Character Counts…at school…..
On Friday, my elementary school had the first of 6 total “Character Counts” assemblies. We couple these with a “pride” activity. Each teacher has a small group of students from grades K thru 5 assigned to them. I have 13. Each month, my pride group and I will get together to do some activity relating to one of the 6 pillars of character that is part of our “character curriculum”. The character traits we focus on are Trustworthiness, Caring, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, and Citizenship. This month was trustworthiness. As we were talking about this in my group, and as I thought about it on the way home, I wondered how many of them hear this message any place but school.
Trustworthiness – I have heard many students say, my mom or dad just signs my read at home/planner/homework, even though I don’t always do it, so I won’t get a bad grade. Are they going to be there when to do the same when their child doesn’t want to do their real world job??
Caring – gets set to the back burner daily. I watch as students push and shove each other to be first in line for just about anything. I see parents pull away from the school with their children unrestrained by a seatbelt. Small things become such big things.
Respect – I could go on for days about this. The lack of respect teachers are shown by society as a whole is astounding. “You wanted to be a teacher because you get summers off.” (Yes, I couldn’t have wanted to make a difference or contribution to a child’s future…that surely wasn’t the reason. I am tens of thousands of dollars in debt with student loans, JUST so I could have summers off. ) Students are disrespectful to teachers, but what amazes me more is when I see them acting the same way to their parents. As a parent I would be appalled if any of my children told their teachers to “shut up”, or “f off”. I teach elementary students, I have heard and seen both.
Responsibility – is almost a lost commodity. Students don’t complete and return homework because their mom didn’t put it in their backpack. Parents don’t attend conferences because no one reminded them that it was this week. In the public realm, people sue at the drop of a hat because after all, it wasn’t their fault….whatever “IT” is. The bigger fallout from this is that students don’t believe they have any responsibility in their learning….as a teacher, I should spoon feed them, just pour it into their heads while they sit and maybe “guess” at the answer rather than look it up. It’s a struggle to motivate students when they don’t believe they have any responsibilities at all.
Fairness – THAT is one all the students talk about, but don’t really understand. It’s not fair they get that….never mind that “they” earned it. “What do you mean we don’t all get a sticker, just the winner does?” The world is unfair, the teachers are unfair – it’s only fair when I get what I want. We hear a great deal about the lack of fairness, but not so much about behaving fairly.
Citizenship – is a big concept. It comes in all sizes, school, city, county, state, country, and world. What does it mean to be a good citizen? Following laws when it’s convenient or helping clean up the park? Even those important citizens in the eye of the media, politicians and community leaders have trouble with this one.
Now don’t get me wrong, I do not think I am perfect at all. I have failed all of these traits, and probably will again. I don’t mind the dialog with my students and they seem open to the ideas. I’m just wondering if maybe we shouldn’t invite the parents too?
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