by Klaus Doring
For many among us these terms seem to remain as foreign words. Honestly, values in all our surroundings have to be discussed again and again. And, they should not only be discussed – something has to be done, action needs to be taken.
Ethics in general is the distinction between right and wrong, and the moral duty and obligations to a community. Character – the moral excellence, the totality of qualities making up individuals and persons noted for eccentricity can’t be shaped during the second half of one’s life.
Character education should start in school. A lot of schools display a few posters declaring “a virtue of the month” – and then stop there! They are adept at absorbing these initiatives without doing anything as a follow through.
Schools should respond by stressing a sense of community and intolerance for bullying, aggression, and taunting by gangs. Teachers should not think this is one more job foisted on them by parents.
The U.S. professor of education Thomas Liken favors virtues derived from Plato and Aristotle: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. As parents, ask your children if they have already heard about those.
Give moral and human values a try – the demand for character education in schools is increasing. Many children have the difficult task of learning good behavior without ever seeing any of it at school AND at home.
Kevin Ryan, a leading proponent of character education, and co-author Karen Bowline, wrote in their book “Building Characters in Schools” (19990: “We are witnessing the schools’ reawakening to that what was historically one of their most essential tasks, the formation of character among the children in their care”. Very well said! And how does the present situation look like?
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On the spot: German Chancellor Angela Merkel met her coalition partners, the Christian Social Union and the Free Democrats to thresh out plans on banking regulations and discuss the Greek budget crisis. Also the heads of the 27 EU member states met to discuss long-term economic policies. But the EU’s field of vision remains myopic and occupied by how to resolve Greece’s financial predicament. The financial global crisis is not over yet… .
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