Character Goes Back To School

By ANDREW FERGUSON

At Talent House Private School, which serves elementary and middle school students in the Washington suburb of Fairfax, Va., character education starts early. How early? In the school's nursery, where parents can park future students as young as six weeks old before heading to work in their Land Rovers and Cherokees, the walls are festooned with posters boosting the values of good character. This month's value is Helpfulness. So as the caregivers diaper and burp their gurgling little charges, the infants stare up at a sign that reads THE SEEDS OF HELPFULNESS BLOOM EARLY.

Though unaffiliated with any religious denomination, Talent House calls itself a Christian school, where the day opens with the Lord's Prayer, and grace is spoken before each meal--character-building tools unavailable, of course, to the nation's public schools. But we live now in the bloody backwash of Littleton, Jonesboro and several other schoolhouse horror stories, not to mention the more quotidian indicators of failing character, from widespread cheating to gang activity. Across the country, schools both public and private are turning to programs of character education in hopes of inoculating kids with the values of civility and integrity, against the depredations of a popular culture that often seems to reward neither. As Talent House goes, so goes the nation.

In a field as susceptible to fads as public education (Remember values clarification? Self-esteem development?), character ed is now the hottest thing going. If it hasn't hit your local school district yet, just wait. Some form of it is being taught in all 50 states, according to Esther Schaeffer of the Character Education Partnership, an advocacy group in Washington. Georgia and Alabama have made such programs mandatory, and more states are now debating legislation that would follow their lead. Last year the federal Department of Education handed out $5.2 million to schools for character ed; the figure is expected to double next year.

Politicians too--surprise!--have discovered the elixir of schoolroom values. Last week Senator Pete Domenici, New Mexico Republican, proposed legislation to provide an additional $125 million over five years for character-education programs. At his conference last week on school violence, President Clinton--without apparent irony--endorsed character education. And Dan Quayle has expressed his own ideas on how to proceed: "I suggest [students] start with the Ten Commandments." (It sure beats spelling bees.)

But not so fast: any explicit instruction in the Ten Commandments would alarm guardians of the church-state wall. And in any case, they would have to be translated into modern educationese: Thou shalt model caring behaviors in interactive relationships with thy peer group. In the public schools, where any kind of commandment might be deemed unduly judgmental, character ed revolves around pillars or building blocks of character--universally accepted values bleached of any sectarian contamination. And they are transmitted by the familiar methods beloved of today's pedagogues: posters and banners, role playing and sharing, multi-culti storytelling and words of the week--all the cheerful paraphernalia that makes the modern American classroom seem like a Maoist re-education camp run by Barney the dinosaur.

At Fields Road Elementary, a public school in Gaithersburg, Md., this month's pillar of character is Citizenship. School hallways have names: Responsibility Lane, Trustworthiness Terrace, Caring Corridor. In Tammy Orsini's first-grade class, students assemble in groups to list the traits that make good citizenship, which are then read aloud. Being a good citizen, a boy recites, means "to have character."

And what does it mean to be "a person of character?" prompts Mrs. Orsini.

The boy knows the routine. "Caring," he says, "respectful, trustworthy, citizenship..."

"And where do you keep those things?" Mrs. Orsini asks. Now the boy is stumped. Hands are shooting up, and kids start pointing to their chests. "In your heart!" another student volunteers. Lesson learned.

The drill continues at Gaithersburg Middle School, where even school T shirts are emblazoned GMS: WHERE CHARACTER COUNTS! No separate classes in character are taught, but teachers say it is integrated into the curriculum; thus a lesson about Helen Keller becomes a case study in courage and persistence. Students who demonstrate any of the pillars get their pictures posted in the hallway and free ice cream. Character ed, says principal David Steinberg, "is our philosophical glue." Among some students, though, there are signs the glue doesn't stick. "Most people just follow it to get the award," says sixth-grader Novlette Akinseye. "Sometimes it is really pushed into our heads," says seventh-grader Victoria McConnell. "It's a good idea, but it's pressured too much."

The skepticism is shared by some experts, including Alfie Kohn, an educator and author in Belmont, Mass. "Most of what passes for character education is behavioral manipulation, not an invitation to reflect on values," he says. "It's no way to transform a community to say, 'Today is Tuesday; it must be Honesty day,' or by giving kids doggy biscuits."

Scholarly studies of the effects of character ed are encouraging but inconclusive. Teachers and administrators, though, say their programs work. Their evidence is anecdotal but remarkably uniform. Steinberg of Gaithersburg Middle School says that since he instituted character ed four years ago, test scores are up and suspensions are down. The Round Rock, Texas, school district started character education last year after a survey of student attitudes showed some alarming results: 71% of students admitted to telling a lie in the previous month, for example. Round Rock's Jollyville Elementary School reports a 40% drop in disciplinary referrals since the program's inception.

At Fort Foote Elementary, a public school in Fort Washington, Md., Chickquita Jackson, a veteran instructor, testifies that "before character education came in, the kids were hostile, had bad attitudes and were very rude to classmates and adults...Now it's 100% better." At Fort Foote, character lessons are so integrated into the curriculum that even math problems illustrate the value of sharing. A student spotted doing something nice receives a hot pink ribbon that says, "I DID A RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS."

Even the best character-ed programs, though, can be seen as the culmination of a long process by which schools have assumed more and more responsibilities traditionally handled at home. The average school now teaches kids how to choose a balanced diet, drive, balance a checkbook, have sex (in sex ed), not have sex (in abstinence programs), identify sexual abuse and avoid HIV. We are a long way from reading, writing and arithmetic, and have been for some time. It was probably inevitable that we would ask schools to assume responsibility for teaching our kids to be decent human beings too. Parents are so busy these days, as they will tell you at every opportunity. Of course, they have time to worry aloud about the quality of their local schools. But character ed is evidence that our schools are worried about the quality of their local parents.

--With reporting by Harriet Barovick/New York, Hilary Hylton/Austin, Sylvester Monroe/Atlanta and Jodie Morse/Washington

With reporting by Harriet Barovick/New York, Hilary Hylton/ Austin, Sylvester Monroe/Atlanta and Jodie Morse/Washington