Happy Lessons?

I saw this article in the Guardian today (I haven't quoted it all, only some key parts):

Schools urged to teach children how to be happy

Children should learn about moral values and the way to happiness from a new cohort of school teachers specifically trained for the job, according to new academic research.

Richard Layard, the director of the centre for economic performance at the London School of Economics, argues that the major purpose of schools must be to help develop good and happy people and they should aim to train character and provide moral education.

...

Getting children to care about the wellbeing of others requires an "educational revolution" where the central purpose of schools is to teach young people about the main secrets of happiness for which there is empirical evidence, Professor Layard said.

According to the research, to attain happiness, children should be taught to:

• Care more about other people than themselves;
• Not constantly compare themselves with other people;
• Choose goals that stretch them but are attainable;
• Challenge negative thoughts by focusing on the positive.

I find that interesting in a country where:

• schools are required to compete with one another for pupils,
• each school is ranked against and constantly compared to all of the other schools in the country, and
• the goals are set for us based on a score on a test taken four years earlier and take into account nothing else.

It's also interesting that "the major purpose of schools must be to help develop good and happy people and they should aim to train character and provide moral education."

The major purpose of schools is to develop happy people?

That's a scary thought: We don't care what you learn as long as you feel good about yourself.

What are the odds that the main part of the "'educational revolution' where the central purpose of schools is to teach young people about the main secrets of happiness" is actually learning the material in order to be successful in life?