Challenges from the Middle: Inner City Middle Schools and the Need for Character Education

By Emeka Nzeocha

Behavior. Personality. Adolescence. Academic performance. These are some of the buzz phrases prevalent in middle school settings as educators wrestle with how to understand, manage, lead, and work with our middle school students and help shape them into responsible young adults. Character education (and many terms like it) is a concept that has been around for many years on every level of the educational process. In the middle school setting, there is an urgent need for character education, regardless of what form it takes. Sadly, some schools and/or the administration abandon this process in the vigorous pursuit of higher test scores. This book condenses my empirical research into character education with a focus on the inner city middle school setting. I examined how school stakeholders viewed this topic, what they know about it, why they support or disapprove of character education, and possible steps schools could take to implement their own initiatives successfully, both in the middle school setting and others as well.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781479712694

Emeka Nzeocha

Dr. Nzeocha has spent almost 17 years in a middle school setting. He spent 11 years as a middle school teacher in an inner city school system in Alabama. He was promoted as an assistant principal at a pre-kindergarten through eighth grade school with a population of about 805 students. He is currently a principal at a middle school in the same system. Dr. Nzeocha attended Stillman College, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for his undergraduate studies, and later received his PhD in Educational Leadership from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He is inspired by works of Dr. Thomas Lickona, and others who are championing character and performance education in public schools. He also enlisted in the Army National Guard and later attended Offi cers’ Candidate School at the Alabama Military Academy (AMA), Fort McClellan, where he received his Commission as a 2nd Lieutenant. He lives in Alabama, and is a proud parent of a 12 year old twin girl and boy currently in middle/junior high school. Dr. Nzeocha could be contacted via email at [e-mail].

Book preview

Challenges from the Middle

Inner City Middle Schools and the Need for Character Education

Emeka Nzeocha, PhD

Copyright © 2012 by Emeka Nzeocha, PhD.

ISBN:          Softcover                                 978-1-4797-1268-7

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Contents

DEDICATION

To the Reader

The Argument

CHAPTER 1      WHY CHARACTER EDUCATION?

CHAPTER 2      THE CHARACTER EDUCATION QUESTION

CHAPTER 3      VIEWPOINTS ON EARLY CHARACTER EDUCATION PRACTICES

CHAPTER 4      RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS OF CHARACTER EDUCTION IN AMERICA

CHAPTER 5      PATRIOTISM AS A CHARACTER EDUCATION TOOL

CHAPTER 6      CONFLICT RESOLUTION (CR) AND PEER MEDIATION (PM) STRATEGIES

CHAPTER 7      URBAN CAPITALS AND FACTORS IMPACTING STUDENTS’ CHARACTER

CHAPTER 8      MIDDLE SCHOOL CONCEPT AND CHARACTER EDUCATION

CHAPTER 9      THE MIDDLE SCHOOL CONCEPT AND ADOLESCENTS

CHAPTER 10      LEGISLATING STUDENT MORALITY: THE ALABAMA EXAMPLE

CHAPTER 11      PARADIGM SHIFT TOWARDS PEFORMANCE AND MORAL CHARACTER

The Reality

CHAPTER 12      WHAT IS CHARACTER EDUCATION?

CHAPTER 13      URGENT NEED FOR CHARACTER EDUCATION

CHAPTER 14      IMPACT OF HOME ENVIRONMENT ON CHARACTER EDUCATION

CHAPTER 15      HOW ROTTEN ARE MIDDLE SCHOOLS?

CHAPTER 16      EFFECTIVENESS UNCERTAINTIES OF CURRENT PRACTICES

CHAPTER 17      EXTREME EMPHASIS ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

CHAPTER 18      RELIANCE ON INFORMAL CHARACTER EDUCATION

CHAPTER 19      WHERE’S THE STAKEHOLDER SUPPORT FOR CHARACTER EDUCATION?

CHAPTER 20      DISJOINTED CHARACTER EDUCATION PRACTICES

The Insight

CHAPTER 21      UNDERSTANDING THE CONFUSION OVER THE TERMINOLOGY

CHAPTER 22      DESPERATELY SEEKING HELP!

CHAPTER 23      YES, IT COULD WORK, IF…

CHAPTER 24      IT STILL TAKES A VILLAGE…

CHAPTER 25      THE BOTTOM LINE

CHAPTER 26      CHARACTER AWARNESS PROGRAM (CAP) & CHARACTER READINESS, ENHANCEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT (CRED) MODELS

CHAPTER 27      TAKING A STAND

References

DEDICATION

To our middle school students, in whom we should be well-pleased

To my entire family: Thanks for your love and assisting in any way that you could. To my amazing twins, my BISS and HISS—may your characters be exemplary.

To my colleagues, staff, and many others, thank you for all your assistance, encouragement, and teamwork.

To the Reader

When I began my first teaching assignment as a middle school teacher, I just wanted a job in education. The grade level assignment did not matter to me. With my teaching certificate in hand, any grade, school, or system would have been just as rosy. As I waited for my eighth graders to enter the classroom my first day as a full time middle school teacher, I could not help but feel the weight of the responsibility entrusted to me. My expectations could be best described as anxious. The middle school setting and the issues surrounding it led me to begin a study of the students, their behavior, and how imperative it is that inner city middle school students succeed academically and personally.

I refined this book to be an abridged version of my dissertation in other to share my research findings with all educational stakeholders. All of us are stakeholders in education, regardless of where we reside, and what we call our professions. I recently took my ten year old son to see the 20th Century Fox movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It dealt with a young boy’s obsession with surviving middle school and gaining popularity. My son, who is headed to middle school in August of 2010, enjoyed the movie. However, I also knew that he was scared of social interactions in middle school and hoping the movie will be relaxing to him. Again, I ask: What is it about middle school that makes it so unique?

No parent enjoys watching his or her child exhibit discomfort at the mention of going to middle school, but for reasons enumerated in this and other books, some middle schools are exactly what my son dreads—filled with many uncontrollable and confused children, dissatisfied teachers, parents at their wits end, and burdened with low test scores, and the pressure to show academic improvement.

The middle school arena posses various challenges for students, parents, and school administrators. It is already established that we all share in the success of any child, regardless of the location of the school. Therefore, ensuring that the middle school years positively impact the child should be an important topic in our curriculum and planning discussions.

In part, I am a product of the educational environment where I have spent many years working as an educator. I approached this book from a Constructivist worldview/paradigm searching for meanings and understanding of that environment (Creswell, 2007). During this study, my participants included students, other educators and administrators, and various stakeholders. Many of these individuals share the same notion that I do, which is that if stakeholders can get students to abide by school rules and treat each other with respect, and equip themselves with proven personal skills necessary for success, then our students, communities, and nation could be an even better place. Therefore, I set out to find out how these stakeholders feel about character education, particularly in the middle school setting where I began my educational career.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 that mandates strict academic standards also requires the safety and character component necessary to educate the total child. We all agree that our adolescents, particularly those at risk of failure, need positive character guidelines to be successful in what is already a global community. The parent, job seeker, or student in China, Brazil, or Nigeria today is just as affected by socio-economic and political impact of events that transpire in the United States and vice-versa. Simply acquiring a good education, as stipulated by academic testing standards may no longer be enough to ensure economic and political opportunities. The findings in this study should impact stakeholders who expect today’s schools to demonstrate similar care, awareness, and commitment to teaching the total child. The era of the school teachers as moral enforcers and masters of their classroom universe appear to be no longer applicable in some of today’s school environment. We need to inculcate an approach towards character education that presents a balance on academic performance and moral behavior expectations.

Actual names of the real participants and locations were replaced with pseudonyms to ensure their privacy. My intention is to provide findings of my study in a simpler form for educators and all stakeholders to use in structuring their character education programs, or to simply begin the conversation on how best to approach similar situations in their schools.

The Argument

CHAPTER 1

WHY CHARACTER EDUCATION?

To educate a man, but teach him no morals makes him a menace to society."

Teddy Roosevelt

Tragic events in schools all over the country like the 1997 school shooting at Paducah, Kentucky, and the 1999 school massacre at Columbine High School have left stakeholders wondering, Could this happen at my school? Are we prepared? What are the warning signs that students may harm themselves or others (Maxwell, 2007). According to a 2007 newspaper report, a middle school student brought a loaded revolver to school in Alabama. After the shock faded, many wondered what schools were doing, and what they ought to do to prevent such tragic events from occurring in their schools. Perhaps lost in the pandemonium of the potential danger the middle school student in Alabama could have wrought with the gun was the possible accolades due towards the other student who displayed good character and alerted school administrators to the deadly weapon on the school’s campus. In this case, good character represents a behavior that is laudable and courageous. Thus, that good (the action of informing school authorities) and appalling display (bringing the gun school to cause harm) and many such incidents in our school campuses today fuel the debate over character education.

Character education proponents extol the positive foundations that it could bring to students’ growth. Such positive behaviors include the 25 traits outlined by Alabama’s Legislature: courage, patriotism, citizenship; honesty, fairness, respect for others, kindness, cooperation, self-respect, self-control, courtesy, compassion, tolerance, diligence, generosity, punctuality, cleanliness, cheerfulness, school pride, respect for the environment, patience, creativity, sportsmanship, loyalty, and perseverance (Alabama State Department of Education, 2008; Williams, 2000).

In addition, Shapiro (1999), in a study of morals among middle school students sees character education terms as helping young people become acquainted with virtues such as generosity, courage, honesty, and determination, and views the study of this pedagogy as a valuable compliment to character education efforts (p. 8).

Nevertheless, some have argued that, character education’s single minded focus on virtues and moral exemplars is apt to leave young people wondering what one actually does to be honest or courageous or generous or determined (Shapiro, 1999). Furthermore, Shapiro (1999) asked that when faced with moral choice, how does one actually resolve what constitutes a virtuous action? Damon (2005) added that every school, for better or worse, makes a choice regarding incorporating character education in their schools. The outcomes of the school’s choice or lack thereof may shed light into their character education initiatives. As Lickona (2004) wrote:

"Why is character important? Look around. Good character is the key to self-respect, to earning the respect of others, to positive relationships, to a sense of fulfillment, to achievements you can be proud of, to a happy marriage, to success in every area of life. But don’t take my word for it. Interview people who have lived most of their lives. Ask them: When they look back, what are they proud of? What gives them fulfillment? What would they do differently if they could live their lives over? (p. 2).

Using Lickona’s (2002) argument, character education proponents associate good character with behavior that benefits the individual and those around him/her in ways that are virtuous. The basic argument in that belief is summed up in the notion that when people live and conduct themselves according to a set of norms established by society, those individuals are exhibiting good character traits that lead to a happy life.

The statistics today examining students’ behavior are replete with findings that show they are engaged in all kinds of disruptive and violent activities in school. Fights are rampant, bullying (at school, online, or in the community), stabbings, and about 1.3 million criminal acts against teachers were recorded between 1997-2001 (School Violence Resource Center, 2003; Collins, 2003). U.S Department of Education, Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools (2006) reported 2002-03 school data which showed that in Alabama, 53 students were expelled for bringing a gun to school. Ninety-one percent of Alabama school districts also reported at least a student possessing a weapon at school during that year.

Therefore, to fight those situations, school leaders, and indeed many stakeholders have turned to some form of character, moral, or cultural education as a tool against escalating school violence and other disruptive behavior (Collins, 2003). Increasingly, zero tolerance policies have been used to send serious messages against perceived or actual school violence. Programs that emphasize conflict resolution strategies, anger management, self/violence awareness issues; multicultural understanding, and civic pride are advocated and used in almost all states in the country to affect student behavior (Collins, 2003).

CHAPTER 2

THE CHARACTER EDUCATION QUESTION

Such classroom issues such as discipline and motivation can be aided and normally resolved by practical, moment-by-moment strategies, but schools have even more success if character education is in the foreground of activity in the ultimate classroom

—Michael Gurian

Students present behavior challenges daily, but does that mean investing scarce resources in character education? As we can now agree, character education is a concept that many parents, school administrators, teachers, and students have recognized as a tool to help students function in our society. Damon (2005) tried to answer that question by saying that every school for better or worse makes a choice regarding incorporating character education in their schools, because violence in schools and other disruptive problems are at the top of major concerns when it comes to educating students.

Los Angeles riots, 1992. Rodney King, the man who was at the center of the controversy, made a passionate speech that reverberated around the country. In an attempt to calm things down, he asked, Why can’t we all just get along? Indeed, why can’t our students get along with their peers, teachers, or administrators? You walk in to most schools and spend some time there, and you would notice that for many of our young students, perceptions exist that getting along with each other seems to be about drawing the strongest boundaries of intolerance, holding grudges, materialism, disrespecting teachers and school administrators, and lack of consideration for consequences (Ellenwood, 2007).

As Kirkpatrick (1992) pointed out, In addition to the fact that Johnny still can’t read, we are now faced with more serious problem that he can’t tell right from wrong.

According to the Character Education Partnership (2008) character education falls under many principles. Thus, their view is that:

Character education is a national movement encouraging schools to create environments that foster ethical, responsible, and caring young people. It is the intentional, proactive effort by schools, districts, and states to instill in their students important core, ethical values that we all share such as caring, honesty, fairness, responsibility, and respect for self and others.

The technical issue facing character education may not be how and whether schools should be involved in character education. Rather, the fight could be over the perception of its implementation and the acceptance of previous programs and improvement.

Character education, moral teachings, and civic education aimed at instructing citizens of the State to do what is perceived as noble deeds have been in existence for hundreds of years. Ancient philosophers such as Confucius, Plato, and Aristotle wrote about man’s intrinsic worth, and Jesus used all his teachings and skills to endear humanity to God (Algera & Sink,