Character Education Programs Must Have a Foundation of Respect
Posted by admin in Character Education Programs on September 27, 2011
While conducting my latest three-hour Character Education – Teachers & Staff Development Class in a small school district in Texas, I began by asking the staff to discuss why Character Education is important in Texas schools. Over the last few years I have received the same type of answers – “kids are not being taught values (some teachers mention basic courtesy,) any more”, “kids are meaner to each other today”, “parents are not involved in the child’s life”, and other very similar responses to these.
In this last class, when I asked “What particular value do you see is most needed in your students?” three people responded at the same time, “Respect”. What an unambiguous indication of what this Texas District needed most!
This reminds me of an article I wrote recently on my Building Good Citizens for Texas website regarding Hal Urban. A comment from Dr. Urban was highlighted in that column – “What we accept, we teach!” As we continued to talk about the reasons for the lack of respect in this Texas district, it became clear that although teachers were working very hard to instill respect, students were just not being required to strive for those high standards teachers expected and wanted from them. Read the rest of this entry »
Character Education Is All About Raising Responsible, Respectful Kids
Posted by admin in Character Education on September 27, 2011
We hear a lot today about falling moral standards, lack of respect for others and the culture of “self first.” But our society doesn’t have to be like this, and there is a growing movement to reverse these trends through Character Education. This is not a “quick fix.” It provides long-term solutions that address moral, ethical, and academic issues that are of growing concern to us all.
Character education is the fostering of ethical, responsible, and caring young people by modelling and teaching good character through emphasis on universal moral values that are common to all religions and societies, such as caring, honesty, fairness, responsibility, and respect for self and others.
Good character is not formed automatically; rather it is developed over time through a sustained process of teaching, example, learning, and practice -that is character education. Teaching good character is particularly important today as our youngsters are exposed to many opportunities and dangers unknown to their parents and grandparents. They are bombarded with many more negative influences through the media and other external sources prevalent in today’s culture. Read the rest of this entry »