Character Education: The Key to Success

by P.R. Parker

     Lawrence Township is one of several central Indiana school districts that has fully embraced comprehensive, aggressive character education programs. Although Indiana requires schools to teach character education as a regular part of the curriculum, many districts barely give it lip service. Gracing many a classroom wall, posters featuring popular cartoon characters and "Successories" feel-good homilies extol positive virtues of fair play and honesty. Some schools may have weekly "We are family" pep rallies, often involving recitation of the school's mission statement and singing the latest "touchy-feely" Top 40 hit. Yet, despite the "I am special" chants, the repeated refrains of "I Believe I Can Fly", nothing remotely resembles the "Six Pillars" of good character: Trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, citizenship.¹
    Children may mouth catch phrases such as "Stay in school" and "Be a good citizen", but they do not internalize those virtues necessary for a worthy, successful adult life. Without universally recognized virtues – self-control, respect, courage, wisdom, justice – a child may not be able to handle life's difficult choices and challenges. A poorly developed moral compass often manifests itself into negative behaviors: Indulgence in criminality, substance abuse, sexual perversion, financial mismanagement, domestic strife, violence. These are common responses when one is faced with troublesome situations which can be successfully overcome if one is armed with those positive virtues.
     However, character education, when it is taught and learned correctly, is more than imparting positive coping skills. Truly comprehensive character education is contingent upon academic excellence. Want higher test scores and grades? Want to reduce discipline problems, thus decreasing the suspension/expulsion rate? How about increasing the graduation rate and reducing, perhaps eliminate an ever-growing dropout rate among public school children?

     Character education as an integral part of the school curriculum is not new. From the inception of public education until a few decades ago, ethics and morals were taught daily. The famous McGuffey Readers, perhaps the first successful reading program, extolled fair play, honesty, and hard work with its stories. Students read timeless classics ranging from Greek myths and fairy tales to Shakespeare and great American authors. Decades before the landmark Engel v. Vitale made such unconstitutional, daily prayer and scripture reading in public schools was commonplace. Note that studying the former was not for only for pure literary value; the latter not necessarily intended to proselytize. Indeed, given the time period and people's mindset, public school curriculum reflected pre-20^the Century American society: predominantly white, Protestant Christian, family-centered, and still sizeably rural despite ever-growing industrialization, steady influx of non-Anglo immigrants, and rapid urbanization.
     However, at the onset of societal and cultural reform during the latter half of the 20^th Century, public schools eliminated value-based lessons from their curriculum out of concern for students of non-Protestant Christian faiths. Separate character education programs, which emphasized universally accepted virtues, replaced overtly Judeo-Christian ethics lessons. A few schools added the new secularized programs but never made them an integral part of the regular curriculum. Character education, like most "non-academic" subjects, became relegated to a once-in-a-while activity, a time filler with little or no thought behind lesson objectives and outcomes.

     With thirty minutes until dismissal, the day's lessons completed, the teacher is desperate for an activity to help keep the peace. She pulls a couple of worksheets from an emergency file: a short reading passage with questions and a word search puzzle. What is the topic? How to be a good citizen. The teacher does not ned to do much by way of introducing the activity, generate deeply meaningful discussion with thought-provoking questions – There is no time for that. Instead, the students complete the work independently.
     Consequently, the children in this situation get nothing out of the activity. No virtues are learned; students have no idea what makes a good citizen. They just like to do word puzzles; they think it is a fun activity.

     Of course, virtue-based education is not the sole domain of public schools. For all practical purposes, the home is the primary source for learning ethics and developing a strong moral foundation. While past generations did receive a sound moral upbringing at home, the same cannot be said for many 21^st Century children. The American family of today does not do the same things as families of generations past. Family-oriented activities such as eating together and engaging in interactive conversation have given way to the passive. The American family today, by and large, gets together to watch television and not much else.
     Parental involvement has greatly been curtailed due to economic and social pressures. Households headed by single mothers is a recent phenomenon. A two-parent family often has both mother and father involved in separate careers. There is precious time left for quality family activities what with day care, after-school care, extra-curricular activities, athletics. Too often children are simply left home alone; playmates and friends have more influence over children than parents. With parents' time taken away through long work hours, the school has taken on more responsibility in rearing children, imparting the values and morals that is supposedly the parents' domain.

     Those involved in ethics studies agree that American schools and teachers must reassert their roles as character builders. On the same token, parents should reclaim their roles as their children's primary moral educators. Neighborhoods and faith-based organizations must work hand-in-hand with school and home. By restoring virtues and ethics to the school curriculum and re-building the moral foundation at home, authentic educational reform will begin.

Copyright © 2005 by P.R. Parker. All Rights Reserved.