Academics are one thing. But what is lost in character growth?
The quantifiable education problems presented to children in recent months are hefty. With some exceptions, students are not making the progress they would be making in normal times.
But the unquantifiable problems are also huge – maybe even more formidable than the quantifiable ones, and they affect kids of all social, economic and racial backgrounds, and levels of school success. It may prove more difficult to finds ways to recover from the unquantifiables than the quantifiable when All Of This is over.
In simple terms, students may be able to use summer school or tutoring or other means to make up for lost time in learning to read, do math, or understand science.
But how will they recover from what is being done to their character?
Before 2020, schools were already seeing greater need to support the social and emotional needs of kids and were dealing with more mental issues, including depression and stress. Those trends are all the more concerning now.
Character gurus such as Angela Duckworth of the University of Pennsylvania, who played the biggest role in popularizing the term “grit” in recent years, emphasize that the kind of character traits they are talking about are not just something people are born with and can’t change. Positive traits can be encouraged and grown. The reverse is all true.
I fear there’s stormy weather on those fronts. Consider some of the things that have been dampened, at best, by what is going on now:
Weaker relationships with teachers. Positive energy in classrooms, especially between teachers and students, is a great thing. It hasn’t been wiped out by the events of our recent times, but, even where school is in person, social distancing, masks, and other health rules make it harder to come by. And for kids learning remotely – many
of them already in need of big support – it is all the harder.
Constrained youth activities. Taking part in school sports programs or music or theater or arts programs can be big boosts to kids’ character development and their involvement in school. Even in situations where there is much effort to continue those programs, these are weird times. Valuable extracurricular activities are taking a beating.
Just plain social life. Playing with friends on weekends, sitting with other students at lunch tables, social life of all kinds, whether among pre-schoolers or high schoolers, all have been limited for so many kids. Some kids are thriving. Many are not. Feeling confined and facing no-fun tedium are not ingredients in the recipe for a thriving childhood.
Then you get to the specifics of our times. How are children processing all that is happening around them? How will this affect them one, five, 10, 30 years from now?
The pandemic has brought almost everyone, including children, face to face with fear – fear of going out of the house, of getting close to people, or doing things that were once normal. For far too many, including kids, it has brought actual loss – in many cases, elders in their lives who have died.
Another layer of this is what all has happened since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May. This may turn out to have long-term positive impacts. In the short term, it has put the nation on edge and led many, especially Black adults and children, to feel more anger and dismay at what they face in life. And don’t think this has faded, as the events in the last few days have shown. One aspect of Wednesday’s events in Washington was how white rioters were treated more gently than Black peaceful protesters were sometimes treated elsewhere.
The impact of hate on children
Which brings us to those Washington events. All the scenes from the past few days – what impact will they have on children and how they feel about this nation?
We live in such hate-filled times. I’ll say no more except to repeat the question: What impact does this have on children?
We live in times when the facts don’t matter to so many people, when honesty isn’t valued, when thoughtful processing of what is going on is dismissed by many. What impact does this have on children?
I have wondered for, oh, say, four years how parents and schools can teach anti-bullying when kids see that bullying people, calling them names, and treating them with no respect can bring power and fame of the highest order?
Character education experts say that among the most valuable traits are optimism about the future, including a sense that hard work will pay off, that good things are possible, that you can get a fair deal. What are these times doing to such thinking among children?
A positive, well-balanced life
So what do we adults do? As parents, grandparents, community members, citizens, we need to rise to the occasion. Despite our own stresses and the major demands on us, we need to be there for kids.
This is especially true for parents who in many cases have played such big roles for many months in the daily lives of their kids. Many have been doing great, even heroic, things to keep their families on solid ground. The importance of positive, well-balanced home life is so abundantly clear now.
For educators – so many of them facing personal challenges as they deal with professional challenges no one envisioned – the need to connect as much as possible with kids is so important. Again, many are doing awesome work.
We’re better than what we’ve seen so much of lately, aren’t we? We need to find within ourselves ways to show that and to convey that with optimism and hope to our kids.
Because character traits are unquantifiable , they can be accessible to all. Now is a time to reach for them, embrace them, and lead our kids to have dreams and not nightmares.
Alan J. Borsuk is senior fellow in law and public policy at Marquette Law School. Reach him at alan.borsuk@marquette.edu.