make
good choices. ... It gives the children enough understanding
to overcome peer pressure and environment or familial situations
that would have them otherwise make the wrong decisions.”
And the headmaster of a Tel Aviv school described the results
which The Way to Happiness achieved with his children:
“You can take credit for the fact that since you have done
the program for the 4th grade children, there is no violence
in the 4th grade classes. There was no fighting, no violence
and no trouble, a complete reverse of what had been occurring
before!”
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“We have decreased the violence
by 70%-80% over the school year. We have decreased disrespectful
attitudes  toward
teachers, decreased vulgar language and gestures.
“Kids are now more apt to sit down, calm down, think
about what to do and set a good example. It’s not
100% but it’s 100% improvement.”
Vanessa Barbour, Principal
Lockeland Middle School
“As a parent and citizen I share your concern about
the current state of society.  Crime,
violence in schools and the general lack of moral values
are not creating a safe environment for our families and
ourselves. The good news is that something is being done
to change these conditions. That is why I am pleased to
support The Way to Happiness campaign and the Set a Good
Example contest, which is helping combat moral decline
in our society.
“With this campaign, we can prevent crime before
it begins by effectively teaching children right from
wrong — at home, at school and in the community.
“I use The Way to Happiness booklet with my family,
friends and colleagues and I invite you to do the same!”
Nancy Cartwright
Actress and voice of TV’s Bart Simpson
Essay from a student, age 15:
“There is a place where violence is commonplace
and expected much as unpleasant weather. Where nothing
is thought of armed robbery. Where narcotics and hallucinogens
are sold like newspapers. Where the only safe haven can
be found in alliance with a group of armed and hardened
people who are forever defending and conspiring against
other affiliations. Where brutal crimes are punished by
temporary confinement measured in hours, or black marks
on one’s record, or not at all. This fence- and metal
detector-encircled institution is the high school. In
this environment, the individual student is liable to
fall back to very primitive philosophies to survive, in
place of the morals that were never taught. The government’s
solution is to build vandal-proof drinking fountains.
We must bring students the morals in The Way to
Happiness. We must bring them today. For without
them, the future is dark.” |
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