Moral and Character Education

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Moral and Character Education
William G. Huitt, Ph.D. Valdosta State University
Last revised August 2000
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Moral and Character Education
Three major issues in the education of young
people today
Identification of what is possible for both self
and society includes the discovery and/or
defining of one's life mission and desired
lifestyle
Vision
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Moral and Character Education
Three major issues in the education of young
people today
Development of the knowledge, values, attitudes,
and skills necessary for success in a given
society or culture
Competence
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Moral and Character Education
Three major issues in the education of young
people today
The moral quality and direction of ones
decisions and behavior
Character
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Definitions of Character
The following two definitions provide examples of
a normative view of character
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Definitions of Character
The following two definitions provide examples of
a normative view of character
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Importance of Character
Scholarly debate on moral development and
character formation extends to ancient times

• Aristotle's Nichomacean Ethics

• Socrates' Meno

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Importance of Character
Major thinkers in Western Civilization have been
concerned with moral and character development

• John Locke, 17th century English philosopher

• John Stuart Mill and Herbert Spencer, 19th
  century English philosophers

• John Dewey, 20th century American philosopher
  and educator

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Importance of Character
Both educators and American public believe
character education should be an important part
of schooling
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Importance of Character
Both educators and American public believe
character education should be an important part
of schooling
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Character versus Competence
Modern educators have placed more emphasis on
competence than character
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Character versus Competence
Modern educators have placed more emphasis on
competence than character
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Character versus Competence
Modern educators have placed more emphasis on
competence than character
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Character versus Competence
Modern educators have placed more emphasis on
competence than character
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Character versus Competence
Emphasis on Character Education has begun to
change
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Character versus Competence
Emphasis on Character Education has begun to
change
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Impacting Moral Character Development
Four major questions need to be addressed when
focusing on character development
1. What is good character?
2. What causes or prevents good character?
3. How can good character be measured ?
4. How can good character best be developed?
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Components of Character
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Impacting Moral Character Development
1. What is good character?
Personal

• honest and truthful
• autonomous
• responsible
• self-management and self-discipline
• courageous
• integrity

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Impacting Moral Character Development
1. What is good character?
Social

• sociable
• benevolent
• compassionate
• courteous
• trustworthy

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Impacting Moral Character Development
2. What causes or prevents good character?
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Impacting Moral Character Development
3. How can good character be measured ?

• Cognitive knowledge

• Age appropriate cognitive and moral development

• Values expressed

• Commitments expressed

• Written plans

• Personal and social overt behavior

student discipline student suicide rates
crimes pregnancy rates of teenage girls
academic effort prosocial activities
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Impacting Moral Character Development
4. How can good character best be developed?
Effective communication and shared values among
families, schools, religious organizations, and
communities
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Impacting Moral Character Development
4. How can good character best be developed?
1. directed by adults who exercise their
authority toward faculty and students in a firm,
sensitive, and imaginative manner, and who are
committed to both academics and pupil character
development
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Impacting Moral Character Development
4. How can good character best be developed?
Schools effectively impacting morals and
character are
2. staffed by dedicated faculty who make vigorous
demands on pupils and each other
Wynne, E. (1989). Transmitting traditional values
in contemporary schools. In L. Nucci, Moral
development and character education A dialogue
(pp. 19-36). Berkeley, CA McCutchan.
26
Impacting Moral Character Development
4. How can good character best be developed?
Schools effectively impacting morals and
character are
3. structured so that pupils are surrounded by a
variety of opportunities for them to practice
helping (prosocial) conduct
Wynne, E. (1989). Transmitting traditional values
in contemporary schools. In L. Nucci, Moral
development and character education A dialogue
(pp. 19-36). Berkeley, CA McCutchan.
27
Impacting Moral Character Development
4. How can good character best be developed?
Schools effectively impacting morals and
character are
4. managed to provide pupils--both individually
and collectively--with many forms of recognition
for good conduct
Wynne, E. (1989). Transmitting traditional values
in contemporary schools. In L. Nucci, Moral
development and character education A dialogue
(pp. 19-36). Berkeley, CA McCutchan.
28
Impacting Moral Character Development
4. How can good character best be developed?
Schools effectively impacting morals and
character are
5. oriented toward maintaining systems of
symbols, slogans, ceremonies, and songs that
heighten pupils' collective identities
Wynne, E. (1989). Transmitting traditional values
in contemporary schools. In L. Nucci, Moral
development and character education A dialogue
(pp. 19-36). Berkeley, CA McCutchan.
29
Impacting Moral Character Development
4. How can good character best be developed?
Schools effectively impacting morals and
character are
6. dedicated to maintaining pupil discipline, via
clear, widely disseminated discipline codes that
are vigorously enforced and backed up with vital
consequences
Wynne, E. (1989). Transmitting traditional values
in contemporary schools. In L. Nucci, Moral
development and character education A dialogue
(pp. 19-36). Berkeley, CA McCutchan.
30
Impacting Moral Character Development
4. How can good character best be developed?
Schools effectively impacting morals and
character are
7. committed to academic instruction and assigned
pupils significant homework and otherwise
stressed appropriate academic rigor
Wynne, E. (1989). Transmitting traditional values
in contemporary schools. In L. Nucci, Moral
development and character education A dialogue
(pp. 19-36). Berkeley, CA McCutchan.
31
Impacting Moral Character Development
4. How can good character best be developed?
Schools effectively impacting morals and
character are
8. sensitive to the need to develop collective
pupil loyalties to particular classes, clubs,
athletic groups, and other subentities in the
school
Wynne, E. (1989). Transmitting traditional values
in contemporary schools. In L. Nucci, Moral
development and character education A dialogue
(pp. 19-36). Berkeley, CA McCutchan.
32
Impacting Moral Character Development
4. How can good character best be developed?
Schools effectively impacting morals and
character are
9. sympathetic to the values of the external
adult society, and perceive it as largely
supportive and concerned with the problems of the
young
Wynne, E. (1989). Transmitting traditional values
in contemporary schools. In L. Nucci, Moral
development and character education A dialogue
(pp. 19-36). Berkeley, CA McCutchan.
33
Impacting Moral Character Development
4. How can good character best be developed?
Schools effectively impacting morals and
character are
10. always able to use more money to improve
their programs, but rarely regard lack of money
as an excuse for serious program deficiencies
Wynne, E. (1989). Transmitting traditional values
in contemporary schools. In L. Nucci, Moral
development and character education A dialogue
(pp. 19-36). Berkeley, CA McCutchan.
34
Impacting Moral Character Development
4. How can good character best be developed?
Schools effectively impacting morals and
character are
11. open to enlisting the help, counsel, and
support of parents and other external adults, but
willing to propose important constructive changes
in the face of (sometimes) ill-informed parent
resistance
Wynne, E. (1989). Transmitting traditional values
in contemporary schools. In L. Nucci, Moral
development and character education A dialogue
(pp. 19-36). Berkeley, CA McCutchan.
35
Impacting Moral Character Development
4. How can good character best be developed?
Schools effectively impacting morals and
character are
12. disposed to define "good character" in
relatively immediate and traditional terms.
Wynne, E. (1989). Transmitting traditional values
in contemporary schools. In L. Nucci, Moral
development and character education A dialogue
(pp. 19-36). Berkeley, CA McCutchan.
36
Exemplary Programs
1. supportive adult-child relationships 2.
exposure to societal values 3. peer interaction
and prosocial action 4. think about and discuss
moral issues 5. experiences that promote
understanding of others
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Exemplary Programs
1. Comprehensive curriculum for growth in four
areas (a) intellectual, (b) physical, (c)
spiritual, and (d) emotional 2. Students expected
to meet world class standards 3. Students have
regular jobs and take responsibility for growth
of other students 4. Students commit to
continuous improvement towards excellence in all
endeavors
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Exemplary Programs
1. Four building blocks or pillars universal
values, excellence, global understanding, and
service 2. Human being considered as endowed
with spiritual capacities 3. Striving for
excellence, especially academic excellence, is a
focus 4. Council for Global Education is
diffusing the program world wide
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Conclusion
It is possible to develop a community consensus
around a relatively small number of moral and
character traits that can be the focus of a K-12
educational program.
These must be integrated into a curriculum that
enjoins young people to strive for excellence in
the attainment of vision, character, and
competencies.
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The End