I s your school pursuing character education? In the last five years American schools have become increasingly reflective about their role as moral educators. The wave of school shootings grabbed the nation’s attention not long ago, experts were urging teachers to move beyond their fondness for “value neutrality.” They considered moral literacy and character educa- tion part of the educator’s task. By the mid- nineties many charter schools were gaining parental support from their commitment to those goals. The first full-blown “character education programs” emerged. While parents have always wanted schools to help children “do their best and be their best,” they may find themselves wondering if programs that sound good really do provide character instruction. There are a wide variety of approaches, not all of which work. Some schools base their approach to character education on the notion of democratic “rights and responsibilities.” Other approaches are mainly empathetic, seeking to form “caring communities” and “responsive classrooms.” Still others are prescriptive, urging compliance with well articulated, often Biblical, norms. Yet others identify consensus values and strive to promote respect, responsibility, honesty, trust- worthiness, etc. Whether or not your school has a “program,” it will no doubt have an ethos and an approach. The fact is schools do character education whether they realize it or not. Every standard teachers set for academic performance, every response to classroom conflict, every incentive given for diligent effort, every cruel remark tolerated, every thoughtless habit over- looked, every encouragement for overcoming adversity, teaches. As you navigate through myriad possibilities at your child’s school, keep the following thoughts about good character education in mind. 1. Quality character education is virtue-based. It promotes excellence. 2. Quality character education inspires a love of the good, not just legalistic knowledge of the permitted and the forbidden. 3. Quality character education generates lightnot heat. When political hot potatoes are part of the program, ask questions.4. Quality character education promotes and conduces to the school’s main task, intellec- tual excellence. What does it mean for character education to be virtue-based? In our time the word “virtue” is often associated with chastity (“she lost her virtue.”) The Greek word for “virtue,” though (“arete”) means “excellence” or “strength.” Ancient philosophers asked “how should we live?” or “what sort of people should we become?” It was widely accepted that education should impart the “excellences” of courage, justice, self-mastery, and wisdom and that each of those virtues depended on the development of other traits (honesty, faithfulness, humility, to just three). Our task, the ancients contended, is to promote in students both the will and skill to pursue those strengths. Those lofty ambitions can still serve us today. Some schools, which see themselves as the child’s first civic community, have grounded their character education programs in the context of “rights and responsibilities.” This “democratic” approach to character education (“what are my rights? what are my responsibilities?”) may provide a minimum standard, but as a frame- work for character education, it sets a low bar. Instead of encouraging children to go the extra mile, these programs unintentionally encourage students to think legalistically, and ask “what is required of me? What is not?” The child measuring his behavior by minimal civic stan- dards is all too often focusing on “the most I can get away with” rather than “the best I can do.” A virtue-based approach sets high stan- dards against which to evaluate our selves. Good character education does not, in other words, simply post rules, highlight a “virtue of the month” or trumpet the 10 Commandments. While good programs should provide students with a rich vocabu- lary of virtue (one moving well beyond “appropriate,” “caring” and “nice”), mind and heart should function as one. The art of character education in the lower grades is helping children come to care about the good. To achieve that goal, quality literature is important. Our stories and heroes shape the moral imagination. They move the heart and help children come to care. Does your school recognize this by reading the quality literature Character Education: What to Look For in Your Schoolwww.coreknowledge.orgThe Core Knowledge Foundation(804) 977-7750Dedicated to excellence and fairness in early education, the Core Knowledge Foundation was founded in 1986 by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., a professor at the University of Virginia and author of many acclaimed books including Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know and The Schools We Need and Why We Don’t Have Them. The foundation conducts research on curricula, develops books and other materials for parents and teachers, offers workshops for teachers and serves as the hub of a growing network of Core Knowledge schools.Among its resources are lesson plans, articles, books, and many other resources to help you use the Core Knowledge Sequence in your classroom and school. A new resource is an updated version of Books to Build On, a Core Knowledge Resource Guide for Parents and Teachers.CONTINUED ON PAGE 4GoodWebsitesfor ParentsBY MARY BETH KLEE
