Virtues or Values: Which Better Prepares Students for Life?

In previous posts, we have written about why Faith Lutheran School speaks so often of formation, why discipline is an act of love, and why the classical virtues matter for the education of children. These ideas stand in quiet contrast to much of modern educational language, which tends to emphasize values instead. Because the word “values” is so familiar, families may reasonably wonder why our school consistently uses older language and older categories.

The distinction between virtues and values is not merely philosophical. It is deeply theological. It reflects what we believe about human nature, sin, grace, and the purpose of education itself. As a classical Lutheran school, we do not simply prefer the language of virtue. We believe it more accurately describes how God forms human beings, both spiritually and morally. To understand why, we must first understand what the classical and Lutheran traditions mean by virtue, and how that differs from modern ideas of values.

Virtue and the Shape of the Human Person

In the classical tradition, a virtue is a habit of rightly ordered action and desire. Virtues are not ideas we hold but patterns we practice. They are cultivated through repetition, discipline, instruction, and correction over time. A virtuous person is not someone who merely knows what is good, but someone who is increasingly able to do what is good, even when it is difficult.

This understanding aligns closely with the Lutheran view of the human person. Scripture teaches that human beings are created good, fallen in sin, and redeemed by grace. We are not morally neutral creatures who simply need better information. Nor are we self-creating individuals who determine good and evil for ourselves. We are creatures who require formation.

Luther himself understood this well. While justification is entirely the work of God through faith in Christ alone, the Christian life is nonetheless a life of daily discipline. The Small Catechism assumes habits: prayer morning and evening, regular confession, attentiveness to God’s Word, and faithful obedience within one’s vocation. These practices do not earn salvation, but they form the Christian life.

Similarly, the classical virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance are not attempts at self-salvation. They are habits that order life in a fallen world. Prudence trains wisdom in decision-making. Justice trains us to give others their due. Fortitude trains endurance and courage in suffering. Temperance trains self-control over desire. These virtues assume that without training, our natural inclinations will drift toward excess, fear, or self-interest. Virtue, then, assumes something profoundly countercultural: that children need to be trained in goodness, not simply affirmed in their instincts.

Modern Values and the Language of Preference

Instead of virtues, modern culture tends to speak of "values". Values are often understood as personal or communal priorities, chosen rather than received. They express what matters to an individual or group at a particular time. To speak of one’s values is to speak of one’s identity, experiences, and convictions.

In many ways, the language of values reflects modern assumptions about the self. The individual is understood as autonomous, expressive, and self-determining. Moral authority comes from within, rather than from an external standard or tradition. As culture changes, values are expected to change as well.

While values can name admirable commitments, they function differently from virtues. Values describe what we approve of or care about. Virtues train us to act rightly regardless of approval or feeling. A student may value honesty, yet still lie when telling the truth feels costly. Another may value kindness, yet lash out when frustrated. Values alone do not supply the moral muscle needed for consistent action.

From a Lutheran perspective, this weakness should not surprise us. Because of sin, our desires are disordered. We often know the good and yet fail to do it. Moral formation, therefore, cannot rely solely on internal affirmation or self-expression. It requires external structure, repeated practice, correction, and guidance. In other words, it requires formation in virtue.

Formation Versus Self-Construction

The deepest divide between virtues and values lies in how they understand moral development. Virtues assume formation. Values assume self-construction. Virtue says: You are being shaped by what you repeatedly do. Values often say: You are defined by what you choose or affirm.

Classical Lutheran education stands firmly in the first camp. Scripture consistently portrays human beings as formed by practices, liturgies, and loves. We become what we worship. We are trained either toward faithfulness or toward self-rule. Neutral formation does not exist.

This is why Faith Lutheran School places such strong emphasis on daily habits. Orderly

classrooms, respectful speech, careful work, and submission to authority are not arbitrary rules. They are formative practices. Through them, students learn patience, attentiveness, humility, perseverance, and self-control. These habits shape the will long before a child is capable of abstract moral reasoning.

This approach is not about control for its own sake. It is about love for the child. A child who has been trained in virtue is better equipped to resist temptation, endure hardship, and serve others faithfully. A child who has only been encouraged to articulate values may find himself unprepared when those values are challenged by fear, pressure, or desire.

Virtue, the Law, and the Gospel

A crucial Lutheran distinction must be made here. Virtue formation belongs to the realm of the Law, not the Gospel. The Law teaches what is good, restrains evil, and orders life in this world. It cannot save. Only Christ saves. Faith Lutheran School teaches virtue not as a means of earning God’s favor, but as a way of ordering life rightly in response to God’s grace. Good works do not justify us before God, but justified people are called into lives of good work. Virtue, rightly understood, flows from vocation. Students are being trained to live faithfully as sons and daughters, neighbors, citizens, and eventually parents and workers.

This distinction guards us from two errors. On the one hand, we avoid moralism, the belief that virtue earns righteousness. On the other hand, we avoid moral relativism, the belief that goodness is merely a matter of personal preference. Classical Lutheran education walks the narrow path between these extremes, affirming both the necessity of discipline and the sufficiency of grace.

Why Faith Lutheran School Teaches What Endures

Every school forms students morally, whether intentionally or not. The question is not whether formation will happen, but whether it will be grounded in a coherent vision of the human person. Faith Lutheran School chooses virtue because virtue aligns with both classical wisdom and Lutheran theology.

Values shift with culture. Virtues endure because they correspond to the way human beings are created. Prudence, justice, courage, and self-control are not artifacts of a particular era. They are necessary for faithful life in any time or place.

By forming students in virtue, the school seeks to give them something more stable than cultural approval or personal preference. We seek to give them habits that will serve them when circumstances change, when beliefs are challenged, and when faithfulness becomes costly.

A Shared Calling Between School and Home

Virtue formation is not quick, and it is never easy. It requires patience, consistency, and

cooperation between school and home. Families are not being asked merely to endorse a set of values, but to participate in a shared project of formation.

This work is deeply hopeful. Though we confess human sinfulness, we also trust in God’s ongoing work in His people. Through Word and Sacrament, through discipline and instruction, through daily practice and repentance, God forms His children.

By focusing on virtue rather than values, Faith Lutheran School commits itself to what endures. We aim not merely to prepare students for the present moment, but to form young people capable of faithful life in whatever moment God places them.