Character Education

In the mid-1990s, State’s Attorney James W. Glasgow developed C.E.A.S.E.-F.I.R.E., an acronym for Character Education Activates Self Esteem — Fosters Individuals Respecting Each Other. The C.E.A.S.E. F.I.R.E. initiative was embraced by an independent group of concerned Will County public servants and citizens composed of law enforcement and school officials who believed that character education represents a significant weapon in the fight to recapture the spirit of today’s youth, and actively assist in the long-term war against violence, gangs, and drugs. The group believed that character education is a critically acclaimed method of infusing a child’s learning environment with a positive sense of achievement, to develop positive character traits within the child. It is a planned, comprehensive, and systematic approach to teaching self-respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, and citizenship.

As an educational program/curriculum, it encompasses a set of 12 universal values: honesty, truthfulness, generosity, kindness, helpfulness, justice, tolerance, honor, courage, convictions, equality, and freedom. The C.E.A.S.E. F.I.R.E. supported curriculum was implemented in over 40 Will County elementary and secondary schools. Mr. Glasgow’s character education initiative was later revitalized under the umbrella of CHARACTER COUNTS! from the Josephson Institute of Ethics. The State’s Attorney’s office has been given permission to promote CHARACTER COUNTS! as a comprehensive character education effort aimed at students, teachers, administrators, parents, business owners, local government, law enforcement, faith-based organizations, and community organizations. It is our vision that the Six Pillars of Character–Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship–will be adopted throughout Will County.

State’s Attorney Glasgow meets with former County Executive Larry Walsh and others to discuss Character Education

Trustworthiness

Definition – worthy of confidence; reliable

Be honest
Don’t deceive, cheat or steal from others
Be reliable
Have the courage to do the right thing
Build a good reputation
Be loyal-stand by your family and friends

Respect

Definition – to have deferential regard for, to treat with consideration; a just regard for and appreciation of worth, honor, and esteem

Treat others with respect
Be tolerant of differences
Use good manners
Be considerate of the feelings of others
Don’t threaten, hit or hurt anyone
Deal peacefully with anger, insults and disagreements

Responsibility

Definition – the state of being accountable, ability to meet obligations or to act without superior authority

Do what you are suppose to do
Persevere: keep on trying
Always do your best
Use self-control; be self-disciplined
Think before you act-consider the consequences
Be accountable for your choices

Fairness

Definition –showing no prejudice or favoritism

Play by the rules
Take turns and share
Be open-minded; listen to others
Don’t take advantage of others
Don’t blame others carelessly

Caring

Definition – to have or show regard, interest, of concern as respecting some person, thing, or event

Be kind
Be compassionate and show you care
Express gratitude
Forgive others
Help people in need

Citizenship

Definition – the status of being a citizen with its rights and duties

Do your share to make your school and community better
Cooperate
Stay informed; vote
Be a good neighbor
Obey laws and rules
Respect authority
Protect the environment

Some topics for discussion are included in the following study of 25,000 high school students conducted by the Josephson Institute of Ethics: According to a just-released study by the Josephson Institute of Ethics based on a national survey of 24,763 high school students, nearly two-thirds (62%) cheated on exams and more than one in four (27%) stole from a store within the past 12 months. Additionally, 40% admit they “sometimes lie to save money.”

Despite these admissions, the majority of students reported high self-appraisals of their character (74% rated their own ethics higher than those of their peers [Q5]) and stated their convictions that honesty, ethics, and good character are very important (almost all, 98%, said it is important for them to be a person of good character [Q1]). What’s more, most have unrealistically high self-images when it comes to ethics. Asked, “if people you know were asked to list the most ethical people they know, how many would put you on their lists?” 83% said at least half the people they know would list them [Q61]. Additionally, 92% said they were satisfied with their ethics and character [Q25].

The inconsistency seems to be explained by high levels of cynicism about the ethics of successful people and the prevalence of cheating in the “real world” creating a justification for dishonest conduct. Cynicism is especially strong in young males. Two-thirds indicated a belief that “in the real world, successful people do what they have to do to win, even if others consider it cheating” – and more than half (52%) of the females agreed with this cynical assessment [Q8]. In addition, half (51%) of the males agreed with: “A person has to lie or cheat sometimes in order to succeed.” About one-third (32%) of the female students expressed a similar view [Q9].

When asked to prioritize their values, most high schoolers expressed commitment to positive views. Thus, 91% said it is very important to have trusting personal relationships [Q34], 88% said it is very important to treat others with respect [Q35], and 84% said it is very important to have good moral character [Q28].

Analyzing the survey results, Michael Josephson, prominent radio commentator and president of the Josephson Institute of Ethics, said, “Though the Report Card on the Integrity of American Youth continues to contain failing grades, there is a reason for hope. For the first time in 12 years, the cheating and theft rates have actually dipped downward and the stated devotion to ethics is the strongest we’ve seen. While this results in a troubling inconsistency between words and actions, character education efforts should be able to build on the fundamental appreciation of ethics, character, and trust to achieve continuous improvements in conduct. Still, it can’t be comforting to know that the majority of the next generation of police officers, politicians, accountants, lawyers, doctors, nuclear inspectors, and journalists are entering the workforce as unrepentant cheaters.”

The Joseph & Edna Josephson Institute of Ethics is a nonprofit corporation based in Los Angeles. This report, released during National CHARACTER COUNTS! Week is based on the largest sample ever used by the Josephson Institute, whose studies on the ethics of American youth are often cited as the benchmark of youth attitudes and behavior. Students in 85 schools throughout the nation were surveyed (45% public schools, 40% of private religious schools and 15% private nonreligious schools). The survey was answered by an equal number of males and females.

More detailed results:

ATTITUDES ABOUT ETHICS, CHARACTER AND TRUST

Young people are almost unanimous in saying that ethics and character are important on both a personal level and in business, but they express very cynical attitudes about whether a person can be ethical and succeed.

IMPORTANCE OF CHARACTER AND TRUST

Virtually all high school students (98%) agreed with the statement: “It’s important for me to be a person with good character” [Q1])

98% believe that “honesty and trust are essential in personal relationships” [Q6].
97% said, “It’s important to me that people trust me.” [Q13].
84% said, “It’s not worth it to lie or cheat because it hurts your character.” [Q14].

ETHICS IN THE WORKPLACE

Though their cynical attitudes about real-world ethics have undoubtedly been influenced by highly publicized business scandals in the past few years, young people still believe ethics is important in the workplace. 94% said that “in business and the workplace, trust and honesty are essential” [Q7].

GOODNESS MORE IMPORTANT THAN WEALTH

Ninety percent (90%) agree that “being a good person is more important than being rich” (though twice as many males disagree with this statement as females (15% v. 5%) [Q4].

ROLE MODELS

Despite a growing concern that young people lack positive role models, 84% say that “most adults in my life consistently set a good example of ethics and character” [Q2]. Though one justification for the rampant cheating is the pressure put on youngsters by parents, the overwhelming majority (91%) say that their parents or guardians “always want me to do the right thing, no matter the cost” [Q3]. Only 6% say that their parents “would rather they cheat than get bad grades” [Q12].

PLAYING BY THE RULES

The vast majority rejected cynical statements about the propriety of cheating to win.

Only 13% agreed that “it’s not cheating if everyone is doing it” [Q21].
Only 8% agreed that “in sports if you are not cheating, you’re not trying hard enough” [Q22].
Only 8% disagreed with the statement: “People should play by the rules even if they lose” [Q24].

SELF-APPRAISAL

Despite admissions of high levels of lying, cheating, and theft, high school students maintain a high self-image of their character and ethics both in relative and absolute terms.

92% say they are “satisfied with my own ethics and character” [Q25].
83% expected that half or more of all the people who knew them would list them as one of the most ethical people they know [Q61].
74% say, “When it comes to doing what is right, I am better than most people I know” [Q5].

WHAT MOTIVATES YOUNG PEOPLE?

When asked to express their values and priorities and rate the importance of various factors including wealth, looks, and popularity, the vast majority of adolescents rated virtuous qualities and behavior more highly than materialistic and pragmatic ones. Thus,

91% said it is very important to have trusting personal relationships [Q34].
87% said it is very important to treat others with respect [Q35].
84% said it is very important to have good moral character [Q28].
73% said it is very important to “help others” [Q33].
70% said it is very important to be thought of as ethical and honorable [Q31].
63% said that religion is very important to their lives [Q32], but less, 55%, said it was very important that they live up to the standards of their religion [Q39].
54% said it is very important to be charitable [Q30].
Though it is not clear that their conduct is consistent with their stated priorities, with the exception of getting into college (87% listed this as very important, [Q37]), only a minority of high school students said that non-character attributes were very important.
42% said it is very important to be physically attractive [Q26].
28% said it is very important to be wealthy [Q29].
19% said it is very important to be popular [Q27].
16% said it is very important to be famous [Q38].

CYNICISM

Despite consistently expressing positive and ideals-based attitudes about the importance of ethics and character and the role their parents and teachers play in encouraging them to do the right thing, a very high proportion of young people reveal corrosive cynical attitudes about what works and doesn’t in the real world.

59% agreed that “in the real world, successful people do what they have to do to win, even if others consider it cheating” (66% males, 52% females) [Q8].
42% believe that “a person has to lie or cheat sometimes in order to succeed” (52% males, 32% females) [Q9].
More than one in five (22%) believe that “people who are willing to lie, cheat or break the rules are more likely to succeed than people who do not” [Q11].

CONDUCT

Widespread and deep youth cynicism often reflects itself in a rationalization process that nullifies ethical judgment and condones conduct that is contrary to stated moral convictions. Thus, the same youngsters who speak of the importance of ethics, character, and trust frequently lie, cheat and even steal without much guilt or hesitation.

The good news is that while students continue to lie, cheat and steal at alarmingly high rates, it appears that the tide has been stemmed and for the first time in 12 years of surveying, the amount of dishonesty in each category actually went down. We have no solid explanation for this improvement, though we know that the spread of character education programs and a new level of attentiveness to values and integrity after 9/11 and in response to massive corporate frauds at Enron, WorldCom, Arthur Andersen, and other firms may well have had an effect.

There is also the possibility that, given all the publicity on cheating, students may not be willing to be as honest on surveys as before. In fact, we know the admitted cheating rate understates actual behavior as 29% admitted they lied on one or two questions on the survey (12% said they lied on three or more) [Q82].

In any event, the amount of confessed dishonesty demonstrates that schools have a very long way to go to better instill attitudes and habits of integrity.

82% admit they lied to parent within the past 12 months about something significant – and 57% said they lied two or more times [Q41]. In 2002, 93% said they lied to parents.
62% admit they lied to a teacher within the past 12 months about something significant – and 35% said they lied two or more times [Q42]. In 2002, 83% said they lied to teachers.
35% copied an Internet document within the past 12 months – and 18% did so two or more times. [Q43]. This question was not asked in 2002.
62% cheated during a test at school within the past 12 months – and 38% did so two or more times. [Q44]. This is a major decrease from the 74% who admitted cheating on an exam in 2002.
83% copied another’s homework within the past 12 months – and 64% did so two or more times [Q45]. This question was not asked in 2002.
22% stole something from a parent or other relative within the past 12 months—and 11% did so two or more times [Q46]. In 2002, 28% admitted stealing from a parent or other relative.
18% stole something from a friend within the past 12 months – and 7% did so two or more times [Q47]. In 2002, 22% admitted to stealing from a friend.
27% stole something from a store within the past 12 months – and 13% did so two or more times [Q48]. This is a huge drop from 2002 when 38% admitted stealing from a store.
23% cheated or bent the rules to win in sports within the past 12 months – and 12% did so two or more times [Q58]. This question was not asked in 2002.