America’s Crisis of Character -- and What to Do about It

Sanford N. McDonnell

                 Day after day we are bombarded with stories of dishonest corporate leaders, corrupt politicians, and sports stars using drugs.  Indeed every sector of our society is confronted by a crisis of character, most tragically among young people who are plagued with problems of drug abuse, teenage pregnancies, violence, lying, cheating, stealing, bullying, and racism.

                 With all these character related problems, why aren’t the presidential candidates speaking out on the subject? And why hasn’t it been on the agenda in their debates? And why aren’t the American people demanding that schools do more to help our young acquire good character as well as academic knowledge?

Having spent forty years in the corporate world, I know that business leaders   don’t want young people coming into their companies who are brilliant if they are dishonest.  And yet the vast majority of corporate leaders ignore the widespread lying and cheating that is occurring at epidemic levels in our schools and colleges.  Instead they focus on pushing educators to raise test scores, especially in math and science.

 Far too many parents also ignore the need for character education in our schools.  They too concentrate on test scores and grades in the misguided belief that getting their kids into the right college is all that really matters.

No matter how many red flags are raised in the media about the crisis of character in our society and despite the fact that we all agree that the role of education should be to produce citizens who are both smart and good, we continue by and large to focus on academic testing to the exclusion of character building.

But as a survivor of a concentration camp once wrote to a school teacher, “My eyes saw what no person should witness: gas chambers built by learned engineers, children poisoned by educated physicians, infants killed by trained nurses, women and babies shot and burned by high school and college graduates. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters and skilled psychopaths.  Reading, writing, and arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more humane.” 

Fortunately, a quality character education program in schools produces young people who are both humane and smart.  Just ask Robert Gehringer, principal of Boys Town High School that Father Flanigan started 90 years ago in Boys Town, Nebraska. This school transforms severely at-risk, abused, abandoned, and neglected boys and girls into productive citizens.  The first step with these at-risk students is training in basic social skills, such as accepting criticism, following instructions, greeting others, accepting compliments, asking for help, and listening.  They slowly but surely begin to accept the fact that everyone at the school, both young and old, sincerely wants to help them become a better and happier person.  They are taught to monitor their feelings, to control impulses, to empathize with others, and to delay gratification.  They learn what it means to be trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and caring, and that they are expected to practice those virtues until they become habits and part of their character. In this environment they find meaning in their studies and their academic performance improves dramatically.

In November 2007 Boys Town High School was one of 10 schools and districts in a nationwide competition to be recognized as a 2007 National School of Character by the Character Education Partnership (CEP).  The other nine winners included both public and private schools from urban, suburban or rural communities.  All 10 winners have different character education programs, but they all employed practices that met the quality standards of CEP’s Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education, reference www.character.org.

              In the early history of our public education, developing good character was considered just as important as intellectual knowledge; but in the last part of the 20th century, most public schools drifted away from that traditional emphasis on character.

              Fortunately, in the last two decades the character education movement has revived and is beginning to pick up speed.  Thirty-one states now mandate or encourage character education by statute.  And all across the country schools are implementing character education programs, but not nearly at the pace, numbers, and quality needed to overcome our national crisis of character.

              With character related fires blazing all around us, Americans need to recognize that we should be emphasizing good character in our young just as emphatically as we have been focusing on higher math and science test scores.  And we need to hear how the future president of the United States is going to help our schools produce young people who are not only smart but also have the strength of character to overcome the unprecedented challenges we face at home and abroad.s

               “Character in the long run is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.”   President Theodore Roosevelt

Mr. McDonnell is Chairman Emeritus of the McDonnell Douglas Corporation, which is now part of Boeing. He is also Chairman Emeritus of the Character Education Partnership.