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By
Catherine M. Pruissen
Anyone
who works with children can tell you first hand there
is a growing rise in disrespect for parents, teachers,
and other authority figures. Young children are increasing
becoming crueler with each other. Youth violence is
on an upward swing and dishonesty, like lying, cheating,
and stealing, is prevalent like never before.
Until
recently, calls for school reform have focused on
academic achievement. Educators, from preschool on
up, now realize that along with the three Rs, children
need courses in character development. Daycares, schools,
parents and community, all have an important role
to play in helping children develop good manners,
moral and ethical behavior.
What is Character Education?
Dr. Thomas Lickona, Director of The
Center for the Fourth and Fifth Rs, defines character
education as "the deliberate effort to develop
virtues that are good for the individual and good
for society. The objective goodness of virtues"
Lickona says, "is based on the fact that they:
- Affirm
our human dignity
- Promote
the well-being and happiness of the individual
- Serve
the common good
- Define
our rights and obligations
- Meet
the classical ethical tests of reversibility (Would
you want to be treated this way?) and universality
(Would you want all persons to act this way in a
similar situation?)."
Character
education programs provide positive changes in children’s
behavior, specifically in helping each other, being
truthful, and not blaming others. And while no one
thing is going to have much of an impact on a child's
character development, talking about virtues and vices
as situations happen at home, at the daycare or at
school, plus modeling virtuous behavior ourselves,
can help to create a sense of a moral world for children.
More
than that, it just makes sense to teach young people
right from wrong. After all, isn't child-rearing and
teaching all about helping our children to become
good people who can live healthy, happy lives of purpose?
"Six
Pillars of Character"
Most of the character development programs available
to parents and teachers center around the "Six
Pillars of Character":
- Trustworthiness
- Respect
- Responsibility
- Fairness
- Caring
- Citizenship
Who
Developed the "Six Pillars of Character"?
The language itself came out of a summit conference
on character education convened by the Josephson
Institute in 1992 in Aspen, Colorado. The diverse
group of educators, youth leaders and ethicists who
gathered there to investigate ways of working together
agreed unanimously that these six values are clearly
central to ethical people’s lives, regardless of their
differences. Whose values? Some 40 states and almost
1,000 cities, counties, school districts and chambers
of commerce (plus the President, the U.S. Senate and
House of Representatives) have endorsed CHARACTER
COUNTS! and its “Six
Pillars” approach to community-wide character
education. 1
Teaching
Children About the "Six Pillars of Character"
The most important thing that
children should take away from character development
training is that:
- Their
character counts and their success and happiness
will depend on who they are inside
- That
people of character know the difference between
right and wrong and that these people use the ""Six
Pillars of Character"" as a guide to their
thoughts and their actions.
The
teacher's role in character education is to introduce
a lesson/topic of the "Six Pillars" one
at a time. Dr. Borba, author of Character
Builders, says there are five steps to building
these character traits. The first is to target the
desired behavior for 21 days. The second is to define
the needs and values of the trait. The third step
is to teach what the trait looks like and sounds like.
The fourth is to provide structured practice for 21
days. The fifth is to reinforce the trait through
immediate feedback and encourage uses for the trait
in life.
Building
character in children can also be reinforced through
the use of visual and activity tools throughout the
day. Posters, activity books and other small, creative
and fun ideas can make this a project in which kids
want to participate!
Once
the process of character building has begun, the
Josephson Institute, on their Web site Charactercounts.com,
suggests teachers and parents:
- Be
Consistent. The
moral messages you send must be clear, consistent
and repetitive. Thus, everything you say and do,
and all that you allow to be said and done in your
presence, either reinforces or undermines the credibility
of your messages about the importance of good character.
Be as firm and consistent as you can be about teaching,
advocating, modeling and enforcing these “"Six
Pillars of Character".” The intention
is to foster the virtues of good behaviour via constant
“teachable moments”
- Be
Concrete. Building
character and teaching ethics is not an academic
undertaking, it must be relevant to the lives and
experiences of your children. Talk about character
and choices in situations that your children have
been in.
- Be
Creative. Effective
character development should be creative. It should
be active and involve the child in real decision-making
that has real consequences. Games and role-playing
are also effective. Look for “teaching moments,”
using good and bad examples from TV, books, movies,
and the news.
We
only need to look at programs such as "Kindness
Is Contagious: Catch It," which began in a single
Kansas City, Mo., school and has since spread to more
than 400 public schools in the area, to see the success
creative character building programs can achieve.
This particular program is sponsored by the Stop
Violence Coalition.
Among
the activities the program encourages is one in which
children are asked to fill up two jars with beans.
One jar contains a bean for every time a child receives
a put-down, insult, or injury; another jar contains
a bean for every time a child receives a "put-up"
or an act of kindness. This activity provides children
with a visual image of what they are doing to each
other. The goal: to increase the put-ups and decrease
the put-downs.
A
second activity is called "Pass It On." A teacher
provides an overview of what kindness is (i.e. the
21 days of learning), and then when the teacher witnesses
an act of kindness amongst her students, she or he
gives the kind child an object such as a red apple,
and tells the child that he or she is now a witness
and must pass the apple on to whomever he or she sees
is performing an act of kindness.
A
copy of the guidebooks describing the program and
its activities are available for $20, by writing to:
Stop Violence Coalition, 301 East Armour, Suite 440,
Kansas City, MO 64111.
Summing
It Up
Dr. Kevin Ryan outlines the teaching of character
development education best in his article,
The Six E's Of Character Education:
- Example.
Example
is probably the most obvious way to model character
education. Another method for moral modeling is
to teach the moral truths embedded in literature
and history.
- Explanation.
We need to practice moral education by means of
explanation - not simply stuffing students' heads
with rules and regulations, but engaging them in
great moral conversations about the human race.
- Exhortation.
Used sparingly and with explanations, helps children
and employees understand that a a good student or
worker is someone who makes class contributions,
does homework and assists other students."
- Ethos.
Providing an ethical environment - climate within
a classroom promotes a steady and strong influence
in the formation of character and the student's
sense of what's right and wrong.
- Experience.
Providing
students both in-and out-of-school opportunities
to serve.
- Expectation
of Excellence.
Excellence in school work and behavior will encourage
students to develop qualities like perseverance
and determination, and those virtues will affect
every aspect of the children's lives as they mature.
The
end result of character development education: Children
who, as adults, will contribute to the community,
and whose moral leadership, values and citizenship
will make the world a better place.
Resources:
 "Six
Pillars of Character"
Josephson
Institute
The
Center for the Fourth and Fifth Rs
Dr. Thomas Lickona, Director
Kindness
Is Contagious
By Mark Moran , MPH
The
Six E's Of Character Education
By Dr.
Kevin Ryan
Character
Builders
By Dr. Borba - moralintelligence.com
Kindness
Is Contagious: Catch It
Stop Violence Coalition
This Month's Poll
Do you believe many children today lack good manners and respect for adults? |
|
Yes
|
35.4% |
|
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No
|
30.5% |
|
|
Somewhat
|
34% |
|
| 406 votes total |
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