Recently, during one of my Writer’s Workshops, I asked my students to come up with six thought provoking questions that they could ask their peers about themselves. One of my students wanted to question what another student did when they got caught stealing. I carefully started to respond to his query by pointing out that this would not be a good question because if the person never stole anything or if they did and never got caught for the act there would be nothing to write about. Another student looked at me and stated, "Everybody steals.” I assured her that this was simply not the case. I was promptly asked by another in the group if I ever stole anything. I answered, "No, I never would have considered doing it.” They didn’t believe me and assured me that everybody has done it once and suggested that if I could get away with it, why not?

I just couldn’t get the incident out of my head. The absolute certainty with which the students formulated their opinions just left me stunned. There was such a deficiency of morality present that I wondered if I had glimpsed into the mind makeup of the personality type who could shoot me for $25.00 and then sleep soundly at night. I needed to find out if the assessment of these budding JD’s was even remotely accurate, at least in regards to the student population of my school.

I spoke with one student privately and she confessed that she felt bad after stealing and never did it again. However, she doesn’t judge her peers for doing anything illegal, just bows out when she knows it’s going to happen. Her reason is that they are people just like her and that is just their "thing”. She didn’t seem to have any awareness that her friends could be harming anyone, just that she herself would feel bad if she participated in their "crimes”. In response to some of my questions she stated that she lives in a two parent family (one step parent) but many of her friends do not. She said her family is the most important thing in the world to her. Although she knows she can talk to her parents about anything, she chooses not to share all of her thoughts or the things she does.

I broached the subject of character decline, among students that we service, with a few of my colleagues and here is what I found. The majority of students display respect when they are not in the presence of any peers that can negatively influence them. Gang mentality dictates that the person in authority is not to be shown proper deference when in the presence of other students. One person said with absolute certainty that the internal moral compass that guides most of our students is dictated by a combination of MTV and VH1, the community, and the home influence. In his role at school he has found that many of the worst behavior problems are living in minority households and low income housing. The majority have transferred in from the city and brought the gang affiliations with them rather than leaving them behind. Many are transient. The average crime at our school is gang representation. Many students wear baby blue because it’s a neutral/universal gang color. Whether or not they are a gang banger, it can offer perceived protection in certain circumstances. Most parents are completely unaware when they purchase gang apparel for their children.

Although there are Six Pillars of Character figuring prominently on the walls of our building, there is no official policy dictating the implementation of a Character Counts curriculum. A teacher implementing Character Counts was supposed to incorporate it once a week by presenting a moral dilemma in the form of a contrived scenario. Sometimes there were games that illustrated one of the pillars. Although Character Counts was district wide (one teacher I spoke with was on the committee for the program) it faded with the dissolution of the SIP (School Improvement Planning) Committee. I asked a long standing teacher if I could see a copy of her Character Counts manual and she said she didn’t know if she knew where it was. She thought she may have turned it in at the end of a school year and never gotten it back.

It was noticed by the one man, who would have the most experience with students violating rules, that students teetering in the wrong moral direction need to have an intervention sometime by 5th grade to be effective. Between 5th and 6th grade students show 100% behavior change. By 7th and 8th grade, their habits are pretty well set.

Because Character Counts is an additional program, not "tested”, and easily drops to the bottom of the list of things needing attention, it is failing. No matter how good the intentions of those who initiated it on any level, additional mandates and responsibilities are not seen as a priority by a faculty juggling the curriculum requirements of courses important enough to be tested by the state and reported in the school’s report card. I have thought long and hard about this dilemma and I propose this solution.

A pre-K up to 8th grade Civic Education curriculum could be reintroduced into our schools in such a way that it would integrate two core subjects: Social Studies and Language Arts. Trade books containing stories, that instill society’s values and teach about the heroes that made sacrifices to ensure that the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness that our Constitution protects, would be the foundation of this curriculum. Because literacy is such an important goal in education, these books would be invaluable when teaching reading comprehension. But I cannot take credit for this idea. It has been around for a long time.

In the article that appeared in Education, Vol. 113, 1993, Stories: an old moral education method rediscovered, Ruth Smith explains, "years ago, moral education in schools was expected (Wynne & Vitz, 1985). Early American textbooks, such as The New England Primer and later, McDuffy's Reader were filled with overt religious and moral platitudes. However, as our nation became more oriented to public rather than church oriented education, the religious basis of education disappeared, and with in the overt teaching of morals.”

She reminds us that story telling has been around since the earliest of times and in all cultures as a method of instilling the society's values into the young (McCarron, 1987). This is why we have folktales, myths and legends extolling the deeds of the heroes and making judgments on the acts of the wicked. It used to be that families read, together, literature that illustrated the concepts of right and wrong. Nowadays, this type of story would need to be processed in discussion groups.

Paul (1988) says that discussion group activities foster moral growth. When children learn to take turns speaking, learn to respect others' opinions even if they differ greatly from their own, and also learn to display kindness in their interactions with one another they act out democracy.

As moral educators, there is a minimal list of skills which would be needed in order to use stories successfully as a vehicle for moral development:

> Knowledge of the moral stages of development and the means for facilitating moral growth in their students.
> An ability to weave a story in a way which will grip the attention of the children.
> Ability to facilitate discussion by asking probing questions, accepting ideas presented by the children, showing sensitivity to emotional reactions and cognitive processes.
> Awareness of the need for moral education; enthusiasm and commitment to helping pupils grow morally; and sensitivity to the moral implications of everyday classroom experiences.

Simon Cowells of American Idol readily acknowledges "Gangsta Rap” as contributing to the downfall of our children’s morals. Greg Watkins, the CEO of AllHipHop.com agrees that "Gangsta Rap” negatively effects today’s youth and attitude toward sexuality. He sees the parents at fault for not monitoring their kids’ choices on television and in music. Rather than emulating these rappers, I’d like to see future generations of students look at the founders of our country as heroes. The framers of our constitution are certainly worth being depicted on trading cards. Their names may never be as readily remembered as our baseball heroes but they should be appreciated for what they have done.

Here’s the thing. Everyone has to remember and believe in the good around us. In order to believe in the heroes worthy of being called role models, a person has to learn about them and the importance of their actions on our civilization. The people teaching about the heroes have to show enthusiasm and pride for our country. The Pledge of Allegiance must be recited with enthusiasm and an understanding of what it is all about. We must remember everyday how very privileged we are to live in our great country.

Nancy Salvato is a middle school teacher in Illinois and an independent contractor for Prism Educational Consulting. She is the Educational Liaison to IL Sen. Ray Soden and she works with national and local organizations furthering the cause of Civic Education. She is a columnist for American Daily, The Common Voice, GOP-USA, OpinionEditorials and The New Media Journal.us. Her writing has been recognized by the US Secretary of Education. She has been published in The Washington Times, The Washington Dispatch, Iconoclast, Free Republic Network & Townhall.com., as well as other nationally and internationally published media outlets.