Democracy and Moral Character

As Rep. LaVar Christensen reminds us, "Education's original aim was not simply to convey knowledge but to forge character." He is not the only one who expressed these sentiments. We can go as far back as Aristotle who told us that the aim of education is "to make men both smart and good." Thomas Jefferson insisted that democracy could not survive without a virtuous citizenry. President Theodore Roosevelt said, "To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society." The English philosopher John Locke wrote, "Tis virtue...which is the hard and valuable part to be aimed at in education." Samuel Adams described the mission of educators as nurturing the "moral sense" of children. "Great learning and superior abilities, should you ever possess them," Abigail Adams told her son John Quincy, "will be of little value and small estimation unless virtue, honor, truth, and integrity are added to them." John Adams said, "Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people." Benjamin Franklin stressed that "only a virtuous people are capable of freedom."

William Bennett reminds us "The highest values of education in a democracy are more than the competitive advantage of an increasingly productive labor force....Education is "more than the acquisition of skills; it had [has] to do with the architecture of the soul."

From the summit conference hosted by the Josephson Institute of Ethics in Aspen, Colorado in July 1992 came the following declarations: The well-being of our society requires an involved, caring citizenry with good moral character. The ethical values of respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, justice and fairness, caring, civic virtue and citizenship are core ethical values that are rooted in a democratic society and that transcend cultural, religious, and socioeconomic differences.

We have an inspiring heritage and legacy, a democracy based on moral principles, that all must understand and appreciate if we are to carry the torch forward as we strive to narrow the gap between our country's ideals and realities. "Posterity--you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it," quoting John Quincy Adams.

Because a country can only be as good and moral as its citizenry, it is imperative that each of us strives to develop a moral character and help our young people to do the same through our example and teachings.