The Importance Of Character Education

1113 Words3 Pages

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines character as “the way someone thinks, feels, and behaves: someone’s personality.” Character education is arguably one of the most important forms of guidance we can offer students today. Moral development focuses on increasing universal, ethical traits that are crucial to students’ success in life post graduation. Students’ need to think for themselves and to have compassion for others are just a few examples of what character education focuses on during instruction. Sadly, many schools do not provide students the chance to obtain such education. It is crucial for schools to provide students opportunities to build character through volunteering and service learning, after school activities, and morality …show more content…

The basic morals of service learning are the same as volunteering, but it geared more towards a classroom setting. For example, a class could volunteer its time at a soup kitchen, interview the elderly members about what their childhood was like, and write a paper about teenagers lives fifty decades ago (Katz par. 6). Other examples of service learning are cross-age tutoring, community and school advancement activities, and mentoring (Shields and Gray par. 7). Service learning is an outstanding way to engage volunteering, while simultaneously learning the required cirriculum (Katz par. …show more content…

After school activities are a great place for students to get help with homework from tutors or other abled adults. An after school program in Maryland, called the Sports Academy, was created with a goal of helping children do better in school while also enjoying the activities provided (Beck par. 4, 9). Statistics have shown that schools with an after school program available for students have better report cards, fewer “sick” days, and reduced suspension rates (“After par. 6, 7 and Beck par. 22). A seventeen year study in Michigan followed 1,800 students. The results proved that those students involved in an after school activity had higher marks in the classroom, and a lesser amount of tardies (“After” par. 11). “Sick” days at Twenty-First Century Community Learning Center dropped from 568 to 135 (“After” par. 7). A 61 percent drop in suspension rates occurred once the program, RecExtra, was implemented in Roberto Clemente Middle School (Beck par. 22). These activities also

Open Document