Sunday, November 11, 2012

Character


Many years ago, Kate Mailliard asked me to give a series of talks on business ethics. I was delighted, because Ethics and Character, I felt, are the only real possessions we own— war or disaster can destroy everything else in an instant.

First I interviewed a UCLA professor of Economics. “Business Ethics?”, he laughed, “that’s an oxymoron.  There’s no such thing.” 

Next I talked to several business owners, not large corporations—they are of a different breed even though the Court designated them as personsEach of the business owners I talked with assured me that good ethics are at the very core of any successful enterprise. Without good, honest and responsible work and service no customer will return.

The professor, I later heard, did own a business once, but it went bankrupt, and he became a professor.

When I heard about The Principled Academy in San Leandro, CA, my curiosity was piqued. Over tea with Kristina Seher, the school’s co-founder and Head, my confidence in America’s future was rekindled. “Our primary concern is to build a child’s character,” she said. “We feel that each child is special and has a unique gift which needs to be discovered and encouraged. I always urge each teacher to find and showcase each student’s gift. 

“A few years ago, we had an extremely quiet girl. Her parents did not speak English; academics were difficult for her, but she had beautiful handwriting.  Her teacher entered her in the state’s Penmanship Competition, and she won it four years in a row. It changed her life. She discovered a deep joy in her accomplishment and a re-assurance of her worth, so much so that she decided to enter college this year.

“All of my teachers,” Kristina explained, “focus primarily on each child’s wellbeing and character development, and then on academics. They are urged to look for the beauty inherent in each child that may need awakening. In a safe environment, the children learn that they can make choices in life, bad ones and good ones. Most young children are quite forgiving of each other.  Beginning in middle school, however, if adults do not intervene to help them learn empathy and compassion, they begin to hold grudges, and tend to ostracize students who are in some way “different”.

“At that age, teacher involvement with each child becomes even more important and challenging. We have an autistic child, for example, who was mocked by a bright classmate. We had a private talk with the latter, who, as we suspected, had never heard of autism. We assigned him to do a research paper on autism, and an evaluation of his choice of action as a classmate. We invited his parents to participate when he presented his report, because parent-involvement is crucial in character formation. His report was a good lesson in compassion from which everyone profited.

“One of our new middle school students had struggled academically in his former school, and rather lacked in self-esteem.  One of our teachers realized that he showed a talent for acting, and encouraged him to join the Video Club.  Since then, he’s had several “starring roles” in the character education videos that this group is producing for our younger students. Nothing could have helped building the boy’s self-esteem better than knowing that he is a valuable and contributing member of the Principled Academy community.

“Frequent conversations with each child and following their progress create a culture of caring, integrity and character, as well as a memorable school experience. This is truly important because the behavior we learn early in life will carry us forward into adulthood.”

The Principled Academy strikes me as the very model environment that all our children need and deserve. It is sad to realize that many of our public school teachers today are fearful of violating the law or of getting sued when discussing the contributions of the world’s great traditions that have shaped our cultures.  Some feel even hesitant about teaching common courtesy!  These trends need reversing, unless we want to live in a world of chaos devoid of neighborly care and cooperation, where people care for nothing else but their own personal entitlement.

Thus, The Principled Academy focuses on character education; 
it looks for the uniqueness and special talent of each child;
and fosters compassion, tolerance and cooperation among its children to create a successful community.

In the words of former Secretary of Education William J. Bennett, “The essence of education is to teach a person what deserves to be valued—to impart ideals as well as knowledge.” In brief, “All real education is the architecture of the soul.”

Thank you, Kristina Seher, for your grand gift to our children!
Rosi

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