Ten days ago I read about an elementary school in Wisconsin that has started to teach Character Education in the classroom and I thought to myself, “Really? When did we stop teaching students about moral responsibility and ethics?” And while I applaud Jason Jackson and Madison Elementary in Wisconsin for shining a spotlight on good values, I am saddened by the fact that this seems like a new and exciting concept.
When I was in school (oh so long ago) we had classes on civics. Basically, civics is the study of our government and our role as citizens. Invariably the message always came back to being kind, considerate, honest, hardworking, and fair. Intrigued I did a quick search on the Internet and it appears as if most schools haven’t offered a civics course since the early ‘70s. This is interesting too, there was a time when a civics class credit was necessary to graduate from high school.
Opponents say that character cannot be taught in a classroom. Instead values must be experienced. And while I agree that it’s the doing and not the saying that will benefit children – a lot of these experiences can easily be had in the classroom. Case in point: while Jackson was the first-year assistant principal at Madison he introduced character education saying that, “If you can get the students to behave and be better people, everything else will fall into place.” Each month teachers emphasized a different value. It seems that it worked; there is evidence that students did reach out to help someone who fell, or who needed help, plus there were less discipline referrals.
So I say yes! While we are teaching reading strategies, math, and science, let’s weave in the principles of the Golden Rule. I say, let’s show by example what respect, and honesty, and kindness look like. What do you say?