On Character Education

Living in the United States, in California, in Los Angeles, and in the fall of 2005 as a 35-year old married, Caucasian, male, elementary school substitute teacher with 4½ years of experience in Los Angeles Unified School District, presently in my final 6 months of preparation for becoming a credentialed secondary school English teacher, I find myself concerned with the honestly overwhelming questions addressing the character, integrity, ethics, and values of my students and indeed all people within the community, society, nation, and world in which my as yet unborn children will live, indeed -- in which we all will live.

The education of character is something that I think and feel we must address in this society, in the United States, in 2005, because of the fact that so much seems to show us that American ethics, values, principles, and morals have worn away, been torn down, been completely stripped away, or never in fact even existed in our Hollywood, Capitalist, media-spun, Wag the Dog, Governator, hip-hop, gangster rapper, disposable, fast-food, super-size me, reality television, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, plastic surgery, virtual insanity, Barbie doll, No Fear, Gimme’ some more, nips and tucks, bumps and lumps, profit-driven mega-American super-consumer culture.

Media headline events, although they do offer only a limited and often distorted view, such as the Enron incident, corporate executive “Golden Parachutes,” the O.J. Case, Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton, and the Iraq War without “Weapons of Mass Destruction” fiasco all indicate that character, ethics, and integrity themselves seem to have at least for awhile been hibernating within our American subconscious minds.

Whether or not these most extreme media events give an accurate representation, character, ethics, and integrity still appear to have become something of the recessive characteristic present in current American culture, and this is something that I feel continues to have escalating major repercussions on our country, our society, and young Americans in general.

Do our students even know what it means to be an ethical person of character who lives according to a set of self-regulated ethical principles? And, what’s worse, even if they do know what it means, do they really even care? Do they really believe that the “Golden Rule” is “he who has the gold makes the rule?” Do they really believe that “nice guys finish last?” Do they believe that in order to “win” in America a person has to break certain rules and lower certain ethical standards? Perhaps some are just resigned to the fates they think they have. Perhaps some just don’t believe that being a person of character “works” in “real life.” Perhaps it is up to us as teachers and people of character to rebuild what it means to have character, and also to help our students to learn to believe in it again.

To teach our students to be people of character -- this is indeed a worthy pursuit. A person of character is indeed powerful in that he or she avoids many of life’s pitfalls which those without it remain susceptible. Also, a person of integrity and character has a sense of civil and social responsibility. Ethics, values, and principles are valuable tools and more than that, I would argue, they are the very foundations for a workable, sane, and sustainable society and civilization, and especially those societies and civilizations that are as culturally, ethnically, and racially diverse as our American one is presently.

Within a free society, which benefits from the freedoms and liberties that we all share and enjoy in the United States, comes also a certain responsibility and obligation to one another and to the children of our nation. The character, integrity, and ethics of the individuals within the communities, institutions, organizations, businesses, and governments within this country and within all human communities are indeed something that affects us all.

Thus, as teacher and as a human being, I find it of utmost importance, to not only be a person of integrity and character myself, but also to develop within my students character, values, ethics, morals, and a way of life that is not willing to sacrifice their own principles, integrity, nor ethics for “success” - economic or otherwise. A person of character recognizes the repercussions that his or her own actions have on other people in the society, culture, and human community in general. It is my conclusion that we must begin to recognize the trade-offs that occur when we seek personal goals that occur at the expense of others and at the expense of the whole. We must begin to realize that we can’t keep seeking the “golden parachute” escape route because indeed we are one whole human community ultimately living together on one world and in one global community.

We must, I feel, begin to realize that we can succeed and not bring harm to the people in the society, culture, and human community. In fact, this must become the new authentic definition of what it is “to succeed.” We can succeed and actually do tremendous good for the people in our society, culture, and human community. We must learn to see ourselves as “all of us” and not solely as ourselves separate, or solely as members of one particular group or another. We must learn that we can validate the healthiest of our individual identities and still validate and serve the whole simultaneously.

As an elementary school teacher for the past 4½ years, again, I see my students even at this young of an age at the effect of our profit-driven mega-American super-consumer culture. In such an environment, it seems to me that some of those role models that stand for integrity, responsibility, character, and ethics might just get lost or have a very difficult time getting through and making the type of difference that we all really need them to make.

However, within the relationship in between teacher and student, which is often not an easy one for a teacher to cultivate nor maintain, but which can be obtained, and because it can, it is my belief that a teacher can make the type of difference that is needed for some students to learn and develop this invaluable sense of character, integrity, and ethics.

Whether or not this is the case, or whether we are just weary travelers lost in “a super-sized sh-t storm!” the education of our students with integrity and principles based on character is something we as teachers can choose to embrace in ourselves and in the education of our students for all our sake because the character of each of our students is obviously of vital importance to our society, our families, our communities, our neighborhoods, our state, our country, and so on.

What this means to us as teachers is that we can incorporate simple ideas about character into some aspect of learning intermingled with academics each day. It means that we can choose to incorporate some practical and simple lessons about community, responsibility, integrity, and ethical decision making in some way, shape, or form into our classroom teaching strategies each day. We can discover these character educational lesson plans and ideas through our own personal online research or through our professional development meetings with other teachers.

To be a teacher of character is fundamentally simply to be a person of character when with our students, in how we relate to them, and in how we conduct ourselves as teachers, and as people in general in our lives. Do we ourselves treat our students with respect? Do we keep our word and follow through with what we tell our students we will do? Do we model inner peace, kindness, and manners with our students? Are we ourselves responsible citizens who participate in our communities and in the communities around the schools in which we teach? Do we facilitate community and a classroom environment where our students feel safe to communicate and share with one another? What decisions do we ourselves make when faced with the ongoing ethical choices and even dilemmas that we all face? Do we live our lives based upon certain moral or ethical principles that we alone require of ourselves?

There are very few fast and easy ways, if any, to teach and develop character in our students because authentic character itself is truly not a fast or easy thing to develop. It very often takes much more than educating our students with the knowledge of what it is, but it takes our being committed that our students practice and develop it as we work with them throughout the school year. It develops slowly over time, and it often can be something that shows up most clearly in us and our students only when we are the most tested. Being a person of character is not necessarily the path of least resistance. It often can take much thought, commitment, and work on our part and our student's part not only to make ethical choices, but to follow through with them.

Also, the final determinant of and power for integrity, responsibility, and character within each individual student, unless society is forced to intervene due to an excess lack of these qualities, is the conscience within that student. So, we as teachers perhaps can ultimately only, “show the horse to water, but cannot make him drink" with regards to our students' character. But we can motivate and inspire our students by virtue of our own examples, and we can help them to become aware of their own integrity or lack thereof through character education. And if we as teachers continue to become increasingly aware of the vital importance of character education and choose to commit to it, then a powerful ethical decision has been made on our part and in that choice a significant difference will indeed be made within our students. Ultimately, however, the power to choose and commit to character development within ourselves and character education for our students is in our hands.

In conclusion, character education is an invaluable aspect of education that is now an expanding, developing, and growing aspect of public education ripe with creative opportunities and challenges. It is also something that we as teachers can ongoingly choose to develop in ourselves and integrate into our teaching, along with a deep and profound love and respect for ourselves for the tremendous service that doing so provides, for our student’s sake, for our own sake, and for everyone’s sake. Please join me, won’t you?