The 540-student Blalock is one of 28 pilot sites in the state to receive grant money specifically set aside for programs that build character. Recently, the Humanities Council decided that simply funding schools wasn't enough. With the backing of the Georgia Department of Education and some financial support from the Atlanta-based Georgia Power Foundation, it will start a center to train teachers to develop character building programs and use their relationships with kids to model compassion, honesty, and respect for others. The Character Education Center, expected to open in January, is just one sign of the renewed interest across the nation in character education. Meanwhile, new character education laws also took effect this summer in Florida and Mississippi.
Experts caution that focusing on values is only one way to make a school safer.
Indeed, observers say character programs won't have their full effect unless teachers first come to grips with these sensitive issues. Ironically, on the day of the Columbine killings, Schaeffer's group released the results of a survey showing that most schools of education don't emphasize character education. More than 90 percent of the deans and department chairs in teacher education programs who responded to the survey agreed that core values should be taught in school, but less than one-quarter called character education a high priority within their departments. Though Georgia's new law mandating character education may appear overwhelming to educators with little training, Weimer points out that many schools already have elements of such a program. School-based activities meant to prevent pregnancy and drug use are a venue for discussing values and character, he says, and there are many opportunities in the regular curriculum to slip in talk on such topics.