The Centrality of Character Education

School Administrator, May, 1998 by Paul D. Houston

Promoting civility and goodness undergirds the essential work of public school leaders

As we careen toward a new millennium, we are struck by the mixture of prosperity on the one hand and a sense of dread on the other. We are better off than we have ever been, and yet something is not quite right.

We fear for our safety walking down the street. We worry about our world changing around us in ways we cannot control. And while we are currently experiencing a booming economy, we wonder whether Social Security will be around for us in the future.

We are suffering this same confusion in education. Schools are more successful than ever in having children graduate and in meeting our traditional mission of providing a basic education for all. But at the same time, we see schools roundly criticized and under attack. Some believe school people are not doing their job in preparing students for the new world of work, and the cause of the perceived "moral" decline in our society is laid at the schoolhouse door. All of this has led to an increased interest in the teaching of character and civility as possible solutions.

Character education and the teaching of values has been an ongoing discussion for some time. We have seen schools introduce programs to teach it, school boards veer sharply away from dealing with it, acrimonious debates around it, and politicians on both sides demand it. Yet it always has been central to what we are about, and we have hurt ourselves by losing sight of the centrality of character in our work.

If you look back in history, you will find the core mission of public education in America was to create places of civic virtue for our children and for our society. As education undergoes the rigors of re-examination and the need for reinvention, it is crucial to remember that the key role of public schools is to preserve democracy and, that as battered as we might be, our mission is central to the future of this country.

Builders of Society

School leaders have a sacred duty and a crucial role, for we stand at the intersection that allows communities to be built. We have a dual task. We must build good citizens so they, in turn, can build a good society. As Jim Carnes of the Southern Poverty Law Center, one of this month's featured authors, writes, "Perhaps one reason we have trouble finding community is that we have forgotten how to be individuals." It takes people of virtue to build villages that can stand the rigors of a changing world.

The issues of character and civility are not merely esoteric or an add-on to the curriculum, like driver's education. They are central to our mission and to our very survival as an institution and a society. We chose this theme for a special issue of The School Administrator because it undergirds so much of what we, as school leaders, must be about: the creation of community, advocacy for children and the preservation of democracy through public education.

The lineup of authors in this issue represents a broad range of philosophies and backgrounds but with one common agreement-schools are central to the transfer of our society's deepest beliefs and our nation will rise or fall on our success in carrying out this task.

Recapturing Civic Duty

We begin the issue with an article from Benjamin Barber entitled "The Apprenticeship of Liberty: Schools for Democracy," which I believe you will find singularly incisive and provocative. Barber provides a powerful treatise on why we have common schools and why their preservation is so important to America. He points out, "Our schools are public not just in that they must educate everyone, but in that they must turn a host of 'everyones' into a single civic entity that we call a 'public.' ... Public schooling and the public weal are intimately bound together."

Barber, a professor at Rutgers University, goes on to state that "if our nation is to repossess its civic soul, it needs to recapture the central civic responsibilities of public schools. ... Public schools (not only) serve the public, but ... they establish the public."

Barber's article is followed by Carnes' "Three Chairs," which draws from the work of Henry David Thoreau and calls for us to see the relationship between the individual and the community in which he or she dwells. The three chairs in the title come from Thoreau's note that he had three chairs in his cabin: one for solitude, two for friendship and three for society. Carnes reminds us of the tension between public and private imperatives and how we must provide balance for that tension.

Sanford McDonnell, chairman emeritus of McDonnell Douglas, shares his thoughts about ethics and freedom. He, too, draws on the notion that a free republic is the most powerful form of government, and also the most fragile because it depends on a virtuous people. Virtue calls for balancing our own needs with those of society as a whole. McDonnell's article moves from the philosophical to the practical by sharing some specific school programs that work toward that virtuous society.