Keeping in Character A Time-Tested Solution

Phi Delta Kappan

Volumn 79, Issue 6, 1998, Pages

  Benninga, Jacques S ^a   Wynne, Edward A ^b  

^a CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0346967249     PISSN: 00317217     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (36)

1. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Bureau of Vital Statistics, and predecessor agencies have compiled annual vital statistics reports on specific topics for appropriate years (homicide and suicide, 1914-94; out-of-wedlock births, 1940-93).
2. Judith Haveman, "A Nation of Violent Children: A New Survey Finds the Epidemic Is Confined Almost Exclusively to the U.S.," Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 17 February 1997, p. 34.
3. Jean Johnson and Steve Farkas, Getting By: What American Teenagers Really Think About Their Schools (New York: Public Agenda, 1997).
4. Over the past few years many books have documented exemplary programs in character education. None of these school programs relied primarily on packaged character education programs, though some did use them. See Jacques S. Benninga, ed., Moral, Character, and Civic Education in the Elementary School (New York: Teachers College Press, 1991);Philip F. Vincent, Promising Practices in Character Education: Nine Success Stories from Around the Country (Chapel Hill, N.C.: Character Development Group, 1996);and Edward A. Wynne, A Year in the Life of an Excellent Elementary School (Lancaster, Pa.: Technomics, 1993).
5. Over the past few years many books have documented exemplary programs in character education. None of these school programs relied primarily on packaged character education programs, though some did use them. See Jacques S. Benninga, ed., Moral, Character, and Civic Education in the Elementary School (New York: Teachers College Press, 1991);Philip F. Vincent, Promising Practices in Character Education: Nine Success Stories from Around the Country (Chapel Hill, N.C.: Character Development Group, 1996);and Edward A. Wynne, A Year in the Life of an Excellent Elementary School (Lancaster, Pa.: Technomics, 1993).
6. Over the past few years many books have documented exemplary programs in character education. None of these school programs relied primarily on packaged character education programs, though some did use them. See Jacques S. Benninga, ed., Moral, Character, and Civic Education in the Elementary School (New York: Teachers College Press, 1991);Philip F. Vincent, Promising Practices in Character Education: Nine Success Stories from Around the Country (Chapel Hill, N.C.: Character Development Group, 1996);and Edward A. Wynne, A Year in the Life of an Excellent Elementary School (Lancaster, Pa.: Technomics, 1993).
7. "List of 100 For-Character Activities and Policies," in Edward A. Wynne and Kevin Ryan, Reclaiming Our Schools: A Handbook on Teaching Character, Academics, and Discipline (New York: Merrill, 1997), pp. 197-202.
8. See, for example, Stephen L. Carter, Integrity (New York: HarperCollins, 1996);William Damon, Greater Expectations: Overcoming the Culture of Indulgence in America's Homes and Schools (New York: Free Press, 1996);Jack Frymier et al., Values on Which We Agree (Bloomington, Ind.: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, 1995);Gertrude Himmelfarb, The Demoralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values (New York: Alfred A. Knopf., 1995);William Kilpatrick, Gregory Wolfe, and Suzanne M. Wolfe, Books That Build Character: A Guide to Teaching Your Child Moral Values Through Stories (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994);Alex Molnar, ed., The Construction of Children's Character: 96th NSSE Yearbook, Part II (Chicago: National Society for the Study of Education, University of Chicago Press, 1997);and Wynne and Ryan, op. cit.
9. See, for example, Stephen L. Carter, Integrity (New York: HarperCollins, 1996);William Damon, Greater Expectations: Overcoming the Culture of Indulgence in America's Homes and Schools (New York: Free Press, 1996);Jack Frymier et al., Values on Which We Agree (Bloomington, Ind.: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, 1995);Gertrude Himmelfarb, The Demoralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values (New York: Alfred A. Knopf., 1995);William Kilpatrick, Gregory Wolfe, and Suzanne M. Wolfe, Books That Build Character: A Guide to Teaching Your Child Moral Values Through Stories (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994);Alex Molnar, ed., The Construction of Children's Character: 96th NSSE Yearbook, Part II (Chicago: National Society for the Study of Education, University of Chicago Press, 1997);and Wynne and Ryan, op. cit.
10. See, for example, Stephen L. Carter, Integrity (New York: HarperCollins, 1996);William Damon, Greater Expectations: Overcoming the Culture of Indulgence in America's Homes and Schools (New York: Free Press, 1996);Jack Frymier et al., Values on Which We Agree (Bloomington, Ind.: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, 1995);Gertrude Himmelfarb, The Demoralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values (New York: Alfred A. Knopf., 1995);William Kilpatrick, Gregory Wolfe, and Suzanne M. Wolfe, Books That Build Character: A Guide to Teaching Your Child Moral Values Through Stories (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994);Alex Molnar, ed., The Construction of Children's Character: 96th NSSE Yearbook, Part II (Chicago: National Society for the Study of Education, University of Chicago Press, 1997);and Wynne and Ryan, op. cit.
11. See, for example, Stephen L. Carter, Integrity (New York: HarperCollins, 1996);William Damon, Greater Expectations: Overcoming the Culture of Indulgence in America's Homes and Schools (New York: Free Press, 1996);Jack Frymier et al., Values on Which We Agree (Bloomington, Ind.: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, 1995);Gertrude Himmelfarb, The Demoralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values (New York: Alfred A. Knopf., 1995);William Kilpatrick, Gregory Wolfe, and Suzanne M. Wolfe, Books That Build Character: A Guide to Teaching Your Child Moral Values Through Stories (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994);Alex Molnar, ed., The Construction of Children's Character: 96th NSSE Yearbook, Part II (Chicago: National Society for the Study of Education, University of Chicago Press, 1997);and Wynne and Ryan, op. cit.
12. See, for example, Stephen L. Carter, Integrity (New York: HarperCollins, 1996);William Damon, Greater Expectations: Overcoming the Culture of Indulgence in America's Homes and Schools (New York: Free Press, 1996);Jack Frymier et al., Values on Which We Agree (Bloomington, Ind.: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, 1995);Gertrude Himmelfarb, The Demoralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values (New York: Alfred A. Knopf., 1995);William Kilpatrick, Gregory Wolfe, and Suzanne M. Wolfe, Books That Build Character: A Guide to Teaching Your Child Moral Values Through Stories (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994);Alex Molnar, ed., The Construction of Children's Character: 96th NSSE Yearbook, Part II (Chicago: National Society for the Study of Education, University of Chicago Press, 1997);and Wynne and Ryan, op. cit.
13. See, for example, Stephen L. Carter, Integrity (New York: HarperCollins, 1996);William Damon, Greater Expectations: Overcoming the Culture of Indulgence in America's Homes and Schools (New York: Free Press, 1996);Jack Frymier et al., Values on Which We Agree (Bloomington, Ind.: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, 1995);Gertrude Himmelfarb, The Demoralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values (New York: Alfred A. Knopf., 1995);William Kilpatrick, Gregory Wolfe, and Suzanne M. Wolfe, Books That Build Character: A Guide to Teaching Your Child Moral Values Through Stories (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994);Alex Molnar, ed., The Construction of Children's Character: 96th NSSE Yearbook, Part II (Chicago: National Society for the Study of Education, University of Chicago Press, 1997);and Wynne and Ryan, op. cit.
14. See, for example, Stephen L. Carter, Integrity (New York: HarperCollins, 1996);William Damon, Greater Expectations: Overcoming the Culture of Indulgence in America's Homes and Schools (New York: Free Press, 1996);Jack Frymier et al., Values on Which We Agree (Bloomington, Ind.: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, 1995);Gertrude Himmelfarb, The Demoralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values (New York: Alfred A. Knopf., 1995);William Kilpatrick, Gregory Wolfe, and Suzanne M. Wolfe, Books That Build Character: A Guide to Teaching Your Child Moral Values Through Stories (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994);Alex Molnar, ed., The Construction of Children's Character: 96th NSSE Yearbook, Part II (Chicago: National Society for the Study of Education, University of Chicago Press, 1997);and Wynne and Ryan, op. cit.
15. William K. Frankena, Ethics (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1963), p. 53.
16. See, for example, Robert E. Slavin, "Reforming State and Federal Policies to Support Adoption of Proven Practices," Educational Researcher, December 1996, p. 4, in which Slavin comments that "year after year, the achievement of American children remains unchanged.... Yet, in what other area of American life would we be satisfied to say that things have simply become no worse over the past quarter century?" Slavin was writing about the academic achievement of youths; we have shown that the moral indicators have declined over this same time period.
17. Amy Gutmann, Democratic Education (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1987), p. 288.
18. Ibid.
19. James Q. Wilson and Richard J. Herrnstein, Crime and Human Nature (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985).
20. Jean Johnson and John Immerwahr, First Things First: What Americans Expect from the Public Schools (New York: Public Agenda, 1994).
21. Plato, The Republic, trans. H. D. P. Lee (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1955), pp. 90-91.
22. Horace Mann, as quoted in Lori Sandford Wiley, Comprehensive Character-Building Classroom (Manchester, N.H.: Character Development Foundation, 1997), p. 28.
23. Lawrence Cremin, American Education: The Colonial Years (New York: Harper Torchbook, 1970), p. 479.
24. Richard Brookhiser, "A Man on Horseback," Atlantic, January 1996, p. 61.
25. Sarah Broadie, Ethics with Aristotle (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), p. 109.
26. EdwardA. Wynne, "Character and Academics in the Elementary School," in Benninga, ed., p. 142.
27. Robert W. Howard, "Lawrence Kohlberg's Influence on Moral Education in Elementary Schools," in Benninga, ed., pp. 61-62.
28. John Willinsky, "The Underside of Empowerment," Educational Researcher, March 1995, pp. 31-32.
29. Emile Durkheim, Suicide: A Study in Sociology, trans. John A. Spaulding and George Simpson (Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press, 1951).
30. R. W. Marris, "Sociology of Suicide," in Seymour Perlin, ed., A Handbook for the Study of Suicide (New York: Oxford University Press, 1975), pp. 93-112.
31. James S. Leming, Character Education: Lessons from the Past, Models for the Future (Camden, Me.: Institute for Global Ethics, 1993), p. 16.
32. Edward A. Wynne, "Transmitting Character in Schools - Some Common Questions and Answers," The Clearing House, January/February 1995, pp. 151-53.
33. See Eleanor Maccoby, Social Development: Psychological Growth and the Parent/Child Relationship (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980), pp. 382-83;and Diane Baumrind, "The Development of Instrumental Competence Through Socialization," in Anne D. Pick, ed., Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology, vol. 7 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1973).
34. See Eleanor Maccoby, Social Development: Psychological Growth and the Parent/Child Relationship (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980), pp. 382-83;and Diane Baumrind, "The Development of Instrumental Competence Through Socialization," in Anne D. Pick, ed., Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology, vol. 7 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1973).
35. Judy Cameron and W. David Pierce, "The Debate About Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation: Protests and Accusations Do Not Alter the Results," Review of Educational Research, vol. 66, 1996, pp. 39-51.
36. Jacques S. Benninga et al., "Effects of Two Contrasting School Task and Incentive Structures on Children's Social Development." Elementary School Journal, vol. 92, 1991, pp. 149-67.