My knee-jerk response is watch out for violations of separation of church and
state. When I read "respect for the creator" alarms go off. Who's version of god
are they referring to? The version practiced by gender apartheid enforcers in
Afghanistan by the Islamic Taliban? The version perpetuated by those who insist
women must submit to men? The version that respects god/desses or the great
spirit?
Building character is a process over time. Character is not something
acquired from preaching. Obviously, the other traits mentioned "honesty,
fairness, respect for others, self-respect, cooperation, tolerance" are
ideals that should be nurtured and valued by our society.
I still don't know much about character educaiton, but there are various web
sites offering their expertise.
The Character Education Partnership at http://character.org/index.cgi
made reference to the US Dept. of Education's allocation of $2.3 million to 9
states to "develop materials, provide teacher training, gauge and build
community consensus on common values, involve parents in character education and
integrate character education into the curriculum."
http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/05-1999/cegrants.html
The California Dept. of Education has a clearinghouse website that includes a
summary as well as on-line resources.
http://www.cde.ca.gov/character/resources1.html
At http://www.cortland.edu/www/c4n5rs/websites.htm
they provide links to character education sites.
There are also websites (and other media) raising issues about emotional
intelligence.
http://www.6seconds.org/eq/eq.html
http://www.eqi.org/
There are overlaps between emotional intelligence and character education
that is yet to be explored.
When it comes to character education, the goals and implementation will
probably be as varied as the individuals and institutions that include them.
Sharon Hushka
sharynh@earthlink.net
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