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INTRODUCTION
 

An anonymous sage wrote, “When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.”

The roots of all evil lie in the loss of Character. Sound character is a fundamental attribute that enables populations to live together in peace, to form a world full of virtue and goodness, free of violence and immorality.
We cannot but acknowledge the fact that, in our society, violence, cruelty, and self-destructive behaviors are rising (especially among the youth); dishonesty, disrespect, and ethical illiteracy are increasing. Families—which are supposed to be the “cradles of character”-- are being dismantled, thus unable to impart to their children the values they need in order to lead a decent and righteous life. Therefore, nowadays, it has become imperative for teachers to educate for character as well; this should be incorporated in their “Mission”. Besides, teachers have been trying for ages to find ways to deal with underachievement and discipline problems in the classroom, but without real success. Where do these two major problems emanate from? Why do students “underachieve” or have discipline problems?  Don’t you think that once we have instilled sound character in our students, all these problems will vanish into thin air?

This is what Thomas Lickona — one of the most prominent voices in the character education movement in the United States, and Director of the Center for the 4th and 5th Rs (Respect and Responsibility), State University of New York at Cortland — deals with in his book “Educating for Character; How Our Schools Can Teach Respect and Responsibility.”

First, I shall summarize the main ideas in the book, then I will try to provide you with a thorough critique or review.

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SUMMARY
 

“for God”, this is for whom Thomas Lickona dedicates his book “Educating for Character, How Our Schools Can Teach Respect and Responsibility.” Further on, he justifies his dedication by saying that God kept him “in His Awareness”, “for example, when exactly the right piece of information or conversation came my way, without my seeking it” (p. vii).

This book is divided into 3 parts, the first one – “Educating for Values and Character”-- being theoretical, and the other two – “Classroom and Schoolwide Strategies for Teaching Respect and Responsibility”-- very practical.

Part 1: “Educating for Values and Character”

In this part, Lickona starts by blaming parents for their failure in inculcating moral values to their children, in addition to the mass media in which violence prevails. That’s why schools have to teach values; they should seek to form the individual’s intellect as well as his character. Our society needs people who care, who use their intelligence to benefit others too, not only themselves. If we want democracy to succeed, we need values to dominate.

Then, after enumerating and listing the immoral acts that are being done nowadays, Lickona suggests that schools teach specific moral values -- universal ones -- without giving students a moral choice since “there is common ethical ground even in our value-conflicted society: justice, honesty, civility, democratic process, and a respect for truth.” (p. 20) He also mentions the fact that schools alone cannot succeed, parents should cooperate and support the school’s values so that this moral education thrives. They should not be authoritarian (setting rules without giving reasons) or permissive (not setting any rules), as they raise their children, but authoritative, requiring obedience and at the same time providing clear reasons for their expectations.
Respect and Responsibility are the “Two Great Moral Values” Lickona talks about the most. They are the “fourth and fifth R’s” schools should teach.
Respect involves negative obligations (what not to do); there are respect of self, respect of others, and respect for the environment.
Responsibility involves positive obligations (what to do); responsibility allows for people to have an obligation to care for others, to pay attention to them, and to be dependable.
Lickona also advocates for other "democratic values" such as "honesty, fairness, tolerance, prudence, self-discipline, helpfulness, compassion, cooperation and courage" (p. 45).

What is good character? Lickona ends this first part with the definition of good character. It is easy to say that we want our students to have good character, but in order to achieve this, we have to specify those character traits we want to build in them. A person of character is trustworthy, responsible, respectful, fair & just, caring, empathetic, self-controlled, and, above all, he is a good citizen who obeys laws and plays by the rules.
“Good character consists of knowing the good, desiring the good, and doing the good. We want our children to be able to judge what is right, care deeply about what is right, and then do what they believe to be right.” (p. 51)

How should schools operate in order to promote values and build good character? This is what is clearly described in the two remaining parts of the book.

Parts 2 & 3: “Teaching Respect and Responsibility; classroom and schoolwide strategies”

In these two parts, as I said before, practical suggestions prevail. Lickona describes various successful programs; he guides the teacher then the school step by step, in order to implement a 12 point comprehensive approach to values education that offers practical strategies. Nine of these twelve points are relative to classroom strategies, and the last three are relative to strategies for the whole school.

As for the relationship between teacher/students and student/student in the classroom, Lickona advises that it be based on respect, empathy, love, and caring. The teacher should try to build rapport with their students, to guide them, to encourage right behavior and to correct wrongful actions. Rules are essential and have to be respected; they should be established so as to develop moral reasoning by helping students see the values behind the rules. Consequences for a rule violation are necessary. Lickona argues that class meetings are vital, they can be used to teach students to be self-aware, to acquire problem solving skills, to take part in the decision-making and rule setting, and to be responsible.
Teachers should make appropriate use of storytelling, children’s literature, case studies, role-playing, moral debates, discussions and some teaching methods such as cooperative learning, in order to ensure the success of character education.

“People working to change the world” (p. 305), this is what Lickona wants to make of students. Schools should do everything in order to provide inspiring role models, extracurricular activities, and opportunities for students to perform caring actions and help their communities. In addition, the principal should set an excellent example, he ought to build – or at least encourage building – a strong moral and intellectual community among the adults, where teachers and administrators share ideas and work together (“Schools inevitably teach good or bad values in everything they do”).

As for sex education, Lickona claims that most of the problems in our society result from premature sexual activities and sees that schools should promote “programs that teach abstinence and promote development.” (p. 355) Teens should be taught to have positive attitudes about sexuality and how to practice sexual self-control.
Lickona also deals in his book with two other issues: homosexuality, and drugs & alcohol. He says that these two issues are too important to be ignored, but we should choose the right person and the appropriate way to teach about them.

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CRITIQUE

“An extraordinarily important and useful book. It not only makes a compelling case for revitalizing education’s role as a developer of character, it provides a solid means of accomplishing the task.”
        Michael Josephson,
        President, The Joseph and Edna Josephson Institute of Ethics
 

As a teacher, I find this book “Educating for Character; How Our Schools Can Teach Respect and Responsibility” an excellent resource and reference in education, be it for school teachers or principals. It is so comprehensive and exhaustive; there is nothing about character education – not that I’m aware of at least – which hasn’t been dealt with thoroughly in Lickona’s book. We don’t even need to summarize every chapter ourselves, the author does it for us and presents it on a “golden” plate. The illustrations and examples provided enrich the book a lot, they form a kind of synthesis that makes everything much easier to grasp. We can also say that all those feedback forms (pp. 92, 123, 149, 158, 200) can be just photocopied as they are and given as handouts in the classroom. They facilitate the teacher’s task enormously.

When a person reads such a book, he doesn’t only profit from it in teaching, but in clarifying his own values as well. Just as a student majoring in clinical psychology should follow sessions at a psychiatrist’s (in order to clarify things in his life) before he gets to treat patients, a person who is going to teach will have done something similar by reading this book and following its principles.

I really admire Thomas Lickona for his zeal and perseverance. We cannot forget that it took him a long time to prepare this book, to visit all those schools in the U.S. and Canada in order to get all that feedback. The Message that he conveys is so “pure”, he is in fact showing us how to take care of ourselves and of others, he is guiding us so that we can find the way to Happiness. A whole society will profit from this. Furthermore, I want to praise his efforts in reducing premarital sexual activities; I think this would help prevent a lot of problems in our society. I cannot say but “God Bless him.”
 

Since I haven’t been able to spot any weaknesses in this book, I shall try to comment on one of the critiques I found.
It was written by Michael Lee Boucher Jr. as a part of his thesis titled “BUILDING TEACHER-STUDENT SOLIDARITY IN A MORE DEMOCRATIC CLASSROOM” (A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in Education, Hamline University, Saint Paul, Minnesota, May, 1998. http://www.hamline.edu/~mboucher/title.html)

Michael Lee Boucher Jr. says: “I was struck over and over again how the perception of democracy in the classroom or the school was the means to the end of building real democratic citizens. It was almost as if Lickona wants us to role-play the situation so we know how to behave when it arrives; like democracy practice. This approach could work. Students participating in the school processes may develop a civic responsibility. But I am concerned that much of what Lickona suggests could prepare our students to participate in a hollow, dead form of democracy that keeps them from ever truly embracing democracy as a valuable societal goal. These exercises may even lead students to think that democracy does not work and could make them more easily led astray by those who would bring the firm hand of totalitarianism.”

I cannot understand why democracy would not work. How can people who base their lives on respect, responsibility, caring, giving, communicating, cooperating, and all that set of universal values, how can they end up thinking that democracy doesn’t work? Once all those virtues are well incrusted in them, once they have been aware of the fact that everything can be dealt with through true communication, through caring and respect, then they will surely choose the right path to follow, and this would be Democracy.

Finally, to conclude, I would like to recommend this remarkable book to all student teachers, teachers, principals, and parents. It can be a good framework to base one’s life upon.However, there is a question I would like to ask Dr. Lickona: “ Knowing that this world cannot function properly without the presence of good and evil, of cooperation and competition, how much do you think can be applied of all this character education?”

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