| The Commanding Officer of The Basic School (TBS) initiated a study into the ethics curriculum to determine if TBS is accomplishing its five horizontal themes, one of which is to be a man or woman of exemplary character.;The purpose of this study was threefold: 1) identify the difference, if any, in moral reasoning between pre and post TBS lieutenants and non-military college undergraduates, 2) evaluate courses and teaching methods that are relevant to character education (CE) and make modification as needed, and 3) if necessary, implement the modified CE program and assess its effectiveness.;There were 530 TBS student lieutenants that participated in this study, 213 in the control group (195 males, 17 females, 1 did not report), 157 in the pre-test group (133 males, 24 females), and 160 in the post-test group (128 males, 31 females, 1 did not report). The Defining Issues Test-2 was used to measure moral reasoning.;There was no significant difference between pre TBS lieutenants and non-military college undergraduates; or when considering commissioning source or sex. There was no significant difference between post old POI and pre new POI TBS lieutenants, or by considering commissioning; however, there was a significant difference by sex, with females scoring higher on the P scale (p-value 0.008) and the N2 scale (p-value 0.017).;Modifications of TBS's CE paradigm included changes in the moral education theory, including Rest's four-component model and schema theory, and curriculum, where minor changes were made. Major changes in pedagogical method were made including instructor skills in determining which schema is used to reason through a moral dilemma and a greater reliance on the Socratic Method. Environmental changes integrated character education through all aspects of the POI.;The modified POI resulted in post new POI lieutenants scoring significant higher than pre new POI lieutenants on both the P scale (p-value 0.05) and the N2 scale (p-value 0.009). No difference was found when considering commissioning; however, females scored significantly higher on the N2 scale (p-value 0.011) than males. Given a sound curriculum, pedagogy appears to be the driving force in character education. |
