Have you ever read To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee? One teacher I've met uses this book to teach character to his students. As you may recall, one of the main characters in the book, the father, Atticus Finch, is a lawyer and must defend a black man accused of raping a white girl. Everyone in town, including his children, constantly ask him why he would do this. And his answer is the simple, "Because its the right thing to do." When his son finally understands this, that his father has a code of conduct that he lives by, no matter what the situation, the son runs down the street shouting, "Atticus Finch is a gentleman, and so am I."
That code of conduct is what I look for in character, a personal code of behavior that you follow under any set of circumstances.
Lawrence Kohlberg describes Six
Levels of Moral Development:
Level I: I Don’t Want to Get
in Trouble
Level II: I Want a Reward
Level III: I Want to Please
Somebody
Level IV: I Follow the Rules
Level V: I Am Considerate of
Others
Level VI: I Have a Personal
Code of Behavior and I Follow It (Atticus Finch Behavior)
Where are you on these six levels? Have you developed a personal code of behavior? We all have something. Is it one that you really want? Do you follow it always?
Something to think about. Somewhere to go.
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