The great Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that“Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” Many educators would agree with him as with the character education program implemented in schools try to teach pupils vital skills in living a life of goodness and values.

Character education is not merely to prevent poorly mannered students roaming around the school halls and the classrooms. A research done in 2003 showed that character education programs can actually improve academic achievement.  The study showed that there is a correlation between the character education of a school and its academic scores.

Furthermore, a study published in School Psychology Quarterly in 2008 posited that social-emotional competence, which is closely related to character education, has a stronginfluence on the the academic skills of almost 300 third-grade students who were included in the study.

Another Professor of Clinical Psychology from Rutgers named Maurice Elias, who has done extensive research on this topic hasstrongly stressed the importance of character education in the classroom. He posited that a school to be successful, it should be concerned with the with the character of its students.

How specifically does character education influence academic achievement? By looking closely to various character education programs, one will notice that the components included in the list would be dealing on forming social-emotional characteristics in students. What does this mean? For example, the students are taught to become socially aware and that includes becoming cooperative, be able to take turns, and to work in groups effectively. They are taught to become responsible and do their part in the project. They learn how to respect others’ works and rights. A student who is not able to learn these things would most probably stay afloat in his classes.

There are still many instances in school where good character can do wonders for learners. Also, it is a known fact that most students who succeed with their schooling are those who are able to demonstrate good characters particularly in the social and emotional aspects.

References:

Character Education Links: Program and Curricula. Retrieved from http://www.ethics.org/resources/links-character-development.asp?aid=1014 on September 10, 2014

Davis, Michael (2003). “What’s Wrong with Character Education?”. American Journal of Education 110: 32.

“Efficacy of Schoolwide Programs to Promote Social and Character Development and Reduce Problem Behavior in Elementary School Children”. The Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. October 2010.

Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncer/pubs/20112001/pdf/20112001.pdf on September 20, 2014

J. Hunter (2001). Leading Children Beyond Good and Evil. Retrieved from http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft0005/articles/hunter.html on September 20, 201

By: Diana C. Punzalan | Teacher | Alauli Elementary School | Pilar, Bataan