As stated by Cicero, character education has been valued throughout history, and
its necessity to the survival of society is well regarded. The US Department of
Education defines character education as follows:
“Character education teaches the habits of thought and deed that help people
live and work together as families, friends, neighbors, communities and
nations.”
~
Character Education…Our Shared Responsibility
It cites important values such as “respect, justice, civic virtue and
citizenship, and responsibility for self and others” and that the formation of
these values and attitudes are fundamental to the welfare of society. In its
handbook Helping your child become a responsible citizen, included in these
values is compassion, honesty and fairness, respect for self and others,
courage, and patriotism. The US Government lists the use of literature as one of
the key ways for parents and teachers to guide children in their character
development. [Click to see their guide]
Building upon historical philosophers that date back to Aristotle and Plato,
William Frankena provides this list of intrinsic goods:
“One of the most comprehensive lists of intrinsic goods that anyone has
suggested is that given by William Frankena [1908-1994]. It is this: life,
consciousness, and activity; health and strength; pleasures and satisfactions of
all or certain kinds; happiness, beatitude, contentment, etc.; truth; knowledge
and true opinions of various kinds, understanding, wisdom; beauty, harmony,
proportion in objects contemplated; aesthetic experience; morally good
dispositions or virtues; mutual affection, love, friendship, cooperation; just
distribution of goods and evils; harmony and proportion in one's own life; power
and experiences of achievement; self-expression; freedom; peace, security;
adventure and novelty; and good reputation, honor, esteem, etc.” (Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2007) retrieved from
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/value-intrinsic-extrinsic/
President Obama’s initiative to improve education,
Race for the Top, has created
competition between states to develop strategies in four key areas with the
first being that of adopting benchmarked best practices that prepare students
for college and work, and the last that of turning around the poorest-performing
schools. Certainly the integration of character-building literature into the
home and classroom is important to student preparation for success in life.
In fact, the finalists selected in this
competition exhibited the same character traits as found
in our criteria!
It is Litland.com’s intention to provide a book review process that supports
education of the whole child towards becoming a contributor to society, as well
as reflects the nature of the content of children’s literature today.
Litland.com’s criteria to review children’s literature is a synthesis of the
above and looks for the following behaviours of a story’s main characters or the
premise of its storyline:
Respect for, and responsibility to, self and others: integrity (adherence to a
code of conduct or value system) honesty, compassion, caring for others; not
letting others denigrate you; use of self control and self-discipline; taking
charge of own behaviour; fairness to others (such as taking turns and avoiding
the blame game). true friendships that do not involve regular lying, deceit or
manipulation; considering consequences of actions prior to acting; owning up to
responsibility once an action has been taken; peer-to-peer relationships.
Portrayal of authority figures: positive portrayal of parents, teachers, police
officers and other “good” authority figures common in a child’s life is a
positive influence upon the child’s own moral development. Minimization of
parental involvement in the character’s activities or the portrayal of authority
figures as inferior present poor role models. ; actively-parenting mother and
father figures;
Citizenship and patriotism: loyalty to family, team or group, school, community
and the world; caring for and being considerate as a member of these groups.
Justice and balance: a just distribution between good and evil (with good
outweighing evil in the presence of the storyline); demonstration of right and
wrong; purposefully making decisions to enact the above values rather than
simply choosing from two bad possibilities;
Aesthetic aspects of the experience: the storyline’s portrayal of beauty,
health, and love enhances virtuous behaviour of its characters. In contrast,
stories incorporating hedonistic behaviours (sexuality, selfishness,
obsessiveness, materialism), profanity, gore and violence can (with repetition)
desensitize readers to the beauty of the human existence. Also considered is the
treatment of nature and the environment as being respected rather than
exploited.
Other: aspects to consider in this book that may be of interest to readers,
parents and teachers.
As such, Litland.com will highlight only those books that it finds demonstrates
some or many of these qualities, cutting through the thousands of titles
available so you don’t have too; finding the gems that are worth reading!
