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At the close of the second millennium, Reetz and Jacobs (1999) wrote that “Once thought to be beyond the realm of public education and its intended separation of church and state, moral and character education have now come to be viewed as content for which teachers may be responsible” (p. 208). Lickona (1993), the major proponent of character education in the nineties, claimed that adherents to character education in the schools were:

Recovering the wisdom that we do share a basic morality, essential for our survival; that adults must promote this morality by teaching the young, directly and indirectly, such values as respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, fairness, caring, and civic virtue; and that these values are not merely subjective preferences but that they have objective worth and a claim on our collective conscience. (p. 9)

Lickona (1993) continued by warning that, “Not to teach children these core ethical values is a grave moral failure” (p. 9). Since 1995, through the USDE’s Partnerships in Character Education Program., the federal government has provided expanding resources and support for character education including the awarding of “97 grants to assist districts in the designing, implementing, and sustaining high-quality opportunities for students to learn and understand the importance of strong character in their lives” (USDE, 2006, ¶ 5).

Twenty first century

The beginning of the new millennium has witnessed the rise of a variety of programs designed to help morally educate America’s public school students.

Junior reserve officers training corps (jrotc)

One popular character education effort that in essence constitutes a character-building program is Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (JROTC) that is sponsored by all of the military’s branches of service. The JROTC recaptures the school’s once traditional mission to inculcate character and morals in the lives of students, and instituting such programs in secondary schools has demonstrated that character can be taught (Bulach, 2002b). According to the national headquarters of United States Army JROTC, in contrast to non-JROTC students, JROTC students nationwide attend school more, graduate at a higher rate, behave better, drop out less, and earn higher grade point averages (GPA) (United States Army JROTC Overview, 2006).

Public school administrators are called and challenged to address many new and novel educational innovations and reform efforts. National, state, and local expectations focus on several reform components that demand the public school administrators’ attention including accountability for academic achievement, improvement in school climate, increased school safety, and the development of a morally-educated citizenry. School reform has precipitated expanded responsibilities and expectations for school principals (Copland, 2001). Wood and Roach (1999) recommended that “administrators should insure that adequate training takes place for teachers and parents and that appropriate curriculum materials are made available before character education is implemented into the curriculum” (p. 219).

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Source:  OpenStax, Character education: review, analysis, and relevance to educational leadership. OpenStax CNX. Sep 24, 2009 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11119/1.1
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