Imagine a school that expected its

Imagine a school that expected its students to become literate(有读写能力的) without any formal instruction. Most parents would be alarmed by such an approach, which would leave their children confused and with gaps in their understanding. This however has been the philosophy on character development in many of our schools. Why is the development of character seen as somehow different from the other skills that we teach? Of course there will always be learning by osmosis(耳濡目染)in any school, but as a teacher and primary school head I have found that a child's moral literacy is strengthened when they acquire the building blocks of good character such as consideration, courage and honor: qualities which are commonly known as virtue(美德). I personally find that exploring a virtue over a two-week period provides a simple and effective program that allows for the creative input of both teacher and student and a chance for the virtue to embed(使融入)itself. Once a lesson on a virtue such as honesty has been completed we need to allow time for children to practice this concept just as would be the case with fractions or verbs. Allowing children to role play a situation such as making up excuses to cover a mistake can be enormously interesting, and the drama can be frozen allowing the characters to be questioned about their feelings and motives. It's also a safe way for children to experience for themselves how a lie usually goes out of control. Our role as educators is also to look for opportunities to help our students as they attempt to strengthen their characters. When something goes wrong we guide the young person to the virtue that will prevent it from happening again. For instance, when am student thoughtlessly disturbs the calm atmosphere of the library, instead of a response such as, "that was really disrespectful and selfish of you!" we draw out from them the required virtue: "When you're walking through the library, what virtues do you need to use