news-record.com

OPINION

Editorial: Schools' character education something more than a fad

Article
Comments (2)

Friday, September 11, 2009

(Updated 3:00 am)

Although parents continue to be the primary moral educators of their children, there's still an important role for the public schools to play.

In Guilford County, schools Superintendent Maurice "Mo" Green wants to extend the Positive Behavior Support program to every school in the system. It's now in 41 of them.

His selling point: It's working despite criticism that the program simply keeps bad kids in school.

To bolster his case, he cites marked behavioral improvement where it's being used, including fewer suspensions and discipline problems.

According to the schools' Web site, goals are to promote respect, caring, compassion, integrity and responsibility. Yet with school systems nationwide jumping on the character-building bandwagon, there are legitimate concerns of just another educational fad that soon will pass.

But, in fact, the concept isn't new. Past generations heard that it took a village to raise a child. Clergy, coaches, extended family, even neighbors, acted as role models, helping kids develop a moral compass. Teachers, as well, helped students, often from different ethnic backgrounds, mature intellectually and personally.

Developing character, however, can't be taught in a 40-minute class a couple of times a week. The challenge is incorporating it into the overall learning process -- an integral part of schooling, along with academics.

Some students come to class unaware of what behavior is expected of them. Kids from families in crisis may not have the same basic people skills as their peers, which can severely limit chances of success. It's not a quantum leap for trained school personnel to then move in and help fill the void.

Demanding behavioral accountability and skills promotes discipline, raises expectations and ultimately builds character. No matter where it happens, young lives are much better off.

Advertisement | Advertise with Us

Comments

View Comments

This article has been closed to new comments. Comments are generally closed after 14 days. However, comments may be closed earlier at the discretion of the News & Record.

Inappropriate content? Please report abuse.

HIfi

September 14, 2009 - 12:46 pm EDT

Green made two claims, "Clergy, coaches, extended family, even neighbors, acted as role models, helping kids develop a moral compass. "Demanding behavioral accountability and skills promotes discipline, raises expectations and ultimately builds character."

There is no evidence for either of these propositions.There's no evidence that character education is effective.

I'm continually baffled at how character education - which on the surface of it sounds great - wins funding and accolades while never demonstrating evidence of either need or results. Is all that is required for adoption is a slick marketing campaign to the politicians and school boards in order to acquire popular support (complete with entreaties to emotional and fear issues and a healthy dose of language from pop psychology and a wink to religion) and then you are done? Who could object to "character education", right?

The adoption of character education in our community should be seriously questioned. Research on the subject has yet to turn up one peer-reviewed study demonstrating any scientifically validated need for or result from character education programs. On the other hand, flaws in the "research" showing "correlations" are well documented.

There is really no excuse for a reputable study to not have been conducted at this point - especially, when considering that character education has no basis in accepted educational theory in the first place. Such a dearth of validity makes it hard to just give it the benefit of the doubt. What's worse, the actual peer reviewed studies that have been done, show character education programs to be not only ineffectual, but "negatively correlated" with results!

Today's character education would seem to fall right in line with a string of similarly flawed and famously failed school programs: "religious education", "moral education", "values education"... However, not to be deterred by lack of results, character education programs abound, forging ahead - each trotting out entirely different lists of politically-entangled core values and means for implementing them! Their dissensions from one another's goals and criticisms of each other is enlightening.

Certainly, it is unfortunate for the entire field that there is no valid psychological definition of "character". The term has no clinical meaning; which probably also explains why there can be no way to measure if an individual has a deficit of it, or if a school program can improve it. If there was anything quantifiable, one might be able to judge the benefit of one approach over the other - or any benefit at all.

It is telling, perhaps, that the one thing these competing programs all agree on is that the end goal is the child or employee's compliance with authority and conformity with conservative values. Is that how we wish to define the core values of our "national character" these days? What about the spirit of inquiry, independence and innovation that defines the true character of a great nation? On the much-lauded "Magic School Bus" TV show, the class slogan is "Take Chances, Make Mistakes. Get Messy!", just the opposite of the stated goals on character education lists.

Sure, on the face of it, who wouldn't be in favor of something as grand sounding as character education? Yet, slick marketing aside, is that enough to justify exposing our children to such an unknown, ideologically-driven quantity?

Even if character education could be proven to achieve any of it's aims, public education has no business taking the culture wars to children. What should schools be focusing on as root causes, instead? The best academic minds in the business recommend that the schools' focus should be to ensure a fair, well-funded educational environment; provide solid, verifiable facts; develop the critical thinking skills to separate the "angles" and hype from the truth; and then let students decide for themselves what kind of future they want for themselves.

In sum, character education sure sounds good - if only it worked. Isn't it time for some real investigative reporting into the claims of character education, instead of all the cheerleading?

-----------------

A 2007 report released under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Education found that vast majority of character education programs have failed to prove their effectiveness.
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/character_education/topic/

-----------------

For essays and references, please see http://members.cox.net/patriotismforall/character_ed_links.html
Anthologized in "Taking Sides: Issues in Educational Practice", 2008 McGraw-Hill/CLS

-----------------

Wikipedia: Character Education
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_education

----------------------------------

"The virtue in most request is conformity."
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841.

-----------------

"Teachers and schools tend to mistake good behavior for good character. What they prize is docility, suggestibility; the child who will do what he is told; or even better, the child who will do what is wanted without even having to be told. They value most in children what children least value in themselves. small wonder that their effort to build character is such a failure; they don't know it when they see it."
How Children Fail -- John Holt