A Personal Reflection By Curt Lieneck, The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools Character education is now officially a movement. State legislatures wrestle with character education mandates. Leading journals devote feature issues to it. The sorry mutual harangue that passes for serious public dialogue these days escalates to fever pitch when teaching values is mentioned.
Vendors crank out character education programs to hawk at character education conferences.
I have mixed feelings about all the hoopla. As educators, we have seen too many good ideas crash and burn when burdened by the messianic baggage of movement status. Yet, as I engage students and colleagues in frank dialogue about values, I hear again and again an urgency of unmistakable significance. The promise I find in character education lies not in specific programs or prescriptions, but in the premise that the best education includes a dynamic, active commitment to developing good character. My formal involvement with character education began four years ago.