Teachers: Students’ Moral Compasses Are Spinning.

All the standardized testing will never measure character and citizenship.

I was interviewed by a panel of esteemed teachers and administrators in 1998 since I was nominated to be the San Diego County’s Teacher of the Year. “What did I teach,” the asked. My answer: “Invisible things.” Naturally, they were perplexed. So they asked for specifics. I replied, “Compassion, tolerance, honesty, envy, jealously, loyalty…you know, the stuff we are supposed to teach.” The wisdom of Atticus Finch seemed to fit the occasion. He told his daughter, “Scout, in order to understand a person, you have to step into a man’s shoes and walk around in them.” That’s what I taught; five shows a day, five days a week, 32 of the most passionate years of my teaching life.

So it with high regard that I express kudos to writer Paul Barnwell, the author of The Atlantic’s recent article regarding the failure of schools to teach character; he made it abundantly clear that: “The pressures of national academic standards have pushed character education out of the classroom.” (7/25/2019)

How bad has it gotten? Barnwell gives many examples, but one quantifies the situation, “…according to a 2015 Council of the Great City Schools study, eighth-graders spend an average of 25.3 hours a year taking…