Barbara Whitlock
Montrose School
The aim of the project was to put together a guide to character education—primarily for our program mentors, but also useful for faculty or administrators with whom we work or those beginning character education themselves
Project Overview
While teaching about Race in the U.S. has been complicated by the effects of political polarization, the principles developed through character education research offer a fresh lens to illuminate old challenges. I will introduce research from a three-year intervention study to support greater engagement in dialogue about race, which expands upon the 2021 research published in The Courageous Dialogue Toolkit (Whitlock & Bohlin, 2021). This current research promises to inform teaching practice while offering insights into building school culture.
Character education research on moral exemplars and moral dilemmas informs this approach that has antecedents in the work of W.E.B. Dubois and targets the roots of racism in “the danger of single stories,” as coined by the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Nigozi Adichie.
