Should teachers be involved in the character development of students or does this infringe on the rights of parents? Islah Dillard-Mostafa Grand Canyon University: EDU-310 October 23, 2011 Teachers are obligated to teach character education in the classroom. For students to become successful adults with the right morals; character education is needed in all school curriculums. It is not the right of the teacher it is their obligation. This should always be included in a teacher’s job description. Some kind of character education should be integrated into every child’s education.

In some cases, students might absorb desirable morals more subtly. For example high school English teachers encourage their students to have compassion with the characters in novels, characters that are typically different from the students themselves. It also teaches young boys how important it is to respect girls. A teacher being involved in teaching positive character traits to their students does not infringe on the right of these students parents. Character education should be first taught in the home, teachers should only be reinforcing what the parents are doing at home. It is sad that this is always not the case.

Although it should begin in the home and reinforced in school there are other influences as well. Churches and Religious Institutions have a major influence on character development that is taught today. These places teach ethics, and principles to live by. This impacts those students who families are members of these kinds of organizations. Education programs should make it their main concern to instill these values and principles in their students. Even if character education is not in the school’s curriculum there are several ways and many opportunities throughout the school day for teachers to teach it.

Even our government teaches character education, they directly participate in character education when they motivate our students to register to vote; they participate in character education indirectly when they encourage reasoned, informed thinking about contentious policy issues. It is important for teachers to escape any blind topics about pro-choice or biblical issues; we do not want to pass our beliefs on to our students. Our job is to help develop positive character traits into our students not our personal beliefs.

Although it is important not to pass on our personal beliefs; do not become discouraged from developing and nurturing students into unselfish, productive, moral citizens as you work with them in your classroom. Remember the principles and lessons that we teach our students will give them the tools to become successful in life. These are lessons that students will always remember when put into certain situations. As a future teachers I will instill lessons such as hard work pays off, dedication and commitment will ultimately determine how successful they will become and Instead of moaning and complaining about it do something to change it.

Character education is life lessons and the most important teaching your students will ever learn. References Berkowitz, M. , & Bier, C. (2007). What works in character education. Journal of Research in Character Education, 5(1), 29+. Skaggs, G. , & Bodenhorn, N. (2006). Relationships between implementing character education, student behavior, and student achievement. Journal of Advanced Academics, 18(1), 82+. Tully, S. (2009). Helping students find a sense of purpose. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 55(27).