You’ve heard “The Sound of Music’s” Maria sing about her favorite things, haven’t you? I have many favorite things, but I have a few puzzling things also.
It puzzles me that some educators don’t seem to see the huge benefits of top notch character education – benefits for everyone concerned. They don’t seem to recognize the […]
It’s been a while since I counted up the qualities on our list of character traits, but I had occasion to do so today, and discovered that we now list 66 traits. Imagine it. Sixty-six!
When I first began studying and teaching character, the list was not that long. With time, however, and with accumulated hours […]
The other day, I was talking with a dear friend about problems encountered when placing an elderly parent in a rest home. As we spoke, I suddenly remembered a man of whom I have not thought for some time.
Mr. Williamson (not his real name) was himself a senior citizen when I met him. He was […]
What if universities had no names? What if those universities did not give out degrees showing our “rank” compared to that of others? What if there were no transcripts to show our grade point averages compared to others’ grade point averages? What if we had to rely entirely on individual performance as we went through […]
I just completed a long project for one of our two children. It is a birthday gift for our daughter’s upcoming birthday, and it filled many hours with a mixture of labor and loving memories. With my husband’s assistance, we scanned every photo we have of our daughter since her birth 36 years ago. We […]
I was surfing the Internet just now, looking for some good news to share as we begin a new year. There are several sites that specialize in this type of news – at least, they specialize in what they choose to call good news. Today was different, though. Today, it seemed as though the good […]
I just turned on the television to hear the news. Our TV was set to a game show channel, and a commercial for a “special” new program greeted me. This “special” program, to premiere in the new year, gathers an assortment of people who would “do anything to win” in the game of their choice […]
December 26 – Boxing Day in some countries. In most countries, it’s time to reflect on the old year, and to think about things we want to change in 2006. It’s time to resolve that we will change in 2006.
What will we change? Ten of the most common resolutions are: to spend more time with […]
Imagine Santa Claus, if he were real, telling a child, “Character doesn’t matter.” There’s something wrong with that picture, isn’t there? After all, many people use Santa Claus to motivate their children to goodness. Santa Claus is “making a list and checking it twice” says the song, to see who’s naughty and nice. Another song […]
During this season of holidays, I’d like to suggest a character experiment. How many children can you catch showing respect to older people?
Previous generations talked frequently about respect for elders, but our modern society, hating to impose any kind of boundaries on young people, does little talking or teaching along these lines. Perhaps it is […]