Schools have a moral responsibility to promote in students a sense of gratitude and optimism as well as kindness and generosity. A good education helps young people do more than pass exams; it helps them to become better people. All teachers need to develop the knowledge and skills to work with their students on the development of their character.
- Mark Pike & Thomas Lickona
3 Links
Realistic Virtue: This week I started a deep dive into some recent discussions regarding the debate between realistic and ideal conceptions of virtue. I am interested in learning more about the STRIVE-4 model introduced by Cokelet & Fowers. From the abstract:
This article argues that ordinary virtue trait attributions presuppose the existence of realistic traits that fall short of, for example, Aristotelian ideals and that debate about the existence of virtue traits should be reoriented in the light of this fact. After clarifying and motivating that basic thesis, we discuss what the existing psychological research shows about the existence of realistic traits and how future psychological research could be designed to show more. Our first conclusion is that current psychological research (weakly) supports virtue trait optimism not skepticism. Our second conclusion is that psychologists will need to adopt new models and conduct new studies before they can convincingly answer questions about the existence, development and normative significance of virtue traits. In short, we argue that there is no mature science of virtue today but that we can and should develop one. We end by presenting our STRIVE-4 Model, which is designed to guide future work.Assessment and Leisure: Carrie Eben, has a series of post over at The Classical Thistle on assessment in classical schools. In part one, she argues for assessment practices that align with a philosophy of leisure. My ears perk up anytime Josef Pieper is referenced. Here are the links to parts one, two, and three.
The Virtue of Hobbits: You might enjoy this podcast interview with Jennifer Frey and Christopher Snyder discussing the Tolkien’s virtue ethics in the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings novels.
2 Books
From the Desk: I am about halfway through Mark Pike & Thomas Lickona’s, Narnian Virtues: Building Good Character with C.S. Lewis. The book is an excellent resource for parents and educators who are interested in teaching character through the Narnia novels. The appendices are also full of helpful content. Lickona is a giant in the world of character education. This is just a really fun book!
To the Shelf: It almost took me a year, but I should finally finish Prince Caspian this weekend. Here is one of my favorite quotes:
“‘Hush!’ said the other four, for now Aslan had stopped and turned and stood facing them, looking so majestic that they felt as glad as anyone can who feels afraid, and as afraid as anyone can who feels glad. The boys strode forward: Lucy made way for them: Susan and the Dwarf shrank back.‘Oh, Aslan,’ said King Peter, dropping on one knee and raising the Lion’s heavy paw to his face, ‘I’m so glad. And I’m so sorry. I’ve been leading them wrong ever since we started and especially yesterday morning.’
‘My dear son,’ said Aslan. Then he turned and welcomed Edmund. ‘Well done,” were his words. Then, after an awful pause, the deep voice said, ‘Susan.’ Susan made no answer but the others thought she was crying. ‘You have listened to fears, child,’ said Aslan. ‘Come, let me breathe on you. Forget them. Are you brave again?’
‘A little, Aslan,’ said Susan”
1 Thought
I think a lot about faculty development in regards to equipping higher education faculty with the tools needed to incorporate areas of virtue and character in their teaching. As I read this week, it occurred to me that more realistic conceptions of virtue, such as the one proposed by Fowers and Cokelet can perhaps be more easily adopted and operationalized for faculty development. As educators focus on developing habits in the classroom that reflect ordinary virtuous actions, they not only become more virtuous in those areas, but also implicitly communicate those virtues to students.
One quick example to consider might be a professor who demonstrates the virtue of intellectual humility through the ordinary habit of verbalizing and admitting when they do not know an answer. Suppose the professor goes on to further demonstrate the virtues of courage or curiosity as they contemplate aloud the questions they have or a potential hypotheses. In isolation these ordinary moment and accounts of virtue are seemingly ordinary, but over time can compound into an exemplary model that impacts the lives of students.
I get excited imagining the kinds of students such teaching creates.