A news reporter commented that it was the general courses, especially history and a foreign language, that had been most helpful in her work - not the technical courses pointing to that career. In addition to the getting and holding of a job, students should see the need in everyday life for the courses they are taking. Read aloud from a recent periodical that alludes to something they have just learned in their Bible, history, or literature class. Then ask them whether they would have understood this without the background knowledge they have just acquired. You can use the consequences of the attitudes and actions of these people to motivate change in students' behavior.
Effective teaching can lead at least some students to avoid or correct character flaws.
Virtues can be shown as goals to strive for. Christian education is far more than equipping young people for a job or a career. Neither we nor they can know what lies ahead. We must help them realize that life is not something out there in the future that they must prepare to live. Life is now.