What Do We Want Them To Become
Last June in Lower Manhattan, more than 80 students were charged with cheating at one of New York City’s most highly rated public schools—Stuyvesant High School. This revelation, which was still being investigated at press time, took me back to my days as . . .
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A “Tough” Look at Parenting, Education and Character Building
For much of our history as a nation, schools did focus on both academics and character development. One prepared young people to succeed in the workforce, and the other prepared them to be more honest, ethical, engaged citizens. Over time, however, we drifted away from the character mission of schools to focus exclusively on academics.
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Will You Join the National Call to Character?
As educators, we weep for our extended family in Aurora: for the teenagers, parents, teachers, counselors, first responders, and so many others. We see that they are stricken with heart-wrenching pain and haunted by questions of what possibly could have been done to prevent the lethal madness that turned a joyous midnight movie premiere into a horrific global incident.
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How Can We Avoid These Senseless Shootings?
As educators, we weep for our extended family in Chardon, Ohio: students, parents, teachers, counselors, administrators, law-enforcement personnel, and so many others.
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Cultivating Character
Today, the speed of our information age can blur the steps of young people’s ethical decision-making and yield devastating results before reason even arrives at the party. As a result, their development of an instinct for character has never been more important.
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Leaders of Character Camp
The inaugural “Leaders of Character Camp” launched June 10-15. A partnership between the Character Education Partnership and United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado Springs, CO, the camp offered a mentoring and leadership training program for teenagers.
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A Legacy of Character
We who knew the late Sandy McDonnell, the former CEO of McDonnell-Douglas who died last month at age 89, certainly have been heartened by all the national coverage of his lifetime achievements in the aerospace industry and his global success as a businessman. But really, at most, that only tells half the story of this inspirational man. His other life passions—i.e. ethics and character—arguably warrant equal time (at least) for the lessons they hold both for Wall Street and Main Street.
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No Refuge for Role Models
When I was growing up, I heard adults say: “Do as I say not as I do.” After spending the last decade as a public school superintendent, it didn’t take me long to realize that the kids of this millennium don’t have much use for that approach. Instead, they prefer role models whom they can emulate in every way, every day — folks who “walk the talk” and live their own message.
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Does ‘Teaching to the Test’ Actually Encourage Cheating?
Recent revelations of widespread testing fraud in Atlanta’s public schools are just the latest examples of a disturbing national trend that should finally force all of us who care about education to ask some uncomfortable but unavoidable questions. Chief among them: Has a national over-emphasis on standardized testing actually created a monster that is eroding the character of K-12 education?
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