13 April 2011

I am excited. Our thoughts seem to be converging. Some of the core issues that are causing each of such concern may be nearly identical, though we are preoccupied with different ramifications and implications.

What are the core issues? A lack of critical thinking, creativity, and independent thought in our schools. A lack of agency. A lack of engagement.

And what are the implications? You speak of lack of success in school, lack of options, lack of purpose, and increasing disconnect between so many students and their schools. I used to speak of a lack of respect throughout the school environment, but now I want to be more accurate (I believe). What I mean is a profound lack of character development. And this lack of development in turn leads to social dysfunction, greater violence, and greater intolerance. All of these implications are simultatneous.

In my research, I looked into the Ontario Ministry of Education's character development initiative. I was astounded to see, articulated as official government policy, that " it must be recognized that a quality education Includes the education of the heart as well as the mind." From this basis, a position has been developed, and "respect," "caring," "safety," and "inclusion" are identified as common core values to be explicitly developed and nurtured across the province in the English, French, and Catholic public school systems. Thus Ontario has embarked on an effort to explicitly shape the character of the province's youth.

All this is secondary to what I want to say next. In the document published by the government summarizing this initiative, they devoted a page to what character development is, and what it is not. Look at the list of what it is not:

- it is not about compliance
- it is not about behavior based on fear of punishment
- it is not about behaviors motivated by extrinsic rewards and recognition
- it does not seek to indoctrinate
- it cannot be done to students
- it is not found in a textbook, binder, or manual
- it is not about a government imposing a set of moral standards

Does that list not damn the very basics of our school wide discipline systems? And, even more poignantly, does it not destroy the fundamental principles of our special education behavior modification plans??

I entered this process focused on respect. I am now fascinated by character development inn general. And I am realizing two things. The first is that one's character seems to be as important (if not more?!) than content knowledge or specific academic skills in one's success as a student in school. The second is that this character development seems predicated on the development of the critical thinking, imagination, and creative thought. And that it requires the intrinsic engagement of students. The very same things that you are speaking to!

What are we teaching our students? And how? We had better revisit our priorities for our youth, as a society, and then honestly re-evaluated our pedagogy. We seem to be straying, and the implications are becoming more and more profound.