Great Throughts Treasury

"Character doesn’t function in a vacuum; it functions in a social environment. Often that environment suppresses moral concerns."

"Schools cannot be ethical bystanders at a time when our society is in deep moral trouble. Rather, schools must do what they can to contribute to the character of the young and the moral health of the nation."

"Character so conceived has three interrelated parts: moral knowing, moral feeling, and moral behavior. Good character consists of knowing the good, desiring the good, and doing the good – habits of the mind, habits of the heart, and habits of action. When we think about the kind of character we want for our children, it’s clear that we want them to be able to judge what is right, care deeply about what is right, and then do what they believe to be right – even in the face of pressure from without and temptation from within."

"Schools inevitably teach good or bad values in everything they do. Every interaction, whether part of the academic curriculum or the human curriculum of rules, roles, and relationships, has the potential to affect a child’s values and character for good or for ill. The question is not whether to do values education but whether to do it well."

"Virtues transcend time and culture (although their cultural expression may vary); justice and kindness, for example, will always and everywhere be virtues, regardless of how many people exhibit them."

"The most basic form of moral education is the treatment we receive."

"When we think about the kind of character we want for our children, it’s clear that we want them to be able to judge what is right, care deeply about what is right, and then do what they believe to be right—even in the face of pressure from without and temptation from within."

"Character education is the deliberate effort to help people understand, care about, and act upon core ethical values."

"A child is the only known substance from which a responsible adult can be made."

"The content of our character: ten essential virtues - Which virtues are most important for strong character? Wisdom. Justice. Fortitude. Self-control. Love. Positive Attitude. Hard Work. Integrity. Gratitude. Humility."

"Where respect says ‘Don't hurt’, responsibility says ‘Do help’."

"Children are 25 percent of the population but 100 percent of the future. If we wish to renew society, we must raise up a generation of children who have strong moral character. And if we wish to do that, we have two responsibilities: first, to model good character in our own lives, and second, to intentionally foster character development in our young."

"I believe character education is the deliberate effort to cultivate virtue - that is, objectively good human qualities that are good for the individual person and good for the whole society. That doesn't happen accidentally or automatically It happens as a result of great and diligent effort."

"Children are most likely to become persons of character when they grow up in communities of character, where there is an effort on the part of families, schools, churches, temples, mosques, the media, the government, sports leagues, the chamber of commerce - everyone who has the opportunity to influence the values of young people - to both model and teach these character qualities. That's a huge challenge. And we've seen, for at least three decades, a decline in the quality of everyday moral life - in things as simple as civility, people's manners in public places, and courtesy on the road. It requires a society-wide effort to restore the moral fabric."

"Civilizations decline when their moral core deteriorates. One of our most basic responsibilities as adults is to sustain our civilization by passing on the values that are the foundation of our society."

"Which values are really important? I would include qualities such as honesty, compassion, courage, kindness, self-control, cooperation, diligence or hard work, all the kinds of qualities that we need to both lead a fulfilling life and to be able to live together harmoniously and productively."

"How can we respond to negative influences from the media? The media has emerged as a powerful social institution competing for the conscience of the child. The electronic media has enormous influence. Schools can help in several ways. For instance, teachers and directors can develop media literacy to help children think critically about what they're watching on the TV set or in movies. Schools can encourage parents to monitor what children watch, making sure that the programs they are viewing convey positive values rather than negative ones. Finally, they can also encourage parents to cut back on the amount of television the family watches. Some elementary school principals send home a letter saying, "If your child is second grade or younger we encourage you to limit TV to a maximum of 1/2 hour a day. If the child is third grade and up, a maximum of one hour a day " They also give a rationale: "We find that if children watch less TV, they're more likely to do their homework and get more sleep, and they're less likely to fight and quarrel and put each other down.""

"Historically, character formation of the young has been shared by three institutions: home, religion, and school. These work together to pass on a legacy of values to shape the character of the next generation. The family lays the foundation, which gets built upon by the other institutions. Adults have to come together to maximize the chance that we'll have a generation of young people who are mature enough and good enough to build a collective future in the next century. It's important that there be a partnership. The Character Education Partnership, the leading national organization promoting character education, is called that precisely to convey a very clear message that it is not the job of schools, families, or religious institutions alone."

"This is a set of “we” statements expressing the core values school members agree to live by, e.g.: We show respect and caring by our words and actions. We defend those who can't defend themselves. Whatever hurts my neighbor, hurts me. Involve staff, students, and parents in developing the touchstone. Talk with students about the touchstone every day."

"The implication for combating cruel and disrespectful behavior? Promote their opposites: kindness and respect. This is the core of effective character education: promoting positive behavior through all phases of school life. Bring out the best in students. Teach what’s right before something goes wrong. Set high standards; hold everyone, kids and adults, accountable. Celebrate success."

"Good character consists of knowing the good, desiring the good, and doing the good habits of the mind, habits of the heart, and habits of action."

"It’s important to know about the emotional dangers of premature sex, but it’s equally important to be able to identify the benefits of saving sex for a truly committed love relationship. Here are ten rewards of waiting 47 : 1. Waiting will make your relationships better because you’ll spend more time getting to know each other. 2. Waiting will increase your self-respect. 3. Waiting will gain you respect for having the courage of your convictions. 4. Waiting will teach you to respect other people — you won’t tempt or pressure them. 5. Waiting takes the pressure off you. 6. Waiting means a clear conscience (no guilt) and peace of mind (no conflicts, no regrets). 7. Waiting will help you find the right mate — someone who values you for the person you are. 8. Waiting means a better sexual relationship in marriage — free of comparisons and based on trust. By waiting, you’re being faithful to your spouse even before you meet him or her. 9. By practicing the virtues involved in waiting — such as faithfulness, good judgment, self-control, modesty, and genuine respect for self and others — you’re developing the kind of character that will make you a good marriage partner. 10.By becoming a person of character yourself, you’ll be able to attract a person of character — the kind of person you’d like to marry and to have as the father or mother of your children."

"Can schools, while they have students in their charge, make an observable difference in their character — the degree to which they know, love, and do the good? That question we can answer: Good schools, like good families, do make a difference. That is a source of hope as we face the formidable challenge of renewing our moral culture."

"What are the virtues we need for strong moral character? The ancient Greeks named four. They considered prudence, or practical wisdom, to be the master virtue, the one that steers the others. Wisdom tells us how to put the other virtues into practice. It tells us when to act, how to act, and how to integrate competing virtues (e.g., being truthful and being charitable toward someone's feelings). Wisdom also enables us to make the essential distinctions in life: right from wrong, truth from falsehood, fact from opinion, the eternal from the transitory. The second virtue named by the Greeks is justice. Justice is the virtue that enables us to treat others as they deserve to be treated. In their character education efforts, schools often center on justice because it covers all the interpersonal virtues — civility, courtesy, honesty, respect, responsibility, and tolerance — that make up so much of the moral life of the school. Justice is clearly important, but it's not the whole story. The third, often neglected virtue is fortitude. Fortitude enables us to do what is right in the face of difficulty. The right decision in life is usually the hard one. One high school captures this truth in its motto: "The hard right instead of the easy wrong." Fortitude, in the words of the educator James Stenson, is "inner toughness." It enables us to deal with adversity, withstand pain, overcome obstacles, and be capable of sacrifice. If you look around at the character of our kids and many of the adults in our society, we see a character that is soft and self-indulgent, that lacks the inner strength to handle life's inevitable hardships. Patience, perseverance, courage, and endurance are all aspects of fortitude. The fourth virtue is temperance. By this the Greeks meant something profound, namely, self-mastery. Temperance is the ability to govern ourselves. It enables us to control our temper, regulate our appetites and passions, and pursue even legitimate pleasures in moderation. Temperance is the power to say no, to resist temptation, and to delay gratification in the service of higher and distant goals. An old saying recognizes the importance of temperance: "Either we rule our desires, or our desires rule us.""

"The 7 E's of Teaching a Character Trait - 1. Explain it - define it, illustrate it, and discuss its importance. 2. Examine it - in literature, history, and current events. 3. Exhibit it - through personal example. 4. Expect it - through codes, rules, contracts and consequences. 5. Experience it directly. 6. Encourage it - through goal-setting, practice and self-assessment. 7. Evaluate it - give feedback."

"Character doesn?t function in a vacuum; it functions in a social environment. Often that environment suppresses moral concerns."

"A wave of greed and materialism threatens to engulf us. Money increasingly drives our society and shapes the values and goals of our youth. Making money becomes the justification for breaking rules."

"Character so conceived has three interrelated parts: moral knowing, moral feeling, and moral behavior. Good character consists of knowing the good, desiring the good, and doing the good ? habits of the mind, habits of the heart, and habits of action. When we think about the kind of character we want for our children, it?s clear that we want them to be able to judge what is right, care deeply about what is right, and then do what they believe to be right ? even in the face of pressure from without and temptation from within."

"Civilizations decline when their moral core deteriorates. One of our most basic responsibilities as adults is to sustain our civilization by passing on the values that are the foundation of our society"

"Criterion 4: Character education is effective if it employs practices that are research-based."

"Criterion 1: Character education is effective to the extent that it implements widely accepted principles of character education."

"Criterion 10: Character education is effective if it helps students to make use of all their intellectual and cultural resources, including their faith traditions, when they make moral decisions."

"Criterion 3: Character education is effective if it strengthens a school's sense of community."

"Criterion 2: We can say that character education is effective if it produces greater gains in students who experience the program, compared to students who do not."

"Criterion 7: Character education is effective if students testify that it had a positive effect on them."

"Criterion 6: Character education is effective if it makes an observable difference in an individual student."

"Criterion 5: We can regard character education as effective if classroom or school-wide behavior improves after we implement the program, even if there is no control group."

"Criterion 8: Character education is effective if it mobilizes the peer culture on the side of virtue."

"Criterion 9: Character education is effective if it helps our students become effective parents when they have children of their own."

"The media has emerged as a powerful social institution competing for the conscience of the child. The electronic media has enormous influence. Schools can help in several ways. For instance, teachers and directors can develop media literacy to help children think critically about what they're watching on the TV set or in movies. Schools can encourage parents to monitor what children watch, making sure that the programs they are viewing convey positive values rather than negative ones. Finally, they can also encourage parents to cut back on the amount of television the family watches. Some elementary school principals send home a letter saying, "If your child is second grade or younger we encourage you to limit TV to a maximum of 1/2 hour a day. If the child is third grade and up, a maximum of one hour a day " They also give a rationale: "We find that if children watch less TV, they're more likely to do their homework and get more sleep, and they're less likely to fight and quarrel and put each other down.""

"These, then, are ten different ways to define effectiveness in character education. We can say that character education is effective if it: (1) implements widely accepted principles of character education; (2) produces greater gains in students who experience the program compared to those who don't; (3) strengthens a school's sense of community; (4) employs practices that are research-based; (5) is accompanied by significant improvement in students' behavior in the classroom or school; (6) produces an observable positive change in individual children; (7) elicits students' testimony that the program had a positive and enduring effect; (8) improves the peer culture; (9) helps students develop the attitudes and skills needed to be good parents; and (10) helps students to use all of their intellectual and cultural resources when they make important moral decisions."

"Schools inevitably teach good or bad values in everything they do. Every interaction, whether part of the academic curriculum or the human curriculum of rules, roles, and relationships, has the potential to affect a child?s values and character for good or for ill. The question is not whether to do values education but whether to do it well."

"Which values are really important? I would include qualities such as honesty, compassion, courage, kindness, self-control, cooperation, diligence or hard work, all the kinds of qualities that we need to both lead a fulfilling life and to be able to live together harmoniously and productively. Character education develops these virtues through every phase of school life. In our work, we promote what we call a comprehensive approach to character education. We encourage schools to think about the moral life of the classroom in the school or center as a whole. Our classroom components include the teacher as model, developing a moral classroom community, positive peer relationships, using discipline as a tool for character development, and building a democratic classroom so the children are involved in helping to make decisions to solve real classroom problems."

"Our challenge as schools is not whether to do character education but rather how to do it well."

"What creates a moral community in the classroom? Three conditions are basic: (1) Students know each other. (2) Students respect, affirm, and care about each other. (3) Students feel membership in, and responsibility to, the group."

"To what extent are schools in fact doing effective character education? We know that a growing number are engaged in deliberate character education, but we have no data on what percentage are doing it well. To what extent do the changes wrought by schools endure beyond graduation, into adult life? That research also remains to be done. Can schools, while they have students in their charge, make an observable difference in their character ? the degree to which they know, love, and do the good? That question we can answer: Good schools, like good families, do make a difference. That is a source of hope as we face the formidable challenge of renewing our moral culture."

"When we think about the kind of character we want for our children, it?s clear that we want them to be able to judge what is right, care deeply about what is right, and then do what they believe to be right?even in the face of pressure from without and temptation from within."

"What, then, is character education? It is the deliberate effort to cultivate virtue in its cognitive, emotional, and behavioral dimensions. It does so intentionally through every phase of school life, from the teacher's example to the handling of rules and discipline to the content of the curriculum to the conduct of sports."