The Bookish Virtues
Perry Glanzer on Public-School Character Education
Should state legislatures tell us what kind of character our children should acquire? Actually, many states already do. Seven states recently passed a law requiring public schools to teach students “courage.” Texas and Virginia mandate that students learn to be “reliable,” and Arizona insists that they learn “orderliness,” while five states (Florida, Georgia, Iowa, South Carolina, and Texas) now require that children acquire “patience.”
States are legislating virtue like never before. In this case, “virtue” means certain qualities of personal character, a much vaguer and broader category than the classic virtues of courage, temperance, and the like. From 1993 to 2004, almost half the states (23) either passed new laws requiring public schools to teach kids virtues or modified old laws. Add in the three states that had such laws already, and more than half the states in the nation now want public schools to teach children particular virtues to make them good students.
There is little agreement among the lists, which together include 64 character qualities. Arizona requires public schools to teach students “sincerity.” Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina now require children to be taught “cleanliness” and “cheerfulness.” Five states have mandated that children learn “punctuality” (Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia). Three states believe children must learn “attentiveness” (Ariz., Florida, and Kentucky). One also finds in these lists of virtues a host of other things probably better identified as values: knowledge (Kentucky), human worth (Kentucky), morality (Nebraska, Oregon, Utah), economic self-reliance (Virginia), and sexual abstinence (South Dakota).
Judging by the laws passed within the last decade, the most prized American virtue is not justice, courage, self-control, or temperance. Nor is it tolerance or honesty. It is “respect.” Americans want their kids to show respect for all kinds of things:
• “Respect for the environment” (Ala., Ga.)
• “Respect for others” (Ala., Ga., La., N.Y., Or., S.C.)
• “Respect for parents and the home” (Ind., Or., Ut.)
• “Respect for authority” (Id., Ind., Neb., S.D., Tex., Va., Wash.)
• “Respect for property” (Ind.)
• “Respect for school personnel” (N.C.)
• “Respect for the national flag” (Neb., Or., Va.)
• “Respect for the US and state constitutions” (Neb., Or., Ut.)
• “Respect for the contributions of minority and ethnic groups” (S.D.)
• “Respect for oneself” (Ala., Ga., La., S.C., S.D.)
• “Respect for the law” (Ia., Tex., Va., Wash.)
• “Respect for the free enterprise system” (Ut.)
We Americans respect respect. Georgia even lists “respect for the creator”—an addition that will probably one day land them in hot water with the ACLU.
Respect’s closest competitor is “honesty” or “truthfulness” (19 states). Beyond these virtues there is little real consistency.
Virtues or Vices?
Will the legislation of virtue actually work? It would be interesting to learn ten years from now if the people of Arizona are more sincere and the people of Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina more cheerful than people in other states. (I’m not sure how one would control an experiment for cheerfulness. Perhaps Georgians have always been more cheerful. Maybe their cheerfulness depends on the weather. Maybe it depends on how many games the Atlanta Braves are winning.)
I must admit that I find this legislation problematic for other reasons besides the question of whether it will work. First, it is not always good to legislate a good thing. State bureaucrats may not define character or the methods by which it can be taught in the way we like. The centralization of character education encourages governments to override the influence of parents, churches, and other elements of civil society—the very groups most needed for the development of virtue.
Perry Glanzer is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Baylor University and the author of The Quest for Russia?s Soul (Baylor University Press). He attends First Baptist Church in Woodway, Texas.
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