At a certain age, whether in the eyes of the law or society, a child transitions from being dependent, impressionable, and vulnerable to becoming a moral agent—someone responsible for their actions and capable of making choices whose consequences they are willing to face. But what happens until that moment? How do we prepare children for the responsibility of moral agency while also discerning when that moment of readiness arrives?

Morality is a complex maze of acquiescence, empathy, ethical considerations, and perhaps even coercion. Teaching morality to children, however, is even more intricate. It requires teaching someone not yet considered a normative agent—someone not fully equipped to reason independently or critically discern where lessons fit within their values framework. How do we teach morality in a way that doesn’t just dictate behaviour but empowers children to grow into thoughtful, autonomous moral agents?

This is the central challenge of moral education: balancing the need to guide children with the risk of creating a framework one is rewarded for blindly reinforcing. Can moral education ever avoid indoctrination, or is some level of coercion necessary for children to understand ethical principles before they can question them?

Schools are at the crossroads of this dilemma. They are built on discipline and structure, often assuming that order and predictability are essential for fostering responsibility. Yet freedom truly allows moral growth—the freedom to make mistakes, wrestle with ethical dilemmas, and fail. How can schools and families balance this tension? How do you provide enough structure to guide children while allowing them to develop their moral compass?

Literature has long offered a way to navigate these questions. Stories allow children to enter moral dilemmas and imagine choices and consequences beyond their experiences. But is literature truly a neutral space? Or does it, too, reflect the biases and values of those who write and teach it? Does storytelling help children grapple with ethical questions or subtly guide them toward predetermined answers?

Complicating this further is the modern world, where children are shaped not only by families and schools but also by systems of algorithms and instant gratification. Social media and digital platforms teach them to prioritise quick rewards over thoughtful reflection, bypassing the critical thinking necessary for moral responsibility. How do we equip children to navigate these forces and develop a moral framework in a world that rarely rewards long-term reflection?

At the heart of the morality maze lies one overarching question: How do we teach morality to children in a way that empowers them to become moral agents rather than mere followers of rules? Can moral education ever truly escape coercion, or is teaching morality inherently directive?

Join us as we explore these pressing questions in The Morality Maze, hosted as part of the White Owl Literature Festival in Nagaland and co-presented by Trendspotting, the Hearth Advisors’ monthly lecture series. Moderated by Shashank Vira, founder and managing partner of Hearth Advisors, this session invites you to delve into the complexities of moral education, the boundaries of coercion, and the possibilities for raising a generation of thoughtful, ethical individuals.

 

Panellists:

Prof. Brainerd Prince (Director, Center for Thinking, Language and Communication, Plaksha University)

Rhea Kuthoore (Philosopher, Childhood Studies)

Molona Wati Longchar (Author and Creative Director)

Geetika Timmins (Founder, Anyūna Bīja)

Moderator:

Shashank Vira (Managing Partner, Hearth Advisors)

A study led by Jo Johnson and Shashank Vira for the Harvard Kennedy School and the Policy Institute at King’s College London suggests that the UK government should make a comprehensive knowledge partnership with India one of the main goals of a proposed free trade agreement between the two countries.

“The UK needs to deploy its knowledge assets – notably its universities and its research base – in a more strategic way with India, by making a ‘comprehensive knowledge partnership’ the centrepiece of a post-Brexit UK-India free trade agreement,” Mr Johnson, a former universities minister, said.

The report proposes several reforms to bolster the competitiveness and long-term sustainability of the UK’s position in international education, reduce dependencies on China, and drive out fraud and abuse that threaten the integrity of the UK visa system.