The Importance Of Character Education

Teachers of today are asked to deal with more student behaviors in the classroom than teachers of the past. According to the National Education Association, one-third of all teachers leave after the first three years of teaching, and 46% leave after the first five years (Kopkowski, 2008). While several different reasons are given for the high turnover rate, both administrative support and classroom discipline are listed among the top 5. When teachers are presented with unmanageable discipline problems, they lose the desire to invest time in planning lessons that will both engage and challenge students. Teachers are being asked to deal with students who at times can present anti-social behaviors and put themselves and other students at risk. One disruptive student can negatively affect the learning of an entire class (Sprick, 2009).

Although there are a number of ways schools can choose to combat these disruptive behaviors, one way they have chosen to address the behaviors is through the implementation of character education programs. The goal of any character education program is to teach students the basic concepts of good character and socially acceptable behaviors in a positive learning environment. In challenging students to be positive forces in their society, teachers are changing the course of the next generation. That’s worth a few minutes of instructional time (Gurley, 2011). By implementing character education programs, schools promote common expectations throughout the building and provide students with consistent codes of conduct. The common expectations and consistent codes of conduct have a positive effect on school climate, as well as decreasing student behaviors. As a result of decreased behaviors, classroom enga...

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...their student’s character education as well. While continued research is needed to support the implementation of character education programs in schools, one thing is certain. For schools to achieve appropriate positive student-student and student-teacher relationships attention to students character must be addressed. Results are seen in higher school competence, in classroom grades, in standardized test scores, in involvement in the classroom, in prosocial behavior, and in self esteem. The more successful students are in building positive peer relationships, the more likely these students are to achieve academically (Roseth, Johnson & Johnson, 2008). Furthermore, when addressing student behaviors through the use of character education programs, schools not only change the climate of their learning environments, but create students who achieve higher academically.