<p>
Character Is Everything
15 Articles on Character Education
And Why These Qualities Are So Important
To Teach Our Students
James H Burns MA, DHL
Character Is Everything
For at the least thirty years I have spoken about the importance of character training in
our schools. The students that teachers work with may not get any character education in
their home, and deciding whether or not something is right or wrong is based upon
circumstance or the environment with the color always being gray rather than viewing
things in black and white. I have been in schools and have found posters all over the
building that state how the school and the district are committed to character education
for their students. In the same schools the use of profanity and vulgarity was regularly
used without consequence and in one school a fight broke out in the hallway. Different
states across the country have mandated that school districts implement a character
education program and in some cases a character education coordinator has been
appointed to either develop or purchase a canned character education program for district
use.
Character truly is everything, but what is character and more importantly what is
character education? I really don't think anyone has an answer. But I would like to shed
some light on some character qualities and what they really mean. The importance of
understanding what the definition of a character quality is something that teachers,
students, and parents need to be made aware of. Without a clear definition of what a
character quality really means a child will never be aware of when he/she exhibits the
quality and a teacher will never have a starting point for how they are going to teach the
quality to their students. The most important thing to remember is that good character is
not subject to interpretation and is black and white or right and wrong.
The definition of honesty is a refusal to lie, steal, or deceive in any way. The opposite
of honesty is dece