Charater in education - Essay Example

Character: Etymology of Virtue Character education Character education basically seeks to develop the human excellence virtue. Excellence virtue acts as a foundation of a productive, purposeful and fulfilling life. It also acts as a foundation of a compassionate and a flourishing society. Character education mainly takes deliberate steps towards cultivation of intellectual and moral virtues through every stage of school life. The virtues are cultivated through the relationships among peers, resolution of conflict, and handling of discipline, rigor of academic standards and involvement of parents.

Basically, everything that happens in during school life is character education, since everything affects character (YouTube video, 2007). Character education is mainly based on two premises. The first premise is that virtues are objectively the good human qualities and are good for humans whether they know them or not. Virtues have a claim on human’s personal as well as collective conscience. Basically, they are affirmed by religions and cultures around the world. In simpler terms, virtues express the common humanity of human beings.

They transcend time and culture. Unselfishness, pursuit of truth, diligence, wisdom, perseverance and patience has always and will remain to be virtues, irrespective of the number of people practicing them (Lickona, 2004). Beliefs that contribute to virtuous behavior Humans form beliefs that make it more likely for them to act virtuously in future. Beliefs are not only the mental states worth mentioning, but emotions and desires are also equally important for virtuous behavior. Just having a belief, for example to stop gossiping can leave somebody indifferent to actually behave in that way if he or she does not also care about these things.

Therefore, for humans to become virtuous they have to form appropriate beliefs and cultivate the right emotions and desires. Right emotions and desires are the components that play a central role in having virtuous people (YouTube video, 2007).Beliefs about a person’s own virtue The very first set of beliefs basically has to do with the character of other people. However, people also beliefs about themselves such as believing that they are honest, they care about other people, and their spouses think that they care for other people or other people do not see them as lazy.

The first two sets of beliefs are mainly about people’s own virtuous character. Labeling themselves in this way can have an effect on their virtuous behavior since they want to live up to how they believe in themselves to be moral people. On the other hand, the third and the fourth beliefs have to do with how other people think about your character. Using such beliefs can equally lead to virtuous behavior because people tend to think that other people expect them to live up to a particular label in the future (Lickona, 2004).

Pros & Cons of teaching character in Schools Teaching values in values in schools are of great importance as long as the values do not infringe on personal or religious beliefs. Certain values, such as fairness and honesty, are universal. However, some are specific to the personal beliefs of an individual and are not appropriate for classroom. Character education is advantageous provided that teachers focus on integrity, civil liberties and fairness without their own moral standards and religious standards dictating classroom standards.

Pros: Positive Habits and classroom management The teaching of values in schools greatly helps students to learn and practice good attitudes and behavior. The good behavior includes honesty, kindness and respect. Teachers reinforce these attitudes through acting as role models and encouraging their students to behave in a similar manner. Although students make their own choices, teaching of these values will encourage them not to steal, lie or cheat, but to treat others in a similar way they expect to be treated (Lickona, 2004).

Con: Varied Standards The teaching of values in schools poses a lot of difficulties for teachers since standards of behavior greatly differ. Students come from different backgrounds with different religious upbringings. In addition, parents mostly have different expectations and values to those of teachers. Conflicts arise in cases where teachers view right and wrong in a different perspective from the parents’ values. For instance, a parent might not take it as offensive for his or her child to wear a T-shirt that has abusive words, but a teacher might feel it is inappropriate for classroom (Lickona, 2004).

ReferencesLickona, T. (2004). Character Matters: How to Help Our Children Develop Good Judgment, Integrity, and Other Essential Virtues. New York: Simon and Schuster Publishing.YouTube video. (2007). Raising Good Children. https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=Raising+Good+Children+videoYouTube video. (2009). School Family: The Story of Fern Creek (Documentary Trailer). https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=The+Story+of+Fern+Creek&tbm=vid