Character Education Including an Emphasis on Love and Anger Management

Abstract

The focus here is that if one wants to reduce school shootings, one has to address the causes of the problem, rather than merely pass laws to keep the causes from spiraling out of control. The shooters are usually people who are known as people who lack love and character. They are individuals who have not learned to control their anger, hold grudges, and have not learned to forgive others. In the weeks and months leading up to the shootings the assailants often display behavior that is threatening and frightening. Often the shooters have experienced a trauma in their lives. Character education is based on the notion that there are certain character qualities that almost every person around the world values such as love, compassion, honesty, sincerity, and respect that can from the foundation of character instruction. One does not have to examine the controversial areas, but rather focus on the common values that virtually every person has. The chapter points out that an emphasis on the primacy of character in schooling has been replaced with an emphasis on standardized tests. This has yielded a population that is reasonably intelligent but often lacks the qualities of love, kindness, and civility that are necessary for society to truly work. A meta-analysis is conducted that helps assess the efficacy of character education programs overall. The results of the meta-analysis indicate that character education was also related to higher levels of expressions of love, integrity, compassion, and self-discipline. Overall, character education had somewhat greater effects for children in high school rather than those who were in elementary school.

The findings from the meta-analysis first appeared in the following article: Jeynes, W. (2019). A Meta-Analysis: The Relationship Between Character Education Programs and Student Outcomes. Education & Urban Society, 51, (1), 33–71.