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To some degree, they have to help develop character or else there would be anarchy in the schools. Teaching children to treat each other respectfully, respect authority, not lie, not steal, etc. are necessary rules in a school. Children haven't reached the stage of moral development to make decisions for themselves about what is right and wrong and, especially in grade school, they respond to rules to know about right and wrong. Technically, rules are part of character development. I've never heard anybody complain about enforcing rules or even about programs like GREAT or DARE, which are definitely focused on character development.
I do get a little peeved when my kids come home griping that I'm not recycling and that I'm destroying the world by not doing so! I wonder sometimes about the ethics of pushing parents to buy certain products (Campbell's, Box Tops for Educations) by offering all kinds of incentives for kids, but I also realize that these programs give the schools much needed money and equipment too.
At older levels, I would support classes like Ethics, where kids are encouraged to do their own critical thinking and come up with their own decisions, but not if they're told what the outcome should be. Things like.. If a man's wife is dying and he steals a medicine that she needs to live because they can't afford it, should he be punished? I think it's good to think about those situations, but I don't think a teacher should give them a right or wrong answer.
The tough thing is, there are grey areas and there are boundaries that shouldn't be crossed. And, there are things that should be voluntary or require parental permission (like the sex-ed stuff, which some parents would disagree with).
I don't think you can work with kids in any capacity without some level of character development happening.
Dee
ETA: One thing my kids' school does, that I really like is a Postive Action Auction. If kids are "caught" doing something nice for someone else, they get a ticket (like a raffle ticket). They then have auctions for things like pencils, paper, small toys, etc. that the kids can use their tickets to bid on. They're teaching kids to do nice things for other people and that's hard to argue with!
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