By Mark Hyatt CEP President and CEO
The timing could hardly be more ironic and sad. Less than a week after our nation had been shaken by yet another mass shooting in Aurora, CO, “Rachel’s Challenge” announced that it was postponing its scheduled summer conference in nearby Littleton, CO.
The reason? Not enough people had registered.
Yes, this summer, the national nonprofit dedicated to promoting kindness and compassion in schools, in memory of Rachel Joy Scott, the first of the 13 people killed in the 1999 Columbine High School shooting could not find an audience in Colorado. Now, as we once again turn our tear-filled eyes to the Rockies, one suspects that Rachel’s Challenge will not lack for attention, at least not for a while.
But the national spasms of compassion that invariably follow such tragedies—from Virginia Tech to Tucson to Chardon, Ohio, earlier this year—never seem to last or lead to meaningful change, at least not among adults. Since legislators and special interests often seem unable or unwilling to change the status quo, it falls to teachers and parents and students themselves to restore character to our national backbone.
In that sense, Rachel’s Challenge has had enormous influence over the last dozen years in transmitting tolerance and anti-bullying measures to schools across the U.S. Since 1993, the Character Education Partnership (CEP) has also taken the lead in recognizing National Schools of Character that “encourage quality character education [in] all schools, building a nation of ethical citizens who pursue excellence in all areas of their lives.”
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. Any of us who have ever gone to a movie theater can’t help but put ourselves into the same situation and ask ourselves if it could happen to us. The answer, of course, is yes.
In today’s schools, our only recourse in such times is to constantly reassess our efforts to reach and teach the children with whom we have been entrusted.
In my 10 years as a K-12 school superintendent in Colorado, in a district not too far from Columbine, I encountered both students and teachers who wanted to kill themselves, students who threatened to blow up their schools, and adults who were banned from our campuses for inappropriate behavior. Mercifully, however, we managed to avoid tragedy. How?
I give credit to our constant efforts to create school cultures of caring and openness. We integrated character education fully into our curriculum and we rolled it out across every grade level. As a result, wherever our 3,000-plus students turned while at school, they were met by people and experiences that encouraged them to be better human beings—ones more willing to help each other and to be engaged, caring citizens.
Our school mantra was “Catch ’em doing something good!” Toward that end, I encouraged every employee to let me know when a student or teacher had done something positive. In response, I wrote hundreds of letters and emails each semester to thank and congratulate these students and to make sure they knew that their efforts had not gone unnoticed.
This simple practice always seemed to make a difference. One student told me that she had put my note of encouragement on her bedroom wall to remind her that someone actually cared. To underscore this message, I would let my teachers know that I would be asking every student the same question, at the start of each school year: “Who at this school cares that you succeed?” If they couldn’t give me the name of an adult, then I would know we had a problem.
With that in mind, I truly believe that the best chance any of us has of preventing future school tragedies lies in ensuring that our students and teachers know each other so well that they can “feel” when such incidents may occur. We need lots of communication. Lots of meaningful relationships between coaches, teachers, students, and parents. Such collaborative efforts can go a long way toward helping us identify people who are not well. And once warning signs are detected, they need to spur swift and decisive action.
At one of the schools I oversaw, we seized the opportunity when a group of adolescent boys used the “n-word” with one of our young ladies of color. We immediately gathered our 500 high school students in the gym and told them that we do not tolerate that kind of abusive language in our school. I asked students to raise their hands if they had ever heard such abuse within our walls. Over 100 raised their hands. I said, “First, you need to go to your principal and confess that you have tolerated this and that you are sorry.” Looking ahead, I asked them to please have the courage to say something when they hear or see our school culture being degraded. “What we tolerate is what we become,” I added.
Our school system was not perfect. But I am convinced that our commitment to character education greatly reduced the risk of tragedy. In partnership, students, teachers, administrators, and parents were all encouraged to engage with those not living by the intentional school culture. After all, if we, as leaders in our classrooms, schools, and families are not shaping school culture for our children, then someone else will.
From the day the first colonial schoolhouse opened its doors on our shores, I believe that the best educators have been just as interested in the character of their students as in their academic success.
With that in mind, we at CEP aim to partner with parents, teachers, media, communities, businesses and other like-minded organizations to help create an environment ripe for character development. Everywhere our young people go, we want them to encounter character-enhancing experiences that stimulate their growth as children, students, friends and citizens. We know that character must be taught to the young but it must also be caught by them, if we want our teaching to have a lasting impact.
On November 1-4, 2012, in Washington, D.C., CEP will host its 19th annual National Forum on Character Education. We expect over 1,000 teachers, school administrators, parents, scholars and corporate leaders will come together to share best practices, research data and curricula and collaborate with each other. This year’s theme is: Developing Leaders of Integrity.
We chose this theme for several reasons. The first is that most leadership failures relate to character failures. The second is that whether you are trying to lead a class, a school, a family or simply live a life of integrity, every one of us makes a real difference in the lives of others. With that in mind, there will be keynotes and breakout sessions discussing all levels of leadership development. We invite you to join us. Register now at www.character.org/conference.
As teachers we are increasingly required to meet the varied individual needs of our students. We receive in-service training on differentiation and the impact of poverty and executive function, for example. But how do we put it all together our increasingly crowded classrooms day in and day out? How do we help