The Code of Chivalry is set as
the qualification of the Knights during the medieval age. The chivalry code has
the root of righteousness and was based on ethic, moral, and virtue. It affected
the civilization in many areas such as families, kingdoms, churches,
literature, and also education. Focusing on the chivalry effect to the area of education,
there are two main points on how the chivalry affect the education. The first
point is the idea of rigorous training where the student was trained in a
rigorous or tough way such as the military that they will be prepare to face
problems in the future. The second point is the discernment based education
where the Bible is the standard to discern between what is right and what is
almost right. Through this process of education or learning, they were able to
produce knights who were not only a skillful person, but also a righteous person
with ethic, moral, and virtue; on the other word, a knight is someone who has a
true beauty, both within and without. Having righteousness as their foundation,
the knights were able to use their skill to benefit others in their life rather
than only for themselves; yet, they always remain humble all the time and
always having the heart to serve other.
In the modern days, the process
of education tends to contradict the chivalric way of education. Firstly, the
education today was seldom found to train their student with a rigorous training
where discipline is practiced. The school today tends to tolerate and
compromise with the students; correspondingly, lowering the standard. This
causes the students to be unprepared for greater obstacles in the future life. Second,
the education in the modern days was skill based where they set the skills as
their standard with no ability to discern between what is right and almost
right. Almost all of the school neglect the character building and would rather
focus on the academics. As a consequence, the modern education produces someone
contradictory to the knights in the medieval ages. They produce someone who although
is skillful, does not know the clear standard of righteousness; therefore
unable to discern between right and almost right. On other words, they were
only developed on the outer, but having an undeveloped inner beauty. With such
education, people tend to only care for themselves and neglecting about others;
moreover, in other cases, people even use their skill for the wrong purpose of
bringing harm to others such as the terrorist.
People should understand that a
life is meaningless when we only live for ourselves, not care for others, and
also vice versa; therefore, to benefit other people, it is a necessity for us
to have the right education that prepares us with a rigorous training for the
future such that we may be strong when facing big problems in the future. This
can be symbolized to how gold should go through the fire to become stronger and
become more valuable. Second, the right education should prepare the students
to be able to discern based on the right standard; on the other words, building
the character of the students rather than only developing the skills, so that
the students will be able to use their skills in the right way such as
benefiting others.
As a conclusion, one of the effects
of the chivalry to the civilization was the area of education. The chivalry
affects the education area in two ways which are the rigorous training and the
discernment based education. With such education, they were able to produce
knights who were excellent both in character quality and skill. Nowadays, it's
ironic how schools were trying to instill values in their students, but ends up
causing their life to be meaningless because the schools only focus on
developing the skill and neglecting the character building. This causes the
students to tend to be selfish, only cares for themselves and not for others;
consequently, they end up having a meaningless life. The righteous education
should be able to prepare the students for the future and develop both their
discernment in righteousness or character and obviously develop their skill.
With such education, the students may be able to use their skill not only for
their own benefit, but also for other's benefit. When they were able to benefit
others, their life will not be a meaningless life. Today, I'm very grateful to
God who allows me to have the right education where character building is
prioritized in my school. This, therefore, allows me to be built both inside
out so that I may be able to benefit others; furthermore, benefit the world. In
this way, I will be able to live a meaningful life and leave a legacy to the coming
generation.