What happens when schools stop teaching virtue? When we remove moral development and refocus education on grades or test scores, we lose sight of what shapes a student's life and character. Historically, schools not only taught math and reading, but they also inspired students to lead with integrity, and to dedicate themselves to causes greater than themselves. At John Adams Academy, we define virtue as an inner commitment and voluntary outward obedience to principles of truth and moral law.* When we remove virtue from education, we are, in a sense, creating a ladder that leads to nowhere. 

The Cost of Forgetting Virtue  

In schools today students are taught (indirectly or directly) that scores define who they are. If your grade isn’t high enough, you’re not good enough. There’s so much pressure to be “smart” and get the highest grade that it creates competition instead of collaboration. Students start to compete with one another, out of fear of falling behind, being labeled, or not measuring up. Some students cheat, not because they lack intelligence, but because they fear failure. Others stop asking questions in class, worried about how that might make them look. Scores can be useful, but they don’t show who a student is or how much they really know. The results are not to be trusted. Without virtue, education starts to be a numbers game. Learning isn’t just about performance, it’s about character. When schools remove conversations about ethics, responsibility, and citizenship, students lose more than grades. They lose guidance.  

Virtue Is Not Perfection, It’s Growth  

Virtue doesn’t mean you will never fail. It’s about learning how to respond when you do fail. For example, touching a hot stove. Once you’ve made the mistake, what matters most is not that you touched it, but that you learn and change your behavior. The same is true in academics and in leadership. Risk, failure, and growth are important for your journey. Students have been taught to fear mistakes instead of embracing them as steppingstones to build character.  

A Lesson from History: 

Most of us can agree that Abraham Lincoln was a great servant leader, yet he wasn’t defined by his grades or a report card but by honesty and personal responsibility. He pursued his own education, not because someone pushed him, but because he believed it mattered. He didn’t have a grade telling him he could or couldn’t lead. Abraham Lincoln led with integrity and helped shape our nation’s moral direction. He led the nation in the abolition of slavery. Imagine if he as a young lad was judged by today’s academic standards, we might have not noticed the genius of one of history’s most impactful leaders.  

When Students Lose Virtue, They Lose Direction  

Anxiety, depression, and bullying have risen as schools in a rapidly alarming rate, and there are many factors related to this. In that environment, we teach students that their future depends on grades, but do we teach them the tools that lead to earning those grades with resilience and integrity? Are they reminded that who they are matters as much or more than what they know? 

The old adage is, “'People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” You can be the smartest person in the room, but without the respect others, your ability to collaborate, and lead with humility, your knowledge doesn’t create much in isolation.  

How apt are we to listen to a stranger that tells us how to live our lives? How inspired are we when we have a trusted relationship with someone who models virtue?  Character and virtuous action are a mentor’s superpower.    

Bringing Virtue Back 

As mentors, we don’t need to have all the answers, but we need to be able to ask essential probing questions. Teachers and parents can model virtue every day through honesty, service, perseverance, and kindness. Always looking for great primary sources and mentors in history that model great action and great character.  We can share our love for discovering truth alongside our scholars by inspiring ourselves.   

When students see adults lead with virtue, they will naturally follow. When classrooms value integrity, not just test scores, students begin to collaborate instead of just completing to compete. We can raise servant leaders who lift others up, make principled choices, and use their knowledge to serve, rather than seeking followers and instant recognition.  

Students Deserve More Than a Score 

Young people deserve more than just test scores; they deserve mentors who will point them towards the true, the good, and the beautiful as a means of discovering the genius and excellence that lives with in them.  

When we inspire with virtue, we prepare students not for a test with grades and scores, but the test for life.