From Violence to Virtues

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What are virtues?

From Violence to Virtues: Creating Safe, Caring Schools

By Nancy Watters, M.A.
Published in The Ontario School Advocate, November 2004

How can parents and teachers teach children to be caring, friendly, respectful and responsible?
Does character education help schools reduce incivility, dishonesty, bullying and violence?
What does research say about “best practices” in character education?
What are the pitfalls that teachers and parents need to avoid?

Numerous national polls show that dealing with violence and moral decline has become a priority in the eyes of the public. Parents and teachers are asking what to do in the face of the rising tide of bullying, widespread dishonesty, and general disrespect. How can they effectively counteract the “hole in the moral ozone” which has deeply affected our youth? Their concerns have led them to take a renewed interest in character education.

Character education has historically been a central part of public school education. In 1837, Horace Mann, founder of the public school movement said, “The highest and noblest office of education . . . pertains to our moral nature. The common school should teach virtue before knowledge, for . . . knowledge without virtue poses its own dangers.” With the advent of a more pluralistic society, people made an effort to be respectful of all cultures and religious traditions. In order to avoid conflict, some educators approached the problem by not talking about ethical and moral issues at all. "Separation of church and state", "Let the parents do that" were their solutions. Others taught "values clarification" and situational ethics or discussed various moral dilemmas. These approaches led students to believe that there are no standards of right and wrong--only various choices that an individual can make based on their preferences. The result has been increasing “moral drift”.

Many people subscribe to the notion that no one has the right to impose their values on others. This seems valid on the surface, but in reality, each person is a living statement of their beliefs. “Actions speak louder than words”, so we need not be saying anything in order to teach our values. In actuality, there are no “value neutral” environments. If we avoid direct instruction, students simply draw their own conclusions—often deciding that “anything goes”. When we remain “objective” and avoid teaching moral behavior, we give negative forces full sway.

The media, for example, produces a tremendous negative undertow. Countless studies have shown that behavior on television is mimicked in real life. Over 3,500 research studies on the effects of TV violence show a 99.5 percent positive correlation between watching violence on TV and committing acts of real-life violence. The typical child spends 900 hours per year in school and 1,500 hours watching TV. They see 32 violent acts each hour on TV and an average of 1,000 murders per year. (Incidentally, 80% of Hollywood producers say they understand that violence on TV promotes violent behavior in real life.) The negative impact of TV also includes undermining family time, harming reading and academic performance, promoting a sedentary lifestyle and obesity, promoting excessive commercialism, and squelching political awareness. More at http://www.tvturnoff.org/facts.htm

What is emerging from our current crisis is a growing consensus that there are certain foundational moral standards that all cultures and faiths adhere to, and that we need to actively teach these to our children and youth in order to have a healthy society. Christina Hoff Sommers makes the case for a return to moral standards particularly well in "Teaching The Virtues".

Virtues such as kindness, honesty, respect, responsibility and compassion are not new. They are described in all the world’s sacred literature as traits of the human spirit, as inner capacities which we are here in this life to develop. Other sources call them traits of good citizenship, life skills, universal principles, or building blocks of good character. Plato described virtue as “a kind of health, beauty, and habit of the soul.” Albert Einstein said, “Only morality in action gives beauty and dignity to life.”. Read more about 52 universally accepted virtues at http://www.virtuesconsulting.com/virtueslist.html

Good character means “the inner strength to do the right thing at the right time for the right reasons”. It’s what people used to refer to as having a conscience. “Character education”, according to Dr. Thomas Lickona, “is the deliberate effort to develop virtues that are good for the individual and good for society.” Effective character education takes a holistic approach that includes teaching knowledge of what is right, stimulating a desire to do what is right, and encouragement of right action.

Each person has a choice whether to actively develop the virtues within them--their “inner spiritual muscles”—or to let them atrophy. Research shows that the strongest influences on children's moral development are the role models that children have around them, and the relationship they have with those people. They want to mimic those who are loving towards them. Additional factors that help them internalize moral standards are [Cited in Educating Hearts and Minds: A Comprehensive Character Education Framework, Edward F. DeRoche and Mary M. Williams, Corwin Press, 2001]:

§ Learning to love the good in themselves

§ Experiencing reinforcement of behaviors that demonstrate the virtues

§ Experiencing logical consequences when they forget to use those virtues

§ Seeing role models (heroes and heroines) who exemplify the virtues

§ Developing perspective taking

§ Acquiring higher levels of moral reasoning

§ Experiencing the virtues in relationships and interactions

§ Practicing behaviors that exemplify virtues (service learning, for example)

Schools report that character education programs have countered negative student behavior, reduced bullying, decreased discipline problems, boosted academic achievement, improved school climate, prevented teen pregnancies and lowered substance abuse. To date, few controlled, comparative, empirical studies currently exist. Nevertheless, promising trends are emerging.

The Search Institute, for example, identified 40 "assets" that help young people become "healthy, caring and responsible". Their research has demonstrated a correlation between these assets and improved academic achievement, as well as reducing “at risk” behaviors. The assets include individual attitudes, values and social competencies, as well as community supports such as a caring school climate, positive adult role models, and constructive outlets for service and leisure. Many of the assets are virtues--achievement motivation (excellence), caring, equality and social justice (tolerance, respect, justice); integrity; honesty, responsibility, restraint (self-discipline); planning and decision-making (purposefulness); empathy and sensitivity (consideration, caring, friendliness); peaceful conflict resolution (justice, peacefulness); resistance skills (assertiveness); self-esteem (confident); sense of purpose (purposefulness); and positive view of personal future (confidence). Greater numbers of these assets in a young person's life are correlated to higher academic achievement, tolerance, self-control and good health practices. Additionally, those youth with the highest number of assets are least likely to engage in problem alcohol use, illicit drug use, sexual activity, and violence. Read more at http://www.search-institute.org

An encouraging Canadian success story is Forest Park Elementary School in British Columbia, which has been implementing The Virtues Project for two years. In May 2004, 500 students in grades K-5 evaluated the program. They wrote open-ended essays on "My Thoughts about Forest Park Virtues". They repeatedly described how their school has been transformed into a much friendlier environment. One student said, “This virtues project has flipped the school around and made it a kind, loving school.” Another said, "I learned a lot of new things, like kindness and caring. I did those two things and then I got more friends and its sooo much better." Students also mentioned "we have courage to stand up to bullies", "kids don't pick on each other", "it inspires us to be kind and peaceful", "the virtues thing is cool", "it made me a whole new person", "it gives you good people skills", "the school became a better place to learn", and "everyone is starting to be kind to each other." Some people debate whether good character can be taught or not. As I read these students' essays I was reminded that children already have the virtues within them, that they can learn what the words mean and they will put then into action if we encourage them in the right way. Enjoy more student comments at http://www.virtuesconsulting.com/studentessays.html

Another example is Huntington Hills School in Calgary. They set a goal of having a year with no fights. Students, parents, teachers and administrators worked together with exemplary cooperation and commitment to achieve their goal. Character education was a key element of their success. Visit http://www.virtuesconsulting.com/vg9.html#stories to read the whole story.

For a synthesis of the research on moral development see Larry Nucci’s report at http://tigger.uic.edu/~lnucci/MoralEd/articles/nuccisynthesis.html. For excellent information on pitfalls to avoid, see "How Not to Teach Values" by Alfie Kohn at "http://tigger.uic.edu/~lnucci/MoralEd/articles.kohn.html". You’ll get a quick primer on how to discern the difference between effective, research-based character education programs and those that have a political or religious agenda. One of the most important pitfalls to avoid is overemphasis on rewarding or punishing “virtuous behavior”. The goal is for children to internalize moral standards; then utilize them, even when there are no foreseeable positive or negative consequences.

Effective character education programs take a comprehensive approach that leads to an ethos of integrity throughout the organization. Some key strategies include:

All stakeholders participate in creating and implementing the program.
There is ongoing, active attention given to understanding the virtues and they are woven throughout the activities of the organization.
There is the expectation that leaders and teachers are committed to modeling the behaviors they are requiring of students and employees.
A climate of encouragement and caring is established, and moral behavior is noticed and appreciated.
Programs are evaluated regularly and make continuous improvements as lessons are learned.

For more tips visit The Character Education Partnership and read 11 Principles of Effective Character Education, http://www.character.org/principles/ . They also provide a searchable database of curriculum materials for parents and educators.

So the good news is that we’ve got the “technology” to root out the fundamental causes of violence. Now all we need to do is use it. Schools, communities, families and workplaces worldwide are experiencing the powerful transformative affects of teaching virtues. Give it a whirl!

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Nancy Watters, M.A. is an international trainer in character education, moral leadership and principle-centered community development. Her work draws on 25 years of experience as a teacher, education administrator and counseling psychologist.

She is the author of the Virtues Gazette—a free e-zine that delivers monthly tips for boosting “moral fitness” in families, schools and communities. Each issue includes learning activities, research briefs and inspiring success stories. Past issues are posted at http://www.virtuesconsulting.com, where you can register for your free subscription and read special reports such as “7 Strategies for Teaching Honesty”, “9 Ways to Encourage Compassion” and “14 ways to Practice Forgiveness”.

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