Character Compass
One of the most important goals for education is to develop not only the mind of a student but also their character. Their character, or better to say “character compass” is one of the main factors that determine their lifestyle. Different programs of education have different approaches to this issue.
There is three types of character compasses: moral, performance and civic (Pupik, 2012). Moral compass emphasizes the development of student’s feel for what is wrong and what is right, his ability to solve moral problems. Performance type is focused on getting the best profit from student’s achievements and efforts. The civic compass is centered on student’s ability to find his place in society and being able to naturally communicate with different members of one. Various schools have focus in one type of these character compasses: Roxbury Prep is focused on performance character, Pacific Rim emphasizes civic one and the Boston Prep has its attention on moral one (Pupik, 2012).
The strength of the moral character compass is in student’s moral development. That means that common moral or ethical problems will not be too hard for this student to solve, as he is prepared to be morally adequate. This focus gives student’s character such traits as empathy, strive for the justice, fairness, willing to help others, generosity etc. Those kinds of people are usually the most effective members of society.
The best approach here is not just make a one class dedicated to character development, but spread this course in whole program. Also, the teachers should use some terms or phrases, that encourage moral character development in common language, to make students adjusted to the this focus on moral development. These methods I would have applied to my school.
The survey and the research that was made in Boston Prep, showed that students have got high scores in measuring empathy and integrity (Pupik, 2012).
References
Pupik, C., (2012). Character Compass: How powerful school culture can point students toward success. Available at:
< http://www.urbanedjournal.org/archive/volume-11-issue-1-winter-2014/character-compass-how-powerful-school-culture-can-point-studen>
