| Research indicates that destructive behaviors demonstrated during childhood are related to instabilities in adolescence and adulthood. As educators search for ways in which schools can produce students of strong moral character, who will one day pass on the values of compassion and kindness to future generations, it is necessary to explore whether the implementation of a character education program influences students' self-perceptions of their own character traits (i.e., respectfulness, kindness, jealousy, etc.) and their perceptions of appropriate actions in social situations (i.e., normative behavior in everyday situations). In this study, Rhinos and Raspberries , a character education program aimed at teaching students the themes of character education through 12 multicultural stories, is implemented with 25 English as a Second Language (ESL) students enrolled in a small, rural junior high school located in Southeast Texas. The study demonstrates that students, upon exposure to a character education program, were more cognizant of their own moral character traits, as well as how to behave in a proper manner and exhibit these traits in social situations. |
