Professional Documents
Culture Documents
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Taylor & Francis, Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Clearing
House.
http://www.jstor.org
Character
Education:
Assessing
and
Problems,
Paradigms,
Potentials
RONALDS. THOMAS
52
September/October
* Character education has a direct and positive relationship to high standards of academic responsibility,
more homework, clear criteria for grade promotion,
tracking of students, rigorous examinations, and differentiated diplomas (Wynne and Walberg 1986a; Lickona
1988a, 1988b).
* Improving the conduct of American youth through
character-building programs will help to reverse the rise
of a variety of social problems such as drug abuse, suicide, homicide, and out-of-wedlock births as well as improve students' achievement test scores (Wynne and
Hess 1986; London 1987; Hanson and Ginsburg 1988).
Although traditional, even "old fashioned," in nature, these beliefs seem newly potent in view of the
country's swing toward tougher standards of work and
behavior and in light of the results of recent studies such
as that of Harvard child psychiatrist Robert Coles. He
reported that, far more often than not, children's beliefs
run counter to traditional values and that there seems to
be an unmistakeable erosion of their faith in, and support for, traditional sources of authority. Left to their
own devices, children may do the "right" thing, but
they do it because it makes them happy, gets them
ahead, or seems best at the time. Coles concludes that,
"even at Harvard, we see a lot of kids who are bright
but whose conscience is not all that muscular" (Coles
and Genevie 1990).
PotentialAreas of Inquiry
The researchproblemsassociatedwith the investigation of characterdevelopment and values education
1991, Vol. 65
CharacterEducation
53
54
tives and to remain compatible with their cultural heritages and the values held in their homes and communi-
ties?
* Can a charactereducationprogramresolvedifferences and inconsistenciesbetweenthe implicitvaluesof
the hiddencurriculumand the valuesthat formthe basis
of the explicitcharactereducationprogram?
The time is ripe now to move charactereducationassessmentin these directionsin orderto help strengthen
the characterand the thinkingabilitiesof studentsand
ultimatelyto createa moredemocraticand a freersociety.
APPENDIX
SampleQuestionsto Be Includedin a Character
EducationAssessment
The followingquestionsmightbe used with othersin orderto
develop a more complete understandingof the nature of a
school's charactereducation program.All questionsshould
not be usedin any one setting;questionsselectedshouldbe idiosyncraticto the school context. Continuingdialogueshould
be encouragedon these issues so that evaluationbecomesan
ongoingprocessratherthan a one-timeevent.
For Parentsand CommunityMembers
How do you define values, values education, and character
education?
Whatvaluesare the most importantto you and to your famiily? Why?
Whatpartshouldschoolsplayin the developmentof valuesby
students?To what extent should schools teach values or
charactereducation?
If you believethat thereis an appropriaterole for the schools
in charactereducation,whatshouldthis rolebe? Whattechniquesshould be used to help studentsdevelopappropriate
values?
What valuesseem to be the most importantin this school (or
to Mr. X or Ms. Y)? How do you knowthat thesevaluesare
important?
What particularvaluesshould schools attemptto strengthen?
How would you define what these valuesmean?
What should teachersor schools do when there is a conflict
betweenthe valuesheld by studentsand the generalnorms
of the communityor society?
What processwas used to identifythe valuesincludedin this
school's charactereducationprogram?
Whatpartdid parentsand othercommunitymembershave in
makingdecisionsconcerningthe charactereducationprogramof this school?Whatrole shouldparentsand community membersplay in such decisions?
Whatcriteriashouldbe used to assessthe successof a school's
charactereducationprogram?Usingthese criteria,how successfulhavethe charactereducationeffortsof yourcommunity's schoolsbeen? What would make charactereducation
programsmore effective?
For Teachersand Administrators
How do you define values, values education, and character
education?
September/October
1991, Vol. 65
55
Character Education
REFERENCES
Associationfor Supervisionand CurriculumDevelopmentPanel on
MoralEducation.1988.Moraleducationin the life of the school.
EducationalLeadership45(May):4-8.
Atherton, J. M. 1988. Virtuesin moral education:Objectionsand
299-310.
replies.EducationalTheory38(Summer):
Beane, J. A. 1985/1986.The continuingcontroversyover affective
26-31.
education.EducationalLeadership43(December/January):
Bennett,W. J. 1988.Moralliteracyand the formationof character.
NASSP Bulletin72(December):29-35.
Berman,J. M., and J. A. Roderick.1977.Curriculum:Teachingthe
what,how, and whyof living.Columbus,Ohio: CharlesE. Merrill.
Cline,H. F., and R. F. Feldmesser.1983.Programevaluationin moral education.Princeton,N. J.: EducationalTestingService.
Coles, R., and L. Genevie.1990.The morallife of America'sschoolchildren.TeacherMagazine1(March):42-49.
Finn, C. E. 1990. The biggestreformof all. Phi Delta Kappan71
(April):584-92.
Greer,P. R., and K. Ryan. 1989.How to answerthe hardquestions
about moraleducation.AmericanSchool BoardJournal176 (September):26-28.
Griffith,E. I. 1984.New emphasison basicvalues.AmericanEducation 20(May):14-16.
Hanson, S. L., and A. L. Ginsburg.1988. Gainingground:Values
and high school success.AmericanEducationalResearchJournal
25(Fall):334-65.
Huebner,D. 1987. The vocation of teaching. In Teacherrenewal,
Curriculum
Review26(September/October):
18-22.