Character education is not necessarily a class or a curriculum. It's a process of consciously adopting good traits and incorporating them into everyday decisions. It becomes a lifestyle.
That was a key point at a workshop on philosophical approaches to education and the integration of character education into school curricula.
"It's all about helping them to know themselves, because once you know yourself, then you can model that and teach that in the classroom," said Camille Nairn, education associate for character education and community collaboration for the South Carolina Department of Education.
"Really, character education is not about curriculum," Nairn added. "It's about integrating it into every subject area, into the classroom, into the cafeteria, on the bus and in the halls."
More than two dozen educators from Orangeburg and neighboring counties attended the five-day teachers academy last week at South Carolina State University.
One of the instructors was John Wright, art education coordinator at Benedict College in Columbia and an adjunct teacher of art at SCSU.
"I tried to give them an impression of how character education fits with their own personal integrity as a teacher," Wright explained. Teachers who "understand and apply" good character traits "increase the likelihood of students actually" adopting good behavior too.
Other presenters included Clifton Taulbet, author of "Eight Habits of the Heart"; Dr. Bernice Lerner, director of professional development at the Center for the Advancement of Character and Ethics; Dr. Cathleen Stutz of Assumption College; Dr. Amy Baltzell of Boston University; Dr. Linda McIntyre of the SCSU School of Education; and Frank Martin, curator of exhibitions and collections of the I.P. Stanback Museum at SCSU.
"We've had a lot of discussion about character -- what constitutes good character and the need for character. We've done a lot of analyzing," said Bob Crowley, the only male participant.
"It has been really engaging and intellectually stimulating," Crowley added. "I came to get some ideas on how we can better our school (Summerville High) and our community."
Summerville High has taken some "superficial" steps toward implementing character education, "like putting up signs, but we haven't really engaged the students yet to integrate character into their own habits," Crowley said. But "that's where we're headed."
After five full days of lectures and discussions, participants are sent home to read a stack of books -- from O'Connor to Joyce, from Aristotle to Aesop, with several contemporary works too -- and write a paper before returning for a final day later in the summer.
Crowley said he will write his paper on "how we will implement character education in our school."
The workshop sounds challenging. "We mean for it to be," Nairn replied. "We mean for it to be the highest standards possible." The reward for successful completion is three hours of graduate credit from SCSU.
Janie Cooper, an Orangeburg County Council member and a retired educator, said she was glad she accepted an invitation to participate.
"I have learned so much from these sessions. It is pretty intensive, but I've enjoyed it so much I could do it for another five days," she said.
"Having good character and being a good person makes me feel great," Cooper added, "and as an elected official, I need to have good character and be a good person to make me feel great among the people I represent. As a leader, I'm a model. As a model, I can lead a young person to become a great citizen."
Among the participants was Erica Bradley, teacher of the year in Orangeburg Consolidated School District 3.
"It was wonderful. I can't wait to implement some of the techniques," Bradley said. "One of the most valuable things I've taken in was when they said we don't teach character education; we model it every day. I took that to heart."
T&D Staff Writer Lee Hendren can be reached by e-mail at lhendren@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5552.