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Day after day, we are bombarded with stories of greedy corporate
leaders, corrupt politicians, and sports stars using drugs. Indeed,
every sector of our society is confronted by a crisis of character,
most tragically among young people, all too many of whom are plagued
with problems of a poor work ethic, drug abuse, sexual activity,
violence, lying, cheating, stealing, and bullying.
With all these character-related problems, why aren't the presidential
candidates speaking out on the subject? And why hasn't it been put
on the agenda for their debates? Why aren't the American people
demanding that schools do more to help our young acquire good character
- to become people who do their best work and do the right thing
in all areas of their lives?
Having spent 40 years in the corporate world, I know that business
leaders don't want young people coming into their companies who
are brilliant but dishonest. And yet the vast majority of corporate
leaders ignore character problems such as the rising levels of cheating
in our high schools and colleges. Instead, they focus on narrow
measures of school success such as higher test scores.
Far too many parents also ignore the need for character education
in our schools. They, too, concentrate on test scores and grades
in the misguided belief that getting their kids into the right college
is all that really matters.
No matter how many red flags are raised in the media about the crisis
of character in our society, and despite the fact that we all agree
that the role of education should be to produce citizens who are
both smart and good, we continue by and large to focus on test scores
rather than authentic measures of intellectual and moral excellence.
As a school principal, the survivor of a concentration camp once
wrote to his teachers at the start of a new school year, "My
eyes saw what no person should witness: gas chambers built by learned
engineers, children poisoned by educated physicians, infants killed
by trained nurses, women and babies shot and burned by high school
and college graduates. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters
and skilled psychopaths. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are important
only if they serve to make our children more humane."
Fortunately, a high-quality character education program in schools
produces young people who are both humane and smart. Just ask Robert
Gehringer, the principal of Boys Town High School, which Father
Flanagan started 90 years ago in Boys Town, Neb. This school transforms
severely at-risk, abused, abandoned, and neglected boys and girls
into productive citizens. A high-quality character education program
in schools produces young people who are both humane and smart.
The first step with these students is training in basic social
and performance skills, such as following instructions, greeting
others, accepting criticism as well as compliments, asking for help,
and listening. They slowly but surely begin to accept the fact that
everyone at the school, both young and old, sincerely wants to help
them become a better, happier, more successful person. They are
taught to monitor their feelings, control impulses, empathize with
others, set goals, and delay gratification in order to pursue their
goals. They learn what it means to be hardworking, trustworthy,
respectful, responsible, and caring, and that they are expected
to practice those virtues until they become habits, and part of
their character. In this environment, they find meaning in their
studies, and their academic performance improves dramatically.
Boys Town High School was one of 10 schools and districts recognized
in a nationwide competition as a 2007 National School of Character.
The other nine winners, chosen by the Character Education Partnership,
included both public and private schools from urban, suburban, and
rural communities. All 10 winners had different character education
programs, but they all employed practices that met the quality standards
of the partnership's "Eleven Principles of Effective Character
Education." (See www.character.org).
In the early history of our public education, developing good character
- qualities such as diligence, perseverance, honesty, and kindness-was
considered essential for doing well in school and doing good in
life. But in the last part of the 20th century, most public schools
drifted away from that traditional emphasis on character.
Fortunately, in the past two decades, the character education movement
has revived and is beginning to pick up speed. Thirty-one states
now mandate or encourage character education by statute. And all
across the country schools are implementing character education
programs, but not nearly at the pace, numbers, and quality needed
to overcome our national crisis of character.
With character-related fires blazing all around us, Americans need
to recognize that we should be emphasizing good character in our
young just as emphatically as we have been focusing on higher math
and science test scores. Samuel and John Phillips, the founders
of Phillips Academy in 1778, said it well: "Goodness without
knowledge is weak and feeble, yet knowledge without goodness is
dangerous, and both united form the noblest character."
We need to hear how the future president of the United States is
going to help our schools produce young people who have the strengths
of character - the determination of a Winston Churchill, for example,
and the compassion of a Mother Teresa - to overcome the unprecedented
challenges we face at home and abroad.
As President Theodore Roosevelt reminded us, "Character, in
the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual
and of nations alike."
Sanford N. McDonnell is the chairman emeritus of the McDonnell
Douglas Corp., which is now part of Boeing. He is also the chairman
emeritus of the Character Education Partnership.
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