EAST COUNTY – East County's largest school district has introduced a character education program that aims to reduce cheating and other bad conduct by promoting ethical behavior.
“What you allow, you encourage,” said ethics expert Michael Josephson, who is working with the Grossmont Union High School District on the Character Counts program. “It's about helping kids form better values, make better choices.”
The Josephson Institute of Ethics plans to release in a few weeks its 2008 national survey of student attitudes and behavior.
Two years ago, the institute's survey of more than 30,000 students showed alarming rates of cheating, lying and theft at schools across the United States.
Six out of 10 high school students said they had cheated at least once during a test during the past year.
One out of three high school students said they had copied an Internet document for a classroom assignment.
Two in 10 high school students said they had stolen from a friend.
Poway and some San Diego schools are among the thousands across the nation that use the Character Counts program.
In the Grossmont district, the Josephson Institute will train dozens of teachers, counselors and athletic coaches during the year on ways to discuss the “six pillars of character” – trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. In May, coaches, student advisers and band directors received training to use during summer camps and other activities.
The school district will distribute material to parents and students during Character Education week, which begins Oct. 19. Throughout the year, schools also will recognize students from each campus who have demonstrated character values.
The district will pay the Los Angeles-based institute $70,000 for a year of training and other services, a district spokeswoman said.
Grossmont Superintendent Robert Collins, who was hired last year, said he wanted an ethics program that addressed multiple issues. Collins used Character Counts when he was an area superintendent in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Collins and Josephson presented the program to more than 100 East County school, civic and business leaders and hundreds of principals, student body advisers and student leaders who attended a conference last month at Cuyamaca College in Rancho San Diego.
Collins said the Grossmont district is interested in more than academic achievement.
“We're also concerned about the content of the character of the young people walking across the stage to get a diploma,” Collins said.
Josephson made reference during the conference to people behind some major financial scandals, saying they were smart but lacked a moral compass.
He said schools have an obligation to teach people at a young age to be smart and good.
The Character Counts program is different from the ethics program being used at Helix High School in La Mesa, which is in the Grossmont district. The charter school, which has its own governing board, hired an ethics expert to develop specific training to prevent teacher sexual misconduct after four cases during the past two years.
Leonel Sanchez: (619) 542-4568; leonel.sanchez@uniontrib.com
