Character Education

A topic that has come up in my grad school class:
Does character education have a place in our public school system?
I searched for a thread about this and didn't see one. I was just curious about what you guys think, since the majority of you were probably educated in public schools and have or will have kids in public schools.

[chideltjen]

As in actually putting time aside to help a child develop one's character?

I went to both public and private school. And depending on what you are involved in, I don't know if it's necessary to have a set aside time to further develop it.

I guess I've never heard of it really. I mean, working in teams, playing sports, being involved in organizations in high school all help develop character. But I guess if today's children aren't getting recess anymore and are sitting at home playing video games all day, I guess it may be hard to develop character.

And I think a good chunk of the high schools, both public and private, have some sort of grad requirement of community service hours.

*shrugs*

As in teaching charachter, morality, right from wrong.

[33girl]

Originally posted by ADPiZXalum
A topic that has come up in my grad school class:
Does character education have a place in our public school system?

No.

Everyone has a different definition of what constitutes "character." It's not up to the public schools to make that decision as to who is "right."

[chideltjen]

Originally posted by ADPiZXalum
As in teaching charachter, morality, right from wrong.

It may make for an interesting elective, but I don't think it should be mandatory to teach it in school.

That's the parents' job in some degrees. And, as so demonstrated in the News and Politics forum, not every parent and student have similar beliefs on what's right and wrong. So to pass those on to their kids and then try to streamline them all to thinking one way or the other... not really a great idea.

Hell, I didn't like my morality class in high school, but as a Catholic school kid, it was kind of required. Though the debates we had were interesting. (Not everyone at the school was Catholic.)

[valkyrie]

Originally posted by 33girl
No.

Everyone has a different definition of what constitutes "character." It's not up to the public schools to make that decision as to who is "right."

Agreed.

Originally posted by valkyrie
Agreed.

Yall might be surprised to know that I agree completely. Mainly because I want to know WHO is deciding what is character, what is moral, etc.

[sageofages]

Interesting...I am actually proofing/editing a good friends doctoral dissertation on the adoption process of character education programs. Her premise includes the modifications of programs existing fit a particular need by the "adopters"

There are quite a number of programs out there and the reasons for developing them are all pretty basic...."renewal of instilling moral values in children" Some programs have as many as 17 characteristics deemed "desirable" by healthy contributing citizens, others as few as 6. Examples include fairness, trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, citizenship, and caring.

These can be used in the school as a complete stand alone program or integrated across the curriculum in a variety of activities.

Our school uses "Character Counts", which has 6 pillars and I really like it.

[AGDee]

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!

[33girl]

Originally posted by AGDee
I've never heard anybody complain about enforcing rules or even about programs like GREAT or DARE, which are definitely focused on character development.

Seriously??

that's a great example actually...no kid of mine is ever sitting through a DARE program, because the majority of what they teach is BS.

Examples include fairness, trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, citizenship, and caring.

I agree that these things should be taught, perhaps incorporated into the curriculum that is already in place.

[Dionysus]

I don't know if this is related, but I think schools can do without trying to increase students' self-esteem when it is undeserved.

[chideltjen]

Originally posted by ADPiZXalum
I agree that these things should be taught, perhaps incorporated into the curriculum that is already in place.

Exactly. Like I said, you can get life lessons in respect, caring, sympathy, etc by doing a volunteer project one day or playing together on a team... things that schools and such already do.

And I agree that an Ethics class would be cool, but maybe in the high school level and beyond. (And of course, as an elective of some sort.)

Originally posted by Dionysus
I don't know if this is related, but I think schools can do without trying to increase students' self-esteem when it is undeserved.

Seriously.

[Glitter650]

Agreed with most people on this. I don't think schools need to do anymore than they do by making kids not hit each other, name call, encouraging working together, community service etc...