As incidents
of in-school violence become more common, and strict disciplinary techniques
and increased security measures fail to control the problem, many parents,
educators, politicians, and social leaders are looking for reliable methods
of prevention. Is character education the answer?
lt community need to do our part in helping build young people
of high character. There isn't a more critical issue in education today."
--- Sanford N. McDonnell, Chairman emeritus of the former McDonnell
Douglas Corporation.
At Newsome Park Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, all students
participate in a service learning program, which integrates community
service into every aspect of the curriculum. The youngest students exchange
visits with senior citizens. Second and third graders provide food and
clothing to needy families -- and exchange letters with the families
as part of their study of the postal system. Fourth and fifth graders
adopt a ward at the local VA hospital -- and learn about the technology
used to treat patients there.
At Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter School in Franklin, Massachusetts,
each month's curriculum focuses on one of the cardinal virtues of fortitude,
temperance, justice, and prudence, while the school fosters a sense
of personal and social responsibility through a variety of voluntary
community service projects.
Buck Lodge Middle School in Adelphi, Maryland, features a "Virtue
of the Week" program, a peer mediation program, and a rigorous community
service graduation requirement.
Although the individual programs vary, each school has made a commitment
to providing students with character education along with the more traditional
disciplines. Each school was also a recipient of The Business Week Award
for Instructional Innovation in 1998, sponsored by Business Week
magazine, McGraw-Hill's Educational and Professional Publishing Group,
and The Character Education Partnership.
Have You Seen
These Articles
From the
Ed World Archive?
Three Ways to Make
Values Last at Your School
Elaine L. Lindy documents the process and benefits of creating
a set of core values at any school. Included: Tips for helping
your school team develop a dynamic list of core values.
Singing
for Societal Change... Again
Disrespect has become rampant in U.S. society, according to
singer/songwriter activist Peter Yarrow of the trio Peter, Paul
& Mary. Yarrow's curriculum, Don't Laugh at Me, teaches children
to respect themselves and others.
The
Giraffe Project: Encouraging Kids to 'Stick Their Necks Out'
for Others
This organization shares news of individuals who are making
a difference in their communities. Included: Comments from teachers
and students who've been inspired by the Giraffe Project to
"stick their necks out" to help others.
Character
Education Getting a Boost
Some schools that received federal funding to pilot character
education programs are now going to their state legislatures
or local communities to continue them.
"I believe that a values vacuum exists in American society,
and that teachers must not be casual or apologetic about confronting it.
We must make an explicit commitment to formal character education. We
must integrate character education into the fabric of the curriculum and
into extracurricular activities. We must train teachers in character education
-- both pre-service and in-service. And we must consciously set about
creating a moral climate within our schools." --- Bob Chase, President
National Education Association
A survey conducted in 1992 by the Joseph and Edna Josephson Institute
of Ethics found that thirty-three percent of all high school students
admitted they had stolen merchandise from a store within the past year.
Sixty-one percent of the students admitted cheating on an examination
during that year, and 83 percent said they had lied to their parents.
Thirty-three percent of students said they were willing to lie on a resume
or job application or during an interview to get a job, and sixteen percent
said they had already done so.
In addition, in a 1997 survey of teachers conducted by the National
Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, more than half of the respondents
reported perceiving a decline in student morality since they began teaching.
Even among those teaching 5 years or less, forty-four percent said they
have seen a decline in ethical values and an increase in illegal drug
use among their students.
Clearly, a moral decline among our young people affects all of society.
But is it the job of the school to address it? According to the Character
Education Partnership (CEP), a nonpartisan coalition of individuals
and organizations dedicated to promoting the teaching and modeling of
character education, "there is no such thing as value-neutral schools
or value-free education. Schools teach values every day, by design or
default. When schools do not teach values, they are teaching that values
are not important."
Furthermore, the CEP says, "Schools cannot achieve their educational
goals in a values vacuum. To succeed, schools must teach such values as
academic integrity, civility, responsibility, perseverance, cooperation,
self-discipline, and respect for self and others."
HOW DO WE TEACH IT?
"Clearly we can all agree about the importance of teaching
our children, both as individuals and as members of society, the importance
of common values such as respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, and
citizenship." ---U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley
Many schools shy away from formal character education, citing a national
diversity in beliefs and values that make such education a family, rather
than an institutional, imperative.
Research shows, however, the existence of a national consensus that
makes values education in public schools both possible and desirable.
A 1993 Phi Delta Kappan/Gallup poll found that more than ninety percent
of respondents were in favor of schools teaching such values as honesty,
democracy, tolerance, patriotism, caring, and moral courage.
Researchers at The
Institute for Global Ethics report that five core values -- truth,
compassion, fairness, responsibility, and respect -- consistently cut
across cultural, religious, and socioeconomic lines.
And the CEP endorses the teaching of the core ethical values of caring,
fairness, trustworthiness, citizenship, responsibility, and respect
for self and others, calling them "values that form the basis of good
character" and "principles that are common to all cultures and religions."
Nationally, many different state and local programs have been, and are
being, established to incorporate character education in our public schools.
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, schools recently launched the Your Environment
Education Program, designed to help children succeed by improving their
behavior both in and out of school. (See an accompanying article in
this week's issue of Education World, One
Character Education Program That Works!)
The Connecticut State Department of Education is working with Character
Counts!, a nationwide initiative supporting non-partisan character
education, to involve schools, parents, and businesses in a statewide
commitment to character education.
In Missouri, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
is establishing a Show Me Character Education Partnership to build on
their existing Personal Responsibility Education Partnership (PREP)
program and to extend character education in state schools.
BEGINNING WITH THE BASICS
"To educate a man in mind and not morals is to educate a
menace to society." ---Theodore Roosevelt
The programs may differ, but the basics of character education possess
certain common characteristics. According to Dr. Thomas Lickona, director
of
The Center for the 4th and 5th Rs, a national resource for character
education, all schools should teach students that a person of character:
is trustworthy -- possessing honesty, integrity, and loyalty.
treats all people with respect -- demonstrating courtesy, politeness,
tolerance, and acceptance.
acts responsibly -- acting with accountability, reliability, and self-control,
and setting a good example.
is fair and just -- treating all people fairly.
is caring -- showing compassion, kindness, sensitivity, and charity.
is a good citizen -- accepting legal, civic, community, and environmental
responsibilities.
Character education programs may differ, but CEP endorses eleven
principles of character education. Schools committed to character
education, CEP says, must:
Define core ethical values in terms of observable behaviors and hold
all school members accountable to standards of conduct consistent with
those behaviors.
Help members of the school community recognize, value, and act upon
core ethical values.
Integrate character development into all aspects of school life and
deliberately plan ways to develop character rather than waiting for
opportunities to present themselves.
Imbue every area of the school environment -- including the classroom,
the cafeteria, the hallways, and the playground -- with evidence of
core ethical values.
Provide students with real-life challenges to help them develop a
practical understanding of the moral requirements of the core ethical
values.
Provide a meaningful and challenging academic curriculum that respects
all learners and helps them succeed.
Develop students' intrinsic commitment both to core values and to
the academic curriculum.
Involve all school staff in modeling and promoting core ethical values,
and provide staff with the same opportunities for personal and academic
growth afforded students.
Require strong moral leadership from both staff and students.
Recruit the help of parents and community business, religious, government,
and media representatives in promoting core ethical values.
Continuously assess the progress of character education by evaluating
the character of the school, the character of the students, and the
success of the staff as character educators.
AN HISTORIC IMPERATIVE
"Virtue and vice will not grow together in a great degree,
but they will grow where they are planted, and when one has taken root,
it is not easily supplanted by the other. The great art of correcting
mankind consists in prepossessing the mind with good principles."
--- Noah Webster
Craig Cunningham, in A Certain and Reasoned Art: The Rise and Fall
of Character Education in America, points out that character education
has been a goal of public education since the establishment of the public
school system in this country. It was only in the 1950s, he says, that
an emphasis on academics supplanted character education in as an educational
priority.
"Today," Cunningham states, "there is a renewed interest in character
education, as the perception grows that many American youth are getting
out of control. Drugs and gangs, teenage pregnancy and suicide, and the
breakdown of school discipline, have led many educators and political
leaders to once again look to the schools to educate not only the minds
but also the consciences of children."
ADDITIONAL SOURCES OF CHARACTER ED INFO
For additional information on character education or for tips on establishing
a character education program at your school, contact one of the following
organizations:
The American Federation of Teachers, 1555 New Jersey Ave., NW, Arlington,
VA 20001
The Center for the Advancement of Ethics and Character, School of
Education, Boston University, 605 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215
The Center for the 4th and 5th Rs, SUNY Cortland, Education Department,
Cortland, NY 13045 (Email: c4n5rs@cortland.edu)
Character Counts! National Office, 4640 Admiralty Way, Suite 1001,
Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6610 (Email: cc@jiethics.org)
The Character Education Institute, 8918 Tesoto Dr., San Antonio, TX
78217 (Email: cei@CharacterEducation.org)
The Character Education Partnership, 918 16th Street NW, Suite 501,
Washington, DC 20006
The National Education Association, 1201 16th St., NW, Washington,
DC 20036
Your Environment Inc. Character Education, 300 N. Mononghela Ave.,
Glassport, PA 15045
As incidents
of in-school violence become more common, and strict disciplinary techniques
and increased security measures fail to control the problem, many parents,
educators, politicians, and social leaders are looking for reliable methods
of prevention. Is character education the answer?