Smart & Good High Schools - The Flippen Group

CHAPTER 4: The Professional Ethical Learning Communityand humbling, but ultimately worthwhile and ennobling.In order for students to know this, members of the PELCmust be willing to share the journey of their own development—withstudents and with each other.A male history teacher we interviewed said:I share my own life with my students. I think it’s importantfor them to know who I am. I’ve had a pretty rich life andhave seen the ups and the downs. This is something I alsoshare with parents on Parents’ Night. I do this with thekids throughout the year when I think it is appropriate. Iencourage them to share some of their experiences as well.They begin to see their lives more as a journey. If you reallywant to develop your 8th strength of character—a spiritualperson who lives a life of purpose—you can’t just be ateacher who has excellent techniques.High school teachers and students have told us that oneof the unaddressed reasons why character education isnot embraced by some high school educators is that theyfeel vulnerable in addressing character issues with students,given moral indiscretions in their own lives. Onehigh school teacher commented, “We may drive too fast,cheat on our taxes, do drugs—so we’re not comfortablepresenting ourselves to kids as paragons of virtue.”“We’re not comfortable presentingourselves to kids as paragons of virtue.”Standing for character and fostering good character, however,do not require being perfect. They do require a willingnesson the part of adults to strive to meet the samestandards they hold for students.Most importantly, adults must be willing to stretch andgrow—to actively engage in self-development. Consider forgiveness,one of the 24 character strengths identified byPeterson’s and Seligman’s Character Strengths and Virtues anda quality, we would argue, that is crucial for healthy interpersonalrelationships in the school, family, and workplace.Recent data from a multi-year, countywide study using theGlobal Portraits of Social & Moral Health for Youth and Adultsindicate that adults rate themselves lower on forgivenessthan any other item. (The self-rating of forgiveness is measuredusing the item, “Can forgive those who hurt them” and a 5-point rating scale: “Not like me at all … Exactly like Me.”) 29On a survey of moral health,adults rated themselves loweston forgiveness.What does this finding tell us? At the very least, it suggeststhat as adults we struggle to forgive and forget; we holdon to resentments and hurts; we do not put into practicethe maxim, “Deal with the faults of others as gently aswith your own.” By contrast, when we do view ourselvesand others as a work in progress, when we ourselves arestruggling to root out bad habits and develop good ones,we are more willing and able to empathize and be patientwith the struggles of others—both adults and youth. (Forhelpful resources on forgiveness, see Forgiveness Is a Choiceand Helping Clients Forgive by veteran forgivenessresearchers Robert Enright and Richard Fitzgibbons. 30 )When we share the journey of our own development withour colleagues and students, such testimony becomes acompelling witness to the importance of the quest forexcellence and ethics. Initially, many adults may feel lessvulnerable and more comfortable sharing their personaljourneys with their students than with their colleagues.But we believe that the growth of the PELC requires thatfaculty and staff begin to engage each other, as well theirstudents, in this kind of authentic self-disclosure.77Smart & Good High Schools