LESSONS FOR LIFE

Positive education methods boost students' academic performance and well-being, experts say

When some Chinese schools first began to introduce the concept of positive education, many parents feared that the programs would sacrifice academic rigor. However, research from China and around the world shows that programs to teach productive character traits and virtues, including curiosity, optimism, leadership, gratitude, teamwork, grit, resilience and long-term planning, raise not only life satisfaction, but also the test scores of students.

"Some people misunderstand the concept of positive education," said Zhao Yukun, administrative director of the Positive Psychology Research Center at Tsinghua University. "They think it aims to make the kids as happy as possible. This is wrong. The only way you could do that is to indulge them, to let them follow their own wills. But this will not give them sustainable happiness. We are trying to develop character skills that improve long-term well-being."