The Importance of Character Education

The Importance of Character Education

The events of September 11th in New York City, Washington DC and Pennsylvania served as a punctuation mark accentuating the fact that we live in a violent world. Now, more than ever, it behooves us as educators to be diligent in our efforts to educate the WHOLE child. Many claim it's no longer enough to simply teach math and reading and social studies and music, but we must also give our best effort to teaching "right from wrong."

This is no easy task, as the results from the "1998 Report Card on the ethics of American Youth" indicate:

"The numbers are in, and they don't look good. Nearly half of all high schoolers say they steal. Seven in 10 admit to cheating on an exam within the previous 12 months."

These are among the results of a survey released by the Josephson Institute of Ethics, the survey is one of the largest ever to focus on the ethics of young people, with over 20,000 middle and high school respondents.

"This report card shows that the hole in our moral ozone is getting bigger," says Michael Josephson, president of the Institute, which organized similar, though smaller surveys in 1992 and 1996. "In terms of honesty and integrity, things are going from very bad to worse."

Learn more about the survey results at:

1998 Josephson Survey

Luckily, there is plenty of help for educators in this age of the internet.

One of the better known organizations promoting character education is "Character Counts." According to their website, the purpose of the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition is to fortify the lives of young people with consensus ethical values called the "Six Pillars of Character." These values, which transcend divisions of race, creed, politics, gender and wealth, are: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.

Character Counts

Another website promoting character education is "The Character Education Partnership" (the CEP). According to their website, the CEP is a nonpartisan coalition of organizations and individuals dedicated to developing moral character and civic virtue in our nation's youth as one means of creating a more compassionate and responsible society.

CEP is not affiliated with any party or creed. They are a non-partisan, nonsectarian organization dedicated to the idea that character and education are natural partners in helping children become ethical, responsible adults.

Their members hold that core ethical values such as respect, responsibility, and honesty can both be a matter of consensus and a model for our youth. They are committed to the practical implementation of character education throughout the learning process.

While CEP's primary focus is on young people, it understands that the problems affecting our youth reflect the broader social and economic problems of our society as a whole and that it is the responsibility of all adults to model good character and to help strengthen civic and moral foundations.

Character.Org

The Character Educator is the quarterly newsletter of the Character Education Partnership. Current, and archived issues are available on this site. Copies of the newsletter are mailed direct to all members four times a year. If you would like start receiving the newsletter you may join now or request a trial copy at this site:

CEP Newsletter

GoodCharacter.com is another website you might want to visit. It is loaded with ideas and free material.

Their website proclaims "if you work with kids, and you need to implement character education tomorrow, and you want some immediate help, this is where to start! But if your character education program is cruising, and you just want some additional ideas and materials, this is also where to start!"

The following principles are emphasized throughout this website:

• Your Character is defined by what you do, not what you say or believe.
• Every choice you make helps define the kind of person you are choosing to be.
• Good character requires doing the right thing, even when it is costly or risky.
• You don't have to take the worst behavior of others as a standard for yourself. You can choose to be better than that!
• What you do matters, and one person can make a big difference.
• The payoff for a good character is that it makes you a better person and it makes the world a better place.

GoodCharacter.com

Having the right tools to help students understand "right from wrong" is obviously important. But students make mistakes. As educators, our job is to help those students learn from those mistakes and become better citizens in the process. Our discipline learning packets serve that role.

These packets are designed to provide constructive, positive learning experiences for students who have violated a school behavior standard. Although the primary purpose of our packets and lessons is to serve as the consequence for an unacceptable behavior, we have de-emphasized the punitive aspect and stressed the positive learning experience that comes from understanding and reflecting on one's actions. We want the student to think about WHY it is wrong to talk back to the teacher, or hit someone, and to understand how others feel when they are the subject of disrespect or have been knocked down by someone running or otherwise being careless.

By emphasizing the feelings and rights of others, we attempt to lead students to a more empathetic and social understanding of the effects of their actions and the fact that this behavior impacts on the whole school community.

You can read more about our philosophy behind the Discipline Learning Packet Program at this website:

Advantage Press - Philosophy

We have now made it even easier to use our packets. If you don't want to purchase the whole program you can download individual discipline packets from our website. Over one hundred different packets for middle school and high school students are now available for immediate download for as little as $4.00 (US) each. Additional packets are being added every month.

Start teaching appropriate behavior today: