Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all. (Aristotle, quoted in The Times, London).

Nature or nurture? Can you actually teach empathy, care and love? Can you focus the minds of the young on the plight of the poor and desperate? Or are some people simply born selfish and indifferent to others?

My personal belief is that if you start early enough in life you can instill into small children the idea of thoughtfulness and even love. It can be done, partly by example and partly by discipline. You might protest that sitting a child down and insisting that he write a “thank you” letter for a present or send a birthday message to Granny for her birthday, is rote learning that is meaningless. But I don’t agree. It is all part of training the mind to think of others, and, since it is “more blessed to give than to receive” it ends up producing a warm feeling towards Granny in the heart of the child. Likewise, insisting that young people do something voluntarily for charity has a similar effect. Being solely focused on yourself has a withering effect on the mind.