Character Education

Laurie Namey and Patricia "Brigid" Carmichael have about 40 years experience in education between them. Their experience in education has taught them that there is a lot more to educating a child than academics. For starters, children need character education, Namey said. "Character education is a necessity in our ever-changing, diverse community," said Namey, who is in her first year as assistant principal at Edgewood Middle School. "Schools need to make character education important."

CHARACTER EDUCATION sounds like a great idea. The wonder is that Carroll County and other school systems across the country have not been teaching this subject in recent years. Or is it just a new name and bureaucratic requirement for something that's always been a part of public education?All of us want our children to learn the lessons of high moral character and courtesy. So why is the move to install character education in the Carroll schools this fall such a big deal?Perhaps it's because the new program seems so formalized.

SOME PEOPLE have a quaint notion that testing isn't everything schools are about.One of a school's primary missions, this thinking goes, is to build character in students. Virtue, character and their first cousin, patriotism, aren't widely discussed in education these days except during the weeks after a Littleton shooting or a run of arsons in Anne Arundel County.So it's comforting to know that there's a Maryland Center for Character Education and that tomorrow the center will honor this year's "character education schools of the year."

It sounds like "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."Carroll County students will return to class this fall to a program that could, on its face, make high-schoolers want to gag: Each month, they will "celebrate" a character trait. First comes respect. Then responsibility and trustworthiness. Then cooperation, and kindness, and courtesy, and so on.But don't cringe yet.Where "character education" is afoot -- in Baltimore, across much of Maryland and around the country -- such seemingly saccharine programs, intended to teach children basic values and ethics, are winning accolades.

TOWSON -- About 150 county teachers will learn how to develop plans for character education at the school system's third annual Institute in Ethics and Moral Development, to be held in two sessions at Owings Mills High School, today through Saturday and July 29-Aug. 1.A nationally recognized expert in character education, Thomas Lickona, will address the groups.Lutherville resident named director of Historic TowsonTOWSONTOWSON -- Lutherville resident Meg Gallucci recently was appointed executive director of Historic Towson Inc., a volunteer group dedicated to historic preservation.

Sixteen Baltimore high schools will begin teaching lessons in respect and responsibility this fall, officials announced yesterday.With a $200,000 grant from the Abell Foundation, the high schools will adopt a trademarked program called "Community of Caring," which trains school employees, students and parents to make fairness, trust and caring part of their daily interaction.The grant enables the school system to expand to upper grades a character-building campaign in 133 schools serving younger students.

NOT LONG AGO, Benjamin Foulois Traditional Academy in Camp Springs was like many urban public schools. About 30 students per year were suspended. Each day, teachers made about a dozen disciplinary referrals. School achievement was well below average and those families that could send their child to a private school, did so.But in 1988, Principal Mary Aranha instituted a new curriculum that taught children not just fact from fiction but right from wrong. She worked with parents and teachers to ensure that the moral lessons parents taught at home were reinforced in the classroom.

AUNT Lulu began teaching near the turn of the century. In addition to the "three R's," Lulu taught morals and ethics in what was termed "character education."At the time, public educators saw the need to emphasize character education because the move to an industrial age had resulted in alarming changes in society. Causes of this shocking decline in morality included "the industrial employment of the mother, increased moral stress and strain in larger centers of the population, the 'speeding-up' processes of modern life, a tendency to regard constituted authority lightly, a lack of respect for age and superior wisdom, a tendency toward lawlessness and perverted ideas as to the proper limits and legitimate range of so-called personal liberty."

Begin the day teaching characterI see that the focus is now again on character education in school curriculums. It should never have been taken out. What good is education without good character? It will make an educated fool.I hope that the teaching of character is not confined to the last 15 minutes of the day, as it was when I taught six years ago.As a retired teacher, I feel that character education should be taught at the beginning of the school day. The emphasis on a character trait a week could set the mood to begin the day of instruction.

In an attempt to fill what Baltimore school officials see as a serious void in the current curriculum, United Way of Central Maryland is providing $243,704 to teach students good character and effective citizenship.The program, to be phased in at 67 elementary and middle schools this year and next, and expanded to 83 other schools after that, comes at a time of renewed emphasis nationwide on teaching values in public schools.Last year, Maryland became the first state in the country to make 75 hours of community service a requirement for high school graduation, a controversial mandate also intended to build character and citizenship.

Laurie Namey and Patricia "Brigid" Carmichael have about 40 years experience in education between them. Their experience in education has taught them that there is a lot more to educating a child than academics. For starters, children need character education, Namey said. "Character education is a necessity in our ever-changing, diverse community," said Namey, who is in her first year as assistant principal at Edgewood Middle School. "Schools need to make character education important."

Standing in a locker room at Baltimore County's Kenwood High School, the teenage girl kept her cool when one of her peers passed by and hit her with a book bag. "Under normal circumstances, that would have been a major fight in our building," said teacher Nancy Hanlin, recounting the incident. Instead, Hanlin said, the girl told her classmate that she would have hit back "if I wasn't working on my virtues." The fight that wasn't illustrates the changes that school officials say they are seeing at Kenwood, where a new character education initiative called the Virtues Project has begun altering the way teachers, administrators and students communicate with one another.

Board of Education holds work session The Carroll County Board of Education will hold an administrative meeting at 1 p.m. Wednesday in Room 007 of the board offices in Westminster. A work session will be held at 2 p.m. The regular meeting agenda will be posted on the school system's Web site at www. carrollk12.org. Meetings will be broadcast live on CETV, Channel 21 on Adelphia cable TV, and repeated at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sunday and the following Thursday, and 9 a.m. Saturday. The board offices are at 125 N. Court St. Information: 410-751-3020.

At Fort Smallwood Elementary School in Pasadena and South Shore Elementary School in Crownsville, "character" is more than a word that kids learn before a spelling test. It's a quality that teachers and administrators actively work to instill in their pupils. Both schools were recognized this month for their character education programs by the Maryland Center for Character Education, a nonprofit organization established in 1992 that focuses on encouraging ethical behavior, both in schools and among private citizens and businesses.

Board of Education to meet Wednesday The Carroll County Board of Education will meet at 5 p.m. Wednesday in Room 007 of the board offices, 125 N. Court St., Westminster. The regular meeting agenda will be posted on the school system's Web site at carrollk12.org. Meetings will be broadcast live on CETV, Channel 21 on Adelphia cable TV, and repeated at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sunday and the following Thursday, and 9 a.m. Saturday. Information: 410-751-3020. Physical therapy class to graduate Carroll Community College will graduate its Physical Therapist Assistant class of 19 students in a ceremony at 2 p.m. Thursday.

College Park --The door to Room 1114 in the Gossett Football Team House is closed every Thursday and Sunday night for privacy. A pact was made that everything said in that meeting room stays in there. The young football players in Maryland's character education program talk about girls, sex and parties. They talk about the NFL and its agents, about the glitz and glam of the professional lifestyle, and the drugs and women that come with it. Some talk about the anger they carry from growing up without fathers, others about the fear of becoming one. They talk about teamwork and trust.

School board adds a winter holiday In response to community concern, the Carroll County Board of Education recently revised the 2005-2006 school calendar for the winter holidays. The decision was made to make Jan. 2 a nonschool day for students and staff. This extends the winter holidays from Dec. 26 through Jan. 2. Schools will reopen for students and staff Jan. 3. The last day of school for students is unaffected by this action. The board instead reduced the number of emergency closing days from seven to six. Information: 410-751-3020.

Carroll school board to hold session on capital projects The Carroll County Board of Education will hold a work session from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday to examine capital improvement projects under consideration. The session will be held in Room 007 of the board offices, 125 N. Court St., Westminster. The public is encouraged to attend. The session will focus on student enrollment in the county, options to relieve crowding, and systemic renovations and modernizations of schools. The board also will hold two other meetings Wednesday: at 1 p.m. with the county commissioners and 2 p.m. for an administrative meeting.

System schedules daylong program on character education The Carroll County public school system will hold its fifth Character Education Institute on Tuesday at Carroll Community College. Speakers will include Charles I. Ecker, county schools superintendent; Faye Pappalardo, president of Carroll Community College; Jackie Jones, the Maryland Department of Education's coordinator of character education; and Barbara Guthrie, supervisor of guidance for Carroll County public Schools. The keynote speaker will be Ron Clark, Disney's American Teacher of the Year for 2000, whose primary message is that to accomplish goals and dreams, one must possess hope, dedication and the will to never let anything stand in the way. Clark will also discuss education, ethics and values, inspiration, leadership, motivation and team building at 9:15 a.m. A ceremony honoring role models of character will be held after Clark's talk.

Board sets session on small learning communities The Carroll County Board of Education will hold a work session on small learning communities from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday in the board offices at 125 N. Court St., Westminster. The agenda will include an overview, definitions, parent involvement, feedback, data, fiscal information and a panel discussion. Participants will receive a working knowledge of the terminology associated with small learning communities; have a clearer picture of the purpose, economics, staff perception and school-level operation of the initiative; and develop steps for the program's future.