CharacterEducationWallCalendar < Kitchen

25 Sep 2006 - 23:54

character education wall calendar

Our school calendars are different this year.

In years gone by the calendar listed events.

This year the calendar also lists events, but additionally it displays, on each and every page, a core principle of character education.

It's kind of like a PowerPoint presentation grafted onto a wall calendar.

In fact, as I think about it, it almost certainly is a PowerPoint presentation grafted onto a wall calendar.

I don't like PowerPoint.

The pages look like this:

That one's from the month of November.

Here's the whole thing:

August 2006:
The District’s Character Education Programs are:
“No Put Downs” K-5
“Social Decision Making – Problem Solving” 6-8
“Peer Leadership & ADL – World of Difference 9-12

September 2006:
The Irvington School District is committed to the principles of character education. These are listed on each of the following pages.

October 2006:
Character education promotes core ethical values as the basis of good character.

November 2006:
“Character” must be comprehensively defined to include thinking, feeling and behavior.

[ed.: thought crimes?]

December 2006:
Effective character education requires an intentional, proactive and comprehensive approach that promotes the core values in all phases of school life.

January 2007:
The school must be a caring community.

[ed.: room for improvement here]

February 2007:
To develop character, students need opportunities for moral action.

[ed: So can we look forward to increased opportunities for our kids to tell on their friends and neighbors?]

March 2007:
Effective character education includes a meaningful and challenging academic curriculum that respects all learners and helps them succeed.

[ed.: more room for improvement]

April 2007:
Character education should strive to develop students’ intrinsic motivation.

[ed.: not going to happen]

May 2007:
The school staff must become a learning and moral community in which we all share responsibility for character education and attempt to adhere to the same core values that guide the education of students.

[ed.: ditto]

June 2007:
Character education requires moral leadership from both staff and students.

[ed.: I would like to see less moral leadership from the math department]

July 2007:
The School must recruit parents and community members as full partners in the character-building effort.

[how about no]

August 2007:
Evaluation of character education should assess the character of the school, the school staff’s functioning as character educators, and the extent to which students manifest good character.

That's not all.

Also listed, in the month of September, is "Eat Dinner with Your Family Night." The President of the School Board has sent reminders around:

Did you know that eating dinner frequently with your children reduces their risk of substance abuse? Monday, September 25, is National “Eat Dinner with Your Child Night”, which will be observed for the first time in Irvington. Research finds that the more often children eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs. The conversations that go hand-in-hand with dinner will help you learn more about your children's lives and better understand the challenges they face. Family Day — A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children is a national effort to promote family dinners as an effective way to reduce substance abuse among children and teens. For more information about Family Day, visit www.casafamilyday.org . (Please disregard the calendar entry for the same event on Friday, September 29).

The research in question is an annual survey sponsored by Nick at Nite and TV Land and conducted by CASA (pdf file) finding that kids who eat X number of dinners per week with their families are "less likely to smoke, drink or use drugs." It is not peer-reviewed, and, by its own admission, doesn't tell us much:

Through 11 surveys conducted over 12 years, CASA has been surveying public opinion on substance abuse, seeking answers to the question: “Why do some teenagers drink, smoke and use illegal substances while others do not?”
This survey continues an analysis aimed at revealing factors that contribute to teens’ risk of smoking, drinking and using drugs. Some of these factors--including their family dynamics, their parents’ involvement in their lives, their friends’ substance use, and their school and neighborhood environments--tend to cluster, such that teens with problems in one area of their life often have problems in others as well. Nevertheless, by identifying individual risk factors, we seek to help parents (and other adults who influence teens) better identify those who are most vulnerable to substance abuse, and develop strategies to diminish their risk.
Although this survey includes some questions on substance use, it is not intended to be an epidemiological study of substance abuse. For measurements of the actual prevalence of drug and other substance usage there are other sources of data, including the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), the Monitoring the Future Study (conducted at the University of Michigan and funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health), and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). This survey was conducted by telephone in the United States. The 1,297 teens (ages 12 to 17) who responded were among a randomly selected nationally representative frame. Despite assurances of confidentiality, we assume that some teenage respondents will be reluctant to admit illegal activities over the telephone to someone unknown to them. Therefore, this survey--like any telephone survey asking respondents to self-report proscribed behaviors--presents conservative estimates of the extent of the use of illegal drugs, the consumption of tobacco products and alcohol by teenagers, and other negative behaviors, and over-reports positive behaviors. The parental permission requirement may also contribute to under-reporting.
etc.

This man is an expert in "Life-span human development, character education." Apparently he gets up in the morning, eats breakfast, showers, and shaves, then goes to work where he is paid to develop expertise in life-span human development and character education.

It's always worse than you think.

What Works Clearinghouse assessment character ed
Character Ed at the DOE

a brief history of character education
a first grade teacher focuses on moral decline
zero tolerance for zero tolerance
self esteem vs character ed
constructivist character ed
Michael Josephson, father of character education in U.S.

character ed in "study skills" class
character ed & shaming
Irvington character education wall calendar
Facing History and Ourselves

-- CatherineJohnson - 25 Sep 2006

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"'Character' must be comprehensively defined to include thinking, feeling and behavior."

This one seems especially pernicious to me. I can control what I do; not I nor anyone can control what I think or feel. Shall we also include other factors outside of our control in our definition of character, say height, weight, sex, or skin color?

Doing the right thing when you don't even have to think about it is worthy, but doesn't require character. Doing the right thing when you are afraid to, or don't want to, or are too tired to — those require character.

-- DougSundseth - 26 Sep 2006

"same core values" -- that's the problem right there. The schools don't share my values anymore.

-- BrendaM - 26 Sep 2006

I tried to read it all, but I fell asleep.

-- SusanS - 26 Sep 2006

Well, I thought I had hit rock bottom in character ed land, but then I read your post, Catherine.

I feel so much better now. There is still room for my school system to sink even lower in the character ed world.

-- LynnGuelzow - 26 Sep 2006

This one seems especially pernicious to me.

no kidding

When I read the sentence "'Character' must be comprehensively defined to include thinking, feeling and behavior" I made a decision to be very, very, very mad.

-- CatherineJohnson - 26 Sep 2006

I feel so much better now. There is still room for my school system to sink even lower in the character ed world.

It really is incredible.

Not only are things often worse than you think, things always can be worse than they are now.

-- CatherineJohnson - 26 Sep 2006

same core values" -- that's the problem right there. The schools don't share my values anymore

that's one glaring problem amongst many others

apparently the Josephson Institute, which got the ball rolling back in 1992 (around there) decided to create some kind of universal values-consensus list of 6 core values everyone in the country shared & no one in the country could object to

well, number one, such a project is ludicrous on the face of it

but, number two, assuming the vast majority of people can agree on the importance of abstractions like "responsibility," God is in the details

the precise meaning a school or district gives to a universal value like responsibility is going to be controversial to put it mildly

-- CatherineJohnson - 26 Sep 2006

Lynn what's going on in your district??

-- CatherineJohnson - 26 Sep 2006

Educationally, not much is going on in my district.

Character Ed is all consuming. Mostly, the principals like to sing songs about Respect, have assemblies, give awards, that sort of thing. It's a huge waste of time, not particularly effective, but hasn't done any real damage either (other than waste precious time in the classroom).

The only real qualm I have about the poor char ed program is the way they handled a rather disturbing episode last year. On the 2nd to last day of school, when the kids were just wasting time while the teacher packed the room, kids were supposed to be drawing pictures (4th grade). It didn't really matter, there was nothing going on. Anyway, one of the kids drew a picture of a synagogue on fire. Then he said, "Don't be a Jew"

My daughter was the only Jewish kid in the room. Also, everyone knew this, because she is always chosen to talk about the Jewish holidays to balance out Christmas and Easter and stuff. That's her job apparently.

So, of course, all the kids rushed over to tell my daughter about the picture and what was said. It was all very upsetting to her. The kid who started it all said he forgot there were Jewish kids in the room (something like that) and didn't mean to offend her.

Parents were called all around. I spoke with the Principal and thought that there were some very specific things that could be done over the summer.

Anyway, nothing more is going to be done. I'm not going to pursue it any further. But it just shows the disconnect between reality and theory. This wasn't supposed to happen, we are a Character Counts school, they have no plan for dealing with real problems, so they are going to ignore it and go back to handing out pencils and book mark awards, and singing songs, and having assemblies, and wasting time, and isn't everything wonderful?

-- LynnGuelzow - 26 Sep 2006

Catherine,

That was probably more than you asked for . . .

-- LynnGuelzow - 26 Sep 2006

the principals like to sing songs about Respect, have assemblies, give awards, that sort of thing

I really can't stand this stuff

-- CatherineJohnson - 26 Sep 2006

Lynn!

I'm so glad you left that story!

That's exactly what we've started to suspect - the school is now off the hook for controlling bullying & other bad behavior because they have character education.

It's another input.

That really is incredible.

-- CatherineJohnson - 26 Sep 2006

The consensus view (except for me) in the end was that it must have been the older brother's poor choice of tv viewing that had the negative effect on the picture drawer.

It was a convenient explanation that left everybody important off the hook, sort of blamed the parents (because they haven't properly monitored the tv), and did absolutely nothing about the potential problem underneath.

I've moved on.

-- LynnGuelzow - 26 Sep 2006

same old, same old

-- CatherineJohnson - 26 Sep 2006

WebLogForm
Title:	character education wall calendar
TopicType:	WebLog
SubjectArea:	IrvingtonMath, IrvingtonSchools
LogDate:	200609251953

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character education wall calendar

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