Smart & Good High Schools - The Flippen Group

CHAPTER 5: Fostering the 8 Strengths of Character—Outcome 5In 1988, in The Altruistic Personality, researchers Samueland Pearl Oliner reported their research on 406 rescuerswho had helped to save Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe. 7For purposes of comparison, they also interviewed 126nonrescuers. The Oliners found three kinds of “moralcatalysts,” sometimes operating in combination, thatmoved people to rescue.For the majority of rescuers (52%), a norm-centeredmotive—allegiance to the pro-social moral code of theirsocial group—led to their first helping act. For example,the wife of a German minister initially took Jews into herhome because her church was engaged in rescue activity.For more than a third of the rescuers (37%), an empathicorientation—a response of the heart to people in pain—motivated their first helping act. For some of these individuals,merely knowing that others were suffering wasenough to motivate action; for others, a direct encounterwith a person in distress led to helping.For a small minority of rescuers (11%), the first helping actwas motivated by a belief in universal ethical principles of justiceor caring. For example, a high school mathematics teacherwas deeply involved in saving children—hiding them in variousschools. She had not directly witnessed the mistreatmentof Jews. Asked why she helped them, she respondedsimply: “All men are born free and equal by right.”These three moral orientations—acting according to thenorms of one’s group, having empathy for those in distress,and adhering to universal ethical principles—werethree different paths to the virtuous act of rescuing. Whatthey have in common, the Oliners concluded, is thecapacity for extensive relationships—a feeling of responsibilityfor the welfare of others, including those outside one’simmediate family and community circle. This kind of feelingof responsibility appears to be a central component ofmoral agency.Recent examples of what happens when this “extensive”sense of responsibility is missing come from genocides inRwanda and the Sudan, corporate scandals where nobodyblew the whistle, incidents where citizens have witnessedsomeone’s being attacked and didn’t even summonpolice, and the various forms of bullying that plague somany schools. In one high school hazing incident, varsityfootball players at a summer training camp watched asother players used various objects to repeatedly sodomizea freshman boy. In these and other cases wherebystanders have been passive or done too little too late,it’s sometimes because their consciences weren’t formedproperly—they didn’t feel responsible to act—but othertimes because they failed to act on what their consciencestold them.The psychologist Dan Lapsley elaborates on the sense ofmoral agency that overcomes passivity and motivatesresponsible moral action:When our rational understanding of morality is integratedwith our character (strong will or agency), we should feel asense of ownership over our actions, a sense of mastery overthe moral demands that we place upon ourselves, and, consequently,a sense of moral accountability toward ourselvesand others.” 83 PROMISING PRACTICES FOR DEVELOPING ARESPECTFUL AND RESPONSIBLE MORAL AGENT1. Develop rules with students.2. Use discipline as an opportunity for characterdevelopment.3. Use the academic curriculum to develop moralagency.OUTCOME 5:Respectful and Responsible Moral AgentPromising Practice 1:Develop rules with students.Students should see the rules that govern5 the life of their classrooms and school asbeing important expressions of respect and responsibility.One way to help them develop that understanding and agreater commitment to honoring rules is to involve themin their construction.Students should see rules asexpressions of respectand responsibility.With that goal in mind, one history teacher, at the beginningof the school year, puts his students in groups of sixand gives them the following worksheet to complete:I am only one, but still I am one. I cannotdo everything, but I can do something.—EDWARD EVERETT HALE149Smart & Good High Schools