Why Is It Important To Be Taught In Schools

Martin Luther King Jr. once said in “The Purpose of Education,” that “Intelligence plus character – that is a goal of true education.” Good character is defined as a particular feature or quality that is ingrained in a person throughout their lifetime. Character represents many qualities, which separates one person from another. Many parents wish that when their child would grow up, as a caring, and an honest person. Many people argue whether schools should provide character education besides academics. Character education programs are beyond the bounds of what happens in school. Parents are required to participate in order to contribute the same good values the schools are trying to contribute. I agree that schools should teach character in addition to academics, but they should also make an effort in involving the parents. Both the school and parents should uphold the responsibility together. The schools and parents should work together to inspire character strengths in a child.

The Government of Ontario introduced the Character Development Initiative in 2006. This policy mandates formal character education in Ontario's public schools. Ontario's school leaders are expected to play a large role in the implementation of the Character Development Initiative.

Many students come to school without a solid moral and ethical foundation because it has not been a priority at home. The lack thereof must not be used as an excuse. Educators must assume the responsibility to be effective caregivers, moral models, and ethical mentors. Successful character education is an integral part of a school’s culture, most effective when the virtues are integrated into the academic curriculum (Dean, 2014).

Character Values are an important subject that must be taught to children or else they may never learn them. Thomas J. Lasley the author of “Character Will Likely Fail,” is against character education because he believes that character values are observed at home, and cannot be taught. While Kathleen Townsend the author of “Not Just Read and Write, But Right and Wrong,” believes that it is our duty as a community to teach our children values. Townsend clearly has a stronger argument because the only defense Lasley has to support his opinion is that it doesn’t matter whether or not we teach children values they are still going to act like the people around them. While Townsend has numerous facts and subject matter experts to support her theory that if teachers do not teach values then some children

“Can We Teach Character? An Aristotelian Answer” by Edwin M. Hartman is an incredibly well written article on whether, as the title states, character can be taught. I will attempt to critique this article and illustrate points that may have been excluded, but the article is extremely well rounded. The purpose of the article is to determine whether teaching ethics is worth the time taken, whether students will actually act better as a result. Hartman translates Aristotle’s thoughts well, and overall it is a beautiful piece of writing.

According to Gladwell’s article a national organization of schools should be built on character. Knowledge is power program (kipp) allows students to do so by creating a foundation based on the SSLANT protocol. This protocol is where a student is taught to sslant (smile, sit up, listen, ask questions, nod and track during class. SSLANT is highly successful when it comes to the subject of mathematics, unlike a regular educational system these students that are enrolled in KIPP schools find the subject to be that of their most liking when they complete the course. In addition the KIPP educational system believes in a student attending a class discussion

Teaching children morals and ethics today is important because it shows someone with innocence how to care, listen, and reason without prejudice. In this teaching, it becomes obvious that we, as adults, have stopped listening, caring, and even reasoning; an act that, if performed, can change the world for the better.

Samantha, that is a key in the districts of schools at all levels, we tell kid they have a voice, but where I their voice. The school will tell the students if they have concerns, something is happening, and we don’t allow bullying at our campus. But how much truth is there to that sentence? Unfortunately, students must look at angles to stay safe, in some cases where and how they need to share good a negative situation. Dean Diamond explained, “exposing kids to different characters, different ways of thinking, something so foreign it the way they live, I do think that it broadens them as people (Seider, p. 185). During school meetings, I think we need to be prepared to respond to the student’s questions, whether they be positive, their hurtful emotions, and how they feel they aren’t heard. Students can be lead if they have role models that promote positive civic development. If the faulty is not approachable, them the student body will deal with things in their way, rather than thinking that the faculty supports them.

I loved the approach taken by Ms. Barbara Gruener at Westwood Elementary located in Texas. In any number-step program, e.g. 5 step, 10 step, or 12 step, they always say that admitting to fault or acknowledging the problem is the first step. Barbara was fully aware of the daily struggles within Westwood’s community (“Character.org,” n.d.). To begin to solve the deep-rooted problem, she discreetly sought out help (“Character.org,” n.d). Since the faculty was divided, it was difficult to get them involved and create unity at the school. Westwood Elementary bases their learning on the concepts of performance character. I chose performance character because of the disruptive student behavior and the lack of sufficient grades held by each student. Barbara Gruener was determined to help each member of Westwood Elementary.

I am a firm believer that the education system in America does not prepare students for the real world, because of the fact that many schools are teaching students skills to "pass" their classes rather than succeed in life. I have been in school for eleven years now and still do not know anything about paying bills, taxes, buying a home, caring for a child, etc. although what I have learned is how to find the slope of a line, what the purpose of a nucleus is, how to solve for x, and more; yet I have never once used one of these things taught to me in everyday life. What should be taught in schools is a class that teaches students how to save as much money as possible while in college, or at least a basic understanding of psychology because

I was asked to provide an ethics curriculum for the children in our school because of complaints from some parents in regards to classroom behaviors and children’s attitudes. “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.”(Elkin,2004) I propose to include character education in the curriculum. This will allow students to work together as groups, opportunities to make classroom rules, discuss situations in books where the main character maybe “right or wrong”, discuss different ways situations can be handle in every classroom as they study different topics, and give them some community service work to do. The students will have the opportunity to use their critical thinking skills while learning, engaging, and expressing feelings of their own through the interaction in the classroom. They will learn to use these skills throughout their lives and feel more confident in themselves. At the end of this experiment students will become more happy and less negative behavior in the classroom. “This means that equal amounts of happiness always count equally; nobody’s well-being matters more just because he is rich, let’s say, or powerful, or handsome.” (Rachels, 2012)

In the business world, it is important to learn more than just business principles. People should learn that ethics, values and one’s character matter as well. The question answered in this article is whether character can be taught in business school, specifically a business ethics class based on Aristotle’s views and ideas. The author believes that even if character cannot be molded in a business ethics class, character can be improved by teaching to answer, “what shall I do?” (78). Therefore, an ethics class is important because students can learn how to be ethical businesspeople by learning moral and behavior concepts through case studies as well as becoming more knowledgeable “in the language of right and wrong, of virtues and vices” (75).

Building moral character is a quality college can provide that is often overlooked. In college, students are faced with tough challenges and overcoming those obstacles helps build character. Mike Rose the author of “Being careful about character” writes that “One of the powerful strands in the current discussion of character education is that it might succeed where academic interventions have failed to reduce the achievement gap” (Rose 46). Rose’s quote solidifies the argument that students need to learn character development. Furthermore, Rose states that “In an attempt to counterbalance that narrow cognitive focus, educators have begun to emphasize developing qualities of character, arguing that, as much or more than cognition, these qualities account for success in school and life” (Rose 44). The quote shows that colleges are wanting to develop character skills in their students because by doing so it will help them not only now but for their future. Character development is significant for students because it allows them to become more well-rounded people of society. Moreover Jay W. Brandenberger and Nicholas A. Bowman the authors of “Prosocial growth during college: Results of a national study” further studies how moral development is important in college by saying “Ethical growth and prosocial development are increasingly salient learning outcomes in higher education. Previous research has shown

Character Education is a national movement, to create schools that foster ethical and responsible behavior in students. After reading articles on the benefits of Character Education lessons in the classroom, I became interested in a possible relationship between Character Education Development and students’ reading level fluency, and academic achievement as a whole. Character education programs emphasize consequences for choices, and support good decision making skills and high moral and ethical character. “Our research suggests that school goals and activities that are associated with good character education programs are also associated with academic achievement.” (Benninga, Berkowitz, Keuhn, and Smith, 2006) This is not only relevant, and could be beneficial to an individual student’s learning, but also beneficial to the school community as a whole. This study shows that building character also helps children to interact properly with their teachers and fellow students, turning their classroom into a better learning environment. This study also suggests that some families today provide less supervision and moral guidance than in previous generations, which places their children at a disadvantage in developing the skills they need to contribute to society. Many students with little supervision at home, could make poor choices, get into trouble, or use alcohol or drugs. Character education programs emphasize consequences for choices, and support good decision

I read five articles on character education. These articles helped me to better understand the importance of character education and useful techniques and methods to teach children values and morals.