Character Education and Core Virtues Essay

When I sign(a) on to watch English at a core virtues condition, I had no idea what I was in for. I n rumed and smiled in my consultation when the Headmaster explained the virtues political program, and I parried back with everything I thought she wanted to run across how I could infuse my lessons on To Kill a Mockingbird with discussions approximately empathy and courage. I may expect even quoted Atticus line most walking about in someone elses skin. I reckon I could tack on some of that quaint virtue throw in advance getting to the real meat of the lesson, the academic stuff.And for the first category I taught at Crossroads Academy, thats pretty much what I did. I made some empty gesticulations toward the core virtues bulletin dialog box in my secernroom and made some token mentions of fortitude at obvious moments in our reading of The Illiad and The Aeneid. I was tutoring literature, barely I certainly wasnt doing Aristotle proud. I mean come on. pillow slip fos terage? Core virtues? I acquire English, non Sunday initiate, and besides, I teach set enlighten.If I were to walk into my eighth grade English class and wax rhapsodic about prudence and somberness, those kids would eat me alive. Its big(a) enough to keep the attention of a classroom full of middle school students without coming on like an 18th-century schoolmarm. Character raising is not old-fashioned, and its not about bringing religion in to the classroom. Character is the X chemical element that experts in parenting and reproduction have deemed integral to success.somewhere a languish the way, someone must have started dosing me with the slip education Kool-Aid, because cinque years in, I have come to understand what real showcase education looks like and what it gage do for children. I appriset imagine teaching in a school that does not have a hard-core commitment to roughage education, because Ive seen what that education can mean to a childs emotional, moral, and intellectual development. Schools that teach character education report higher academic performance, improved string upance, reduced violence, few disciplinary issues, reduction in substance abuse, and less vandalism.At a age when parents and teachers are concerned about school violence, it is worth noting that students who attend character education schools report feeling safer because they know their fellow students lever respect, responsibility, compassion and hard work. From a practical perspective, its simply easier to teach children who can exercise patience, self-control, and diligence, even when they would rather be playing exterior especi bothy whenthey would rather be playing outside. American schools used to decoct on character education and civic virtue. The founders of this country, including John and Abigail Adams, Thomas Jefferson, crowd Madison, and Benjamin Franklin wrote about the importance of character education in maintaining the in the raw republi c. Those founders would likely be horrified by the loss of this goal, as they all cite character education as the way to create an meliorate and virtuous citizenry.As Gallup polls show that over ninety per centum of American adults support the teaching of honesty, democracy, acceptance of people of different races and cultural backgrounds, patriotism, caring for friends and family members, moral courage, and the Golden Rule in public schools, it seems odd that this facet of American education has disappeared from public debate over course and academic content. The core virtues prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice make it into nearly every lesson we teach at our school and every facet of our daily lives on campus.The curriculum we use, designed by Mary Beth Klee, is a non-sectarian education in intellectual, moral, and civic virtues through literature, and can be used in conjunction with each academic curriculum. As the core virtues program uses examples to literature in lay out to illustrate character, I choose my texts accordingly. In my middle school Latin and English classes, we explore the concept of temperance through discussions of Achilles impulsive rages, major power Ozymandias petulant demand that we Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair, Macbeths bloody, vaulting ambition, which oerleaps itself and falls on the other. This week, I gained a fantastic teaching supporter who has raised my character education skills to the next level, a wise teacher who has illustrated the importance of temperance far better than I or Achilles or Macbeth ever could. A mallard duck (Mom mallard to our students) took up dormitory on our campus this week. Mallards, or anas platyrhynchos, are also known as dabbling ducks, and this caseicular duck has apparently been dabbling in Aristotelian philosophy, because shes presented our students with a real-life lesson in the core virtue of temperance.Her nest, made from feathers shes plucked clear up her o wn breast and filled with ten eggs, lies about eighteen inches from the introduction to our main building, a path our students take in out of school at least six times a day. Mom Mallard doesnt seem too worried about our students feet as long as they keep moving. However, the second those feet stop and one of the children pauses to take a good, long, look, she quacks angrily and abandons her nest. Her first day in residence, she spent much time off the eggs than she did on them, and we realized we were going to have to follow a way to teach our students some self-control.It just so happens that this months virtue is temperance stopping to think about our actions before we enact them, giving the best of ourselves, and saying no to our weaknesses. The middle school students use the term temperance, and the lower school kids use the term self-control, save tomato, tomato, its all the same idea. In Stanfords famous prove on self-control, children were faced with the immediate real ity of one marshmallow versus the promise of ii marshmallows if they can just wait for fifteen minutes.The children who were able to resist lure and wait fifteen minutes for that second marshmallow had better life outcomes in the form of lower obesity rates, higher SAT scores, and higher levels of education. self-abnegation itself does not make a kid smarter, or fitter, or more proficient at test-taking, but its the essential skill unsung within all of these positive outcomes. Character education is not old-fashioned, and its not about bringing religion in to the classroom. Character education teaches children how to make wise decisions and act on them.Character is the X factor that experts in parenting and education have deemed integral to success, both in school and in life. Paul Tough, author of How Children Succeed, calls that character-based X factor grit, while educational consultant Dr. Michele Borba calls it moral intelligence. When I asked parenting expert Borba to exp lain why she thinks character education is so overlooked as a vital part of childrens success, she wrote, Thats what parents dont seem to get, the hidden set of character traits for success. They see character education as fluff, because thats a good deal how its taught posters and worksheets.Character education needs to be relevant. It needs to be woven in curriculum, not tacked on. We are such a trophy-, SAT-obsessed society, but if parents would recognize the value beyond the humanness, civility and ethics, they might get it. here on our campus, our marshmallow is a duck. Our students must weigh their desire for a readily peek at Mom Mallard with the promise of ten ducklings waddling around our playground in 28 days. If everyone, even the youngest, most impulsive kindergarteners, can learn to exercise self-control, we go away all benefit.Next week, Mom Mallard will catch a bit of a break from our students, because they will be confined to their classrooms for a week of sta ndardized testing. Our character education curriculum may not show up as an increase in this years test scores but then again, it could self-control, after all, is exactly whats needed to put off a video game or a TV show for some other 20 minutes to finish reading or studying. Though temperance isnt easily measured with number two pencils and bubble forms, it has the efficiency to foster and reinforce the skills those bubble forms do test.