Character Education



 
 
 
 
  

Character Education: The long term process of helping young people develop the knowledge, skills, and ability to make informed and responsible choices. It includes topics such as:
  • Fairness
  • Honesty
  • Compassion
  • Responsibility
  • Respect
  • Human Dignity
  • Integrity
Character Education is a very controversial issue in today’s educational system. Some believe that all schools should implement some sort of character education program. It can contribute to a decrease in violence, pregnancy, and substance abuse. Also, character education programs can help teach values to children whose parents are absent from the home because of working and busy schedules. Finally, character education programs can be implemented into the regular, special education, and gifted curriculum.

On the other hand, many people feel that it is not the school’s place to teach what is right and wrong. Many people feel that it is the parent’s responsibility to teach their children how to behave and make ethical decisions. They feel that since people have different sets of values it is inappropriate for someone to decide what is right and wrong. Also, it is difficult to decide exactly how to adequately train teachers in character education. Finally, certain values (such as homosexuality and choosing between kindness and honesty) can cause conflicting views among a person’s beliefs. 

The History of Character Education
Character Education first emerged in the early twentieth century when schools began to implement the teaching of “character education” into their programs. Here are some examples of some of the early Character Education programs:

  • Children’s Morality Code: Teachers had their students learn and recite oaths, pledges, and slogans based on the “Laws of Right Living” (self-control, good health, kindness, sportsmanship, self-reliance, duty, reliability, truth, good-workmanship, and teamwork).
  • Iowa Plan: This program looked towards school organization and teacher preparation to create a “community of persons.”
  • Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development: Lawrence Kohlberg was a Harvard University professor who created a six staged Moral Development model. It became the basis for the modern character education program. It lays out how people develop and progress throughout different stages of their life. The first through fourth stages of Kohlberg’s model relates to the school-aged child. It talks about how a child progresses from the elementary school age to the time when they are considered productive and active members in their society.

Methods of Teaching Character Education
There are many different ways to implement character education into the program. Some school districts have chosen to create a “home-grown” curriculum” where the policies and procedures that are used to teach character education involves the input of parents and teachers as to what morals and methods will be used in the program. Some feel that “home-grown” programs better adapt to the specific group of children. Other school districts choose to use commercially created products that involve the research and teaching methods of experts in the field. Advocates of this kind of program think that an expert’s research findings are needed to teach an effective character based program.

Examples of Ways that Character Education is taught:

  • Community service programs
  • Classroom decision making programs and practices
  • Cooperative Learning
  • Peer Tutoring
  • Family and community partnerships 
  • Story (Fictional and Non-Fictional) Readings and Discussions
  • Integrating Character Education into each subject area
Models for Character Education Teaching
Character Education programs are usually based on Developmental and Moral Models. These are very important because they are the foundations of what is being taught. Here are some examples of some models that are used in Character Education Programs:
· The Six Pillars of Education: This model was found by the Josephson Institute of Ethics and is used as a guideline for quality decision making. It consists of six main aspects of Character that are subdivided into several other important characteristics. 
Trustworthiness: (honesty, integrity, reliability, and loyalty)
Respect: (civility, autonomy, and tolerance)
Responsibility: (accountability, pursuit of excellence, self-restraint)
Fairness: (Process, impartiality, equity)
Caring
Citizenship
· Golden Rule: This model is often taught to Elementary School Aged Children and is very important because it teaches children that instead of behaving in a violent nature to accept individual differences and work out peaceful agreements. It consists of:
Concern for others
Treat others as you want to be treated
Conflicting interests

Recent Character Education Advancements

  • In 1998 the Neilson report found that forty-eight of the fifty states have created or was in the process of creating standards for teaching character education in public schools.
  • The 2001 the Miss America finalist, Angela Perez Baraqui from Hawaii platforms on “Teaching Values, Valuing Teaching.” 
  • In January 2001, HB 1292 was proposed by Representative Suzanne Williams and was passed in the House of Representatives on a 44-20 vote. If it passes in the Senate in the upcoming months HB 1292 will encourage school programs to teach honesty, respect, responsibility, and obedience to law.
 The Cons of Character Education:
  • Can teach many conflicting values (such as homosexuality, Choosing between kindness, Honesty, etc.)
  • Difficult to choose which Values should and shouldn’t be taught
  • Difficult to provide all Teachers with the adequate training to teach character
  • Many feel that it is the parent’s Responsibility, not the schools to teach what is right and wrong                           
  The Pros of Character Education:
  • Makes schools more civil communities
  • Reduces violent behavior, pregnancy, substance abuse, disrespect
  • Improves academic performance
  • Prepares students to be productive and academic citizens
  • Helps to teach values to children whose parents are often absent from the home
  • Can be implemented into Gifted, special education, and regular programs