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IN THIS ISSUE
Character Op-Ed: America’s Dropout Dilemma: How to Turn Kids on to School
Teacher's Lounge: Community Involvement: The Key to Character Education
Character in the Curriculum: Using the Commentaries
Commentary by Michael Josephson: The Words of Martin Luther King Jr.
ON THE SIDE
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Resource of the Month: Character Bookmarks
CC! in the News: Hinsdale Central High Is a National School of Character
Did You Know? What Your Kids Eat Now May Affect Them Forever
Free Teacher Resources: Bee Moves
Web Poll: Do Energy Drinks Cause Kids to Behave Badly?
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Transformation – It’s Our Specialty
 Schools need help. They need it now. Students are dropping out at record rates, and youth violence is just another statistic on the evening news.
The good news is, CHARACTER COUNTS! can address these issues – and change the lives of at-risk students.
See how you can help here »
“Don't ever do anything just so someone will like you for the moment. Soon the moment will be over and you may have done something that will change your life.”
— Michael Josephson, founder of CHARACTER COUNTS! and Josephson Institute
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Character Op-Ed
America’s Dropout Dilemma: How to Turn Kids on to School
A recent report issued by the EPE Research Center revealed that the high school dropout rate could be as high as 50 percent in some states. That was no surprise to many. Slashed budgets, standardized testing, and changing priorities in federal education laws have turned classrooms into microcosms of the stress facing schools. No one would want to be in that kind of atmosphere if he or she had a choice.
Unfortunately, more and more high school students are exercising that choice, particularly in urban cities, according to the report Cities in Crisis released in April 2008. They leave without graduating, seeking validation elsewhere. The trend is much higher than previously thought.
Because the present helter-skelter method of measuring dropout rates has led to the erroneous conventional wisdom that national rates are a mere 15 percent, many school districts can’t get funding to deal with the issue.
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings recently urged that a uniform measurement system be instituted to confirm what educators believe are much higher numbers. Only then, it is hoped, will “the silent epidemic” be truly heard.
Why Are So Many Kids Quitting School?
Although there is a strong connection between place and performance, little research has been done to verify it. Qualitative evidence suggests the following issues may contribute to higher dropout rates:
• Declining economic conditions in urban cities inspire a sense of hopelessness among its inhabitants, particularly those at the lower end of the economic spectrum.
• Increased financial pressure on families of all backgrounds leads to working adults spending longer hours away from the home and family, resulting in greater self-reliance among adolescents than before.
• Increasingly intense media and advertising campaigns pressure young adults to buy into high-end lifestyles, placing greater economic demands on them and their families.
Clearly, a growing imbalance exists between what is taught in school and what happens outside of school. This disconnect creates time bombs that can be triggered by the slightest provocation:
• Flunking grades in early years
• Lack of parental support for academic achievement
• Pressure from peers to engage in activities that take time out of studying (including pressure to join gangs)
• Loss of a family member through death or separation
• Addition of a family member through pregnancy or remarriage
• Necessity to earn money to help the family
Larger class sizes and lack of expectations for many high school students combine to create an environment where there is little time for student-teacher personal interaction to help them figure out what it is they want to do with their life and scant opportunity to explore their strengths or apply them. As a result, the more tantalizing and pressing short-term life demands are more appealing and important than their school priorities and promise instant gratification.
How Can Schools Diffuse the Situation?
Many have implemented character education into their curricula to involve kids more with their community, teachers, parents, and fellow students.
More than just teaching values and telling students they should be respectful, the most successful programs bring students into the dialogue. Harnessing their leadership skills, tapping into their knowledge of contemporary challenges, and giving them access to the world beyond the school gates can validate both them and the relevance of their school work.
Studies show that struggling students respond well when academics are linked to practical applications and when they’re given opportunities to learn life skills. Too often, high schools overemphasize college preparation and dismiss career preparation.
Here are strategies to embed high academic and vocational standards into your curricula:
- Identify key standards. Highlight those that will most likely predict career success. Courses that are littered with standards offer scant learning opportunities if teachers and students are struggling to meet them all.
- Involve students in the decision-making process. Work with them to identify project-based learning programs where they can apply their knowledge, work closely with peers and teachers to build on what they know, and develop new strategies to expand their knowledge. Encourage students to take responsibility for their learning and emphasize the need to respect different learning styles and objectives.
- Encourage the business community to participate in the curriculum. Training the future workforce is what schools are all about. Contact your Chamber of Commerce and work with representatives from businesses that actively invest in youth. Develop Work Readiness programs that certify youth for employment in entry-level positions. Emphasize to businesses the importance of a more ethical workforce. (Who wants to hire young people who have poor character?) Read the Teacher’s Lounge article in this edition for more tips on involving the community.
- Maintain a set of values for staff and students. Set high standards and don’t compromise. Reward successes and respond to failures with a comprehensive support system to prevent students from falling between the cracks. Stress that everyone is responsible for each member of the community – in school and beyond.
Philosopher Quintillion enjoined that “the job of the teacher is to identify the [students’] strengths.” We encourage you to take his words one step further. Direct those strengths into your community where the contribution of every student is valued and where character counts.
Secretary Spelling’s proposed measures are accessible in the Federal Register and open for public comment. Title 1 – Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged
Comment on this story in our blog »
“Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.”
— Don Wilder and Bill Rechin, comic strip creators
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Teacher's Lounge
Community Involvement:
The Key to Character Education
Young people don’t develop at home, at school, or in a program. They grow up in a community. Whole- community involvement greatly increases the chance of success for a character-education program.
Easier said than done. Meeting academic standards and implementing character development is asking a lot of teachers. Why should they have to involve the community, too? Is it really that important?
You bet. Local businesses and civic groups will often support your character-education activities. They can underwrite programs, sponsor events, publicize festivities, donate food or materials, provide an activity site, display posters, offer prizes, you name it.
With high school dropout rates soaring across the country, students clearly aren’t getting what they want and need from education (see Character Op-Ed above). As a result, our society won’t get what it wants and needs from them when they become adults. Something needs to be done to engage our youth.
In the past, the solution was to plan tons of activities and groups for youth. The mistakes with that approach are manifold: 1) it paints young people as a problem rather than a resource, 2) kids aren’t involved in the planning, 3) they don’t participate as a result, 4) adults conclude that they don’t care, and 5) communities miss out on eager and talented resources who could make a real difference.
The answer, many believe, is to encourage schools, students, and communities to work together because no single entity on its own can solve educational challenges and create positive community change. In its white paper, Community-Based Youth Leadership: A Pathway to Civic Engagement, the Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development outlines ways that community-based agencies can help facilitate youth civic engagement:
• Recognize that young people are assets to and experts about their community. Giving students key roles in shaping their community lets them know that they’re important stakeholders.
• Bring young people and adults together to work as equal partners. In many youth programs, young people feel they aren’t respected as partners, aren’t listened to, aren’t encouraged to suggest ideas, and aren’t trusted with decision-making or leadership positions. Such attitudes can segregate youth from adults, promulgate negative beliefs about young people and their capabilities, and alienate adolescents, particularly those who are already disenfranchised from society’s mainstream for a variety of reasons.
• Connect young people to their identity, culture, and community. By helping youth understand who they are, we can help them appreciate their heritage and understand how history has affected them. They can then use this knowledge to change their school and community for the better.
• Engage young people as community leaders on issues that matter to them. Students are eager to take on leadership roles, learn new skills, and take on challenges outside the classroom. Those who do so feel more valuable, gain self-confidence, and learn that they can make change happen.
Find out here how to involve your community in your character-education efforts (or call 800-711-2670).
“You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what's a life, anyway? We're born, we live a little while, we die. A spider's life can't help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that.”
— Charlotte, in Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White
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Character in the Curriculum
Tips
Our Foundations for Life program offers free writing prompts, lesson plans, and cross-curricular connections based on character-related maxims that complement your existing programs.
Learn more »
Monthly Lesson Plan:
Using the Commentaries
More than 85 percent of U.S. high school students have a computer, and they spend a lot of time on social networking sites, gaming sites, and blogs.
We recently developed a blog format for Michael Josephson’s daily commentaries. Using them as a lesson resource can be a great way to get teenagers involved in discussing what character means to them by encouraging them to post.
This month’s lesson plan harnesses teenagers’ aptitude for using the computer and helps you meet literacy standards.
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Commentary by Michael Josephson
The Words of Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. never reached the age of 40, but his speeches and writings document his legacy of wisdom and eloquence. He was an effective leader and a modern-day prophet.
He was only 29 when he said: "Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. No social advance rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. Every step requires sacrifice, suffering and struggle, the tireless exertions, and passionate concern of dedicated individuals."
Later he said: "Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. It cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals."
And: "We will never have peace in the world until men everywhere recognize that ends are not cut off from the means because the means represent the end in process, and ultimately you cannot reach good ends through evil means because the means represent the seed and the end represent the tree."
The night before he was killed, he uttered these prophetic words: "We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now because I've been to the mountaintop. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain, and . . . I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we, as people, will get to the Promised Land. And I'm happy tonight. I'm not fearing any man."
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
Adapted from Michael Josephson's Gabriel Award-winning radio commentaries, airing every day across the nation. They also appear daily in the Commentary blog, where you can post responses and see what others have to say.
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