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| Governors
from the states of Colorado, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire,
New Mexico, South Dakota, and Utah endorsed the "Character Education
Manifesto," written by Kevin Ryan, Karen E. Bohlin, and Judith O. Thayer
in February 1996. The Manifesto was the first document of its kind to define
character education and to present to teachers and parents seven guiding
principles for reform. |
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| American
schools have had from their inception a moral mandate. Moral authority,
once vested firmly in both our schools and teachers, has receded dramatically
over the past few decades. While many teachers are valiantly working to
promote good character in their classrooms, many are receiving mixed and
confusing messages. Attempts made to restore values and ethics to the school
curriculum through values clarification, situational ethics, and discussion
of moral dilemmas have proven both weak and ephemeral, failing to strengthen
the character and behavior of our young people. Still our schools too often
champion rights at the expense of responsibility and self-esteem at the
expense of self-discipline. |
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| Distressed
by the increasing rates of violence, adolescent suicide, premature sexual
activity, and a host of other pathological and social ills assaulting American
youth, we propose that schools and teachers reassert their responsibility
as educators of character. Schools cannot, however, assume this responsibility
alone; families, neighborhoods and faith communities must share in this
task together. We maintain that authentic educational reform in this nation
begins with our response to the call for character. True character education
is the hinge upon which academic excellence, personal achievement, and true
citizenship depend. It calls forth the very best from our students, faculty,
staff and parents. We, the undersigned, believe the following guiding principles
ought to be at the heart of this educational reform: |
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Principle
1: Education is an Inescapable Moral Enterprise
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Principle
5: Community
Character education is not a single course, a quick-fix program, or a
slogan posted on the wall; it is an integral part of school life. The
school must become a community of virtue in which responsibility, hard
work, honesty, and kindness are modeled, taught, expected, celebrated,
and continually practiced. From the classroom to the playground, from
the cafeteria to the faculty room, the formation of good character must
be the central concern.
Principle 6: Curriculum
The human community has a reservoir of moral wisdom, much of which exists
in our great stories, works of art, literature, history, and biography.
Teachers and students must together draw from this reservoir both within
and beyond the academic curriculum.
Principle 7: Students
Finally, young people need to realize that forging their own characters
is an essential and demanding life task. And the sum of their school experiences
— in successes and failures, academic and athletic, intellectual
and social — provides much of the raw material for this personal
undertaking.
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Education
in its fullest sense is inescapably a moral enterprise — a continuous
and conscious effort to guide students to know and pursue what is good
and what is worthwhile.
Principle 2: Parents
We strongly affirm parents as the primary moral educators of their children
and believe schools should build a partnership with the home. Consequently,
all schools have the obligation to foster in their students personal and
civic virtues such as integrity, courage, responsibility, diligence, service,
and respect for the dignity of all persons.
Principle 3: Virtue
Character education is about developing virtues — good habits and
dispositions which lead students to responsible and mature adulthood.
Virtue ought to be our foremost concern in educating for character. Character
education is not about acquiring the right views — currently accepted
attitudes about ecology, prayer in school, gender, school uniforms, politics,
or ideologically charged issues.
Principle
4: Teachers, Principals, Staff
The teacher and the school principal are central to this enterprise and
must be educated, selected, and encouraged with this mission in mind.
In truth, all of the adults in the school must embody and reflect the
moral authority which has been invested in them by the parents and the
community.
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Character
education is not merely an educational trend or the school’s latest
fad; it is a fundamental dimension of good teaching, an abiding respect
for the intellect and spirit of the individual. We need to re-engage the
hearts, minds, and hands of our children in forming their own characters,
helping them "to know the good, love the good, and do the good."
That done, we will truly be a nation of character, securing “liberty
and justice for all."
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