The importance of character development

Camping Magazine, Jan-Feb, 2003 by Ron Kinnamon

What are the six core values and why do you feel that they are important?

About eight years ago, the Josephson Institute of Ethics called together executives of leading educational and youth service organizations to determine how we can best impact character development in children. These leaders came up with the six values that are used today in Character Counts! These values are Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship. Though these grew out of the Judeo/ Christian tradition, they are also the core values of all major religions in the world. They are important because they are a fundamental way to bring people of all types together in agreement, since these values transcend religion, race, gender, economic circumstances, etc.

Many states have already either mandated or strongly recommended that character education be part of the school curriculum and youth development programs. How has the camp community and camp experience been in the forefront of character education throughout the years and what more can we do?

We have gone through a period in the 70s and 80s when schools have been afraid to "teach values." The thing that is very strange about this is that it is impossible to teach without teaching values. We teach values by what we say, the tone of our voice, our body language, etc. The way we establish a societal norm is by teaching and demonstrating the same six values so that kids hear and see these values everywhere they go. Hearing the same words to describe these value concepts at school, at camp, at home, or at youth organizations provides continual reinforcement of those values.

The camp community has always understood and reinforced the importance of character development by teaching core values. While camp has been the leader in developing character, it has somewhat separated itself from the community as a whole. The camp community has positioned itself as a place to "escape." Although this philosophy is changing, the community still remembers this "separate" view of camp. Now is the time for camp to provide leadership in the community Expertise in character development is a gift camps can give to their communities throughout the United States. Now is the time for the camp movement to mobilize the total community to teach and demonstrate these six values -- to develop good character and positive youth development.

RELATED ARTICLE: Character Education in the Camp Setting

National Camp Executives Group

Intentionality matters.

As the National Camp Executives Group (NCEG) reviewed research about the development of young people in a variety of settings including camp, we learned that it is critical that we be purposeful about what we want youth to take away from the experiences we provide them. It is not enough to just offer program - to just fill time - to just keep kids busy.

NCEG believes there is a higher goal - a more worthy purpose - a target for creating the fun experiences that form the basis of camp." To this end, the NCEG reviewed the work of many character-building, youth development organizations. With permission, the group adapted the 11 Principles of Effective Character Education from the Character Education Partnership and applied them to the camp setting.