Development of Character - Briefly Explored

What is character? More importantly, what is good character? The Greek philosopher Aristotle said it is “right conduct in relation to other persons and in relation to oneself.”

He also suggested “we are what we repeatedly do.” Obviously we want our children – the young adults of the next generation – to display good character. It would be helpful to review how to develop appropriate traits in the lives of those for whom we have educational or mentoring responsibility.

Good character is the public and private reflection of traits, attitudes and creeds that have become the convictions of the heart and are consistently demonstrated in wise personal choices of actions when confronted with opportunities, trials, or adversities. It is one thing to generate mind thoughts about appropriate goodness. It is something else to want to do good. The task at hand involves converting thoughts and desires into actually doing good. In Hamlet’s words, “Ah, there’s the rub.”

According to Kenneth Blackwell, the former secretary of state of Ohio, “Sadly, defined ethics (character traits) are not common anymore.” Recent surveys indicate that those who enter the professional world without a well-integrated sense of good character tend to fail – with “lack of integrity, honesty, theft, and sexual harassment” being the predominant reasons for dismissal, beyond downsizing. In response, Blackwell endorsed “The Uncommon Sense Declaration,” a citizen education project that advocates 20 character-based ethics, which he hoped would become the foundation of Ohio’s future professional and cultural interactions.

It is abundantly clear to me, as a university director of career services, interacting with various publics, that who we really are, as opposed to what we’ve studied or who we know, is of paramount importance.

The optimum location for the development of the “who we are” nature of character is in the living room. Family taught disciplines, development of virtues, and dialogue on reasons, in addition to rules, could be the best developmental laboratory for the growth and practice of good character traits. The next best setting is the classroom, where teachers must model and mold strong character though example and dialogue. Then there is the collegiate event room, where “leadership and character” training take place. Finally, there is the boardroom, the corporate level where character is assumed. Our ability to have meaningful impact diminishes with each level.

The focus of this piece is the second room, the classroom. Character education cannot exist by simply offering a helpful list of virtues such as honesty, kindness, duty, and citizenship. Such approaches attempt to promote external behavior without addressing who we really are; our character, our morals, our virtues. Christian schools may be the only place that can offer a comprehensive definition of these virtues. Jesus Christ is the consummate example of good character and taught that “we would know a tree by its fruit.” Such “Christ-schools” should be the laboratory in which we mix all biblical truth, knowledge of right & wrong, and “in & out of class” curricula that give opportunities for repetition of good actions in the mixing pot of character development.

For character development to succeed in our classrooms, we must be willing to pay the price of defining evil to understand good. We must understand that guilt or shame may sometimes result from a desire for morality.

We must be willing to occasionally offend if we are to proclaim virtues. We must, as William Wilberforce did centuries ago, insist on manners and decency as a way of life. While known for his work to change Great Britain’s posture on slavery, he also managed to change their approach to civility, much of which is still a part of their 21st century culture.

We must inculcate a renewed desire to define, refine, articulate, and employ creeds that may bind, may limit, and may constrain our interactions with others. We must have a conviction that never wavers when faced with the adverse reactions that can result from those who don’t share our views. Thinking about good (head)is only the first step. Desiring to do good (heart) and then doing good (hands) are the absolute necessary outcomes of any of our attempts to teach character.

“To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”