Education Secretary Ruth Kelly (C) meets pupils at a school in west London. One of Britain's leading fee-paying schools, Wellington College, is to offer classes on happiness to combat the malaise in society caused by materialism and celebrity obsession, its headteacher announced. "We are introducing classes on happiness," said Anthony Seldon, master of Wellington College. "We have been focusing too much on academics and missing something far more important." A psychologist will oversee a pilot project teaching "happiness lessons" from the start of the next academic year. Pupils aged 14 to 16 will be given one lesson a week, learning skills such as how to manage relationships, physical and mental health, negative emotions and how to achieve one's ambitions. The college's religious education staff will teach the course as a complement to, rather than a substitute for, conventional RE classes, said Seldon, who is also a political commentator and author. "To me, the most important job of any school is to turn out young men and women who are happy and secure." explained Seldon. "Celebrity, money and possessions are too often the touchstones for teenagers and yet these are not where happiness lies. "Our children need to know that as societies become richer, they don't become happier -- a fact regularly shown by social science research." Wellington school was founded in 1853 and currently has 750 boys aged 13 to 18 and 50 girls aged 16 plus. Fees range from 6,132 pounds per term for day pupils to 7,665 pounds per term for boarders.

英国主要私立学校之一的惠灵顿学院将推出“快乐学”课程。据此校校长介绍，推出此课程的目的是为了抵制由功利主义和对名誉的崇拜造成的不良社会影响。 惠灵顿学院的男教师安东尼·塞尔顿说：“我们准备推出快乐学课程，之前，学校对于学术方面关注过多而忽视了一些更为重要的东西。” 从下个学年初开始，一位心理学家将对“快乐学”的授课试点项目进行监督指导。 14岁至16岁的学生每周上一节“快乐学”课，他们将学到诸如如何处理人际关系、保持生理和心理健康、消除消极情绪以及如何实现人生理想等技巧。 塞尔顿说，“快乐学”课程并非要替代传统的宗教类课程，而是要作为此类课程的补充，由学校的宗教教育职员讲授。 塞尔顿也是一位政治评论员和作家。 塞尔顿解释道：“在我看来，学校最重要的职责就是培养出快乐的、可靠的一代年轻人。” “名誉、金钱和财产常常成为青少年们衡量事物的标准，但这些东西都不是快乐的真谛。” “我们的孩子们需要明白：虽然社会越来越富裕，他们并不是越来越快乐，这也是社会科学研究常发现的一个事实。” 惠灵顿中学成立于1853年，目前有750名男生，年龄在13至18岁之间，50名女生，年龄在16岁以上。走读生每学期需交学费6132英镑，寄宿生为每学期7665英镑。 (中国日报网站编译)