BUILDING CHARACTER

11 Principles

From the Character Education partnership, here are 11 principles for comprehensive and effective character education the group is promoting:

1) Promote core ethical values as the basis of good character

2) Define character comprehensively to include thinking, feeling and behavior

3) Use a comprehensive, intentional, proactive and effective approach

4) Create a caring school community

5) Provide students with opportunities to engage in moral action

6) Provide a meaningful and challenging curriculum that helps all students to succeed

7) Foster students’ intrinsic motivation to learn and to be good people

8) Engage school staff as professionals in a learning and moral community

9) Foster school moral leadership and long-term support for character education

10) Engage families and community members as partners in character education

11) Evaluate the character of the school, its staff and its students to inform the character education effort

This list is admirable and necessary but these principles need to start with parents not teachers. Schools are the partner to supplement character building enforced by parental guidance.

Schools are only part of the solution for building good character and leadership skills among the today’s youth. Beyond parents, other community institutions responsible include church/spiritual, government, business and social/recreational outlets. Without community and parental involvement, schools are powerless to effect widespread change.

Once again it looks like public schools are being asked to take control for something that is the domain of parents. Like childhood obesity, schools are powerless to correct this behavior without the help of parents. Character building cannot be a subject imbedded in a curriculum. It is part of culture and of civilized society and must be constantly demonstrated and reinforced by everyone.

Isn’t it interesting that he institution most closely associated with character building is not demanding to “lead the charge”? Spirituality is supposedly a high priority among US citizens, so where are the people representing the various ministries offering to provide character building studies? Aren’t these individuals the character builders?

Students need character building education but don’t expect teachers already burdened with trying to meet the demands of No Child Left Behind to be the solution. They are support and they lead by example but they are not the solution.

Job Loss

A person losing their job has been a way of life since the early 1980’s when the world (notably Japan and Germany) caught up with dominating US companies. Manufacturing was the major force in the US job market 25 years ago but it was undermined by an emerging world economy that could build quality products for less money. The era of “jobs for life” had ended.

According to the US Department of Labor, the US averages about 2 million lost jobs per year. In 1997, 1.44 million jobs were permanently lost. The best year came in 2000 when only 1.1 million jobs were lost (during the economic boom) and the worst year in 2003, when 2.85 million jobs were eliminated (the tech bubble burst). In 2006, 1.69 million jobs were terminated. Because change can come quickly instead of taking generations, employment is dynamic (new jobs are created and old ones eliminated).

The point is that people should not be preparing to do one job and instead should have the attitude that employment is a constant state of change. Instead of trying to anticipate what might be the next great job, prepare for everything and anything. The best way to accomplish that goal is to read and to practice your writing skills.

If you can learn, think and translate your thinking to paper, someone will hire you.

Visit www.3MinuteLearning.com

GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE

© 2007 3 Minute Learning LLC