Character Declaration

We, the people, of the State of Indiana, hold the value of strength of character and the practices that promote character development to be universal.  The need for character education and the reasons for our advocacy of it include, but are not limited to, the following truths:

Character skills are needed to survive in the future.
Children of today are our future.
Character is essential to developing a sense of eternal peace-individually and collectively.
Character gives self-respect, hope, security, and safety in life, and allows students to have greater expectations.
Character is the foundation of our culture.
Character is the foundation of a civil society.
Character makes a strong and peaceful community.
The alternative to character education is the law of the jungle.

Our ability to transmit what we were taught as children depends on our ability as adults to educate about character.
Character brings order to life.
Character frames success for life.
Education of the heart leads to a more fulfilling life.
All education is moral in nature.
It takes an entire village to raise a child of character.It is, furthermore, our contention that the vehicle of character education in schools is ideal because character education...

… is a concrete way to teach children not only how to behave, but, also, why they must behave.
… helps children to decide between right and wrong, to take responsibility for their own actions, and enables them to feel more worthy.
… helps teachers in the classroom and provides a tool for mediation and conflict resolution.
… provides a moral framework for decision-making and sets standards for measuring behavior.
… reinforces or supplements what is or isn’t being taught at home.
… fills the gap that pop culture has created.… is needed because it has become “uncool” to have character.
… teaches civic responsibility, so as to maintain a civil society.
… provides a common language across all cultures.

As developed by those in attendance at the Governor’s Summit on Character Education, October 19, 2000