Character Education

This week, our assignment was to read Chapter Twenty-six of John Dewey's Democracy and Education, the section titled Theories of Morals. In the first paragraph Dewey states,

"It is a commonplace of educational theory that the establishing of character is a comprehensive aim of school instruction and discipline. Hence it is important that we should be on our guard against a conception of the relations of intelligence to character which hampers the realization of the aim, and on the look-out for the conditions which have to be provided in order that the aim may be successfully acted upon."

I do believe there is much truth to this statement, but also, outside of an analytical framework of establishing character, I wonder, how do we examine and/or understand the character of our students?

Well, first of all, I think it important to define the word, character. Webster's Dictionary defines it as "one of the attributes or features that make up and distinguish an individual". In general, I think this definition is pretty "on the mark", but I believe that definition is merely a "jumping off point" for viewing the character of our students.

In general, I think that educators view "character" as a positive or negative attribute, one that can lead to the type of overall person a student becomes. As a matter of fact, a myriad of "character education" programs abound in order to help mold and shape individuals and a multitude of resources, curriculum, and ideas abound on the subject. Below are listed just a few websites, at which resources for "character education" programs can be found.

Live Wire Media
http://www.goodcharacter.com/

The Josephson Institute: Center for Youth Ethics
http://charactercounts.org/

The National Center for Youth Issues
http://charactered.net/

With these, and many others and examples, what does the emphasis really boil down to? In my opinion, I think developing "character", is a way of insuring that teachers are shaping students who are prepared to be a part of the larger society around them in a positive manner. And what do teachers have to balance that with? The character of every other person around the child. From their parents, to their friends, to musicians and actors, to historical figures of the the past and leaders of the present. Modern media bombards our students with examples, not always role models, of behavior, actions, and consequences. Our challenge as educators, is to guide our students to analyze, evaluate, and understand the connection between actions and what those actions mean to the broader scale of a person's life. What kind of person is one becoming when they act a certain way? How can that example (and there are many, good and bad), translate to teaching our students the strength of their own actions and consequent character?

In my opinion, formal "character education" and/or positive role-modeling can help shape and form who our students become.