Literature and Life:
The English Teacher’s Role in Character Education

 

Submitted by

Michael Reilly

Joliet Central High School
Joliet, Illinois

Current Teaching Assignment: 

Honors Junior English and Senior English (all levels)

 

The British poet, William Wordsworth, wrote ,”The child is father to the man.”  Our childhood experiences play a profound role in shaping our adult personality.  The absence of positive role models in the lives of so many young people would certainly have concerned Wordsworth.  It should concern us, as well, and motivate all responsible adults, especially teachers, to work to alleviate, if not eliminate, the moral vacuum in which many children are living today.

            This lack of moral guidance and academic encouragement for our students manifests itself, quite obviously, in bad behavior and poor grades.  But perhaps the most troubling product of this lack of adult support is an all too common attitude that fluctuates from total apathy to blatant disrespect and violent behavior.  The parents don’t care, so why should the kids?

            Morality is another non-issue for many in this population.  These students see the world as a jungle and they behave accordingly.  Getting as much as you can however you can is their philosophy.  Right and wrong are irrelevant.  This attitude must change for the sake of our children and for ourselves.

            These children live in various forms of poverty.  When Gandhi said, “Poverty is the worst form of violence.”, he was not merely speaking of material deprivation.   The moral and psychological poverty suffered by children who are essentially raising themselves must be as great a social concern as the lack of adequate food and housing.

            If the schools are to provide an effective response to the problems generated by the absence of positive role models of our students, it will probably come from the dedicated classroom teacher.  Regardless of our subject area, we have the opportunity to teach kids that good morals are important.  Through our words, actions, and attitudes, we can at least suggest to them that doing the right thing is vital to true happiness and success.

            As an English teacher, I’ve always focused on the moral issues presented in the works we study.  I begin each year by asking them, “Why do we study literature?”  Eventually, someone answers my question.  We study literature to teach us about life.  Great literature forces us to confront universal moral issues.  It asks important questions that we must answer for ourselves.

            Therefore, the English teacher has the unique opportunity to penetrate the moral vacuum in which far too many of our students live.  We should use the lessons of literature to inspire our students to do what they already know is right.

            As asserted in the writings of Emerson and Thoreau, we must encourage our students to follow their conscience and thereby assert their moral individualism and self-respect.  These transcendental thinkers are well received by high school students.  Their emphasis on individualism, and a sincere, but subjective moral code plays in to the adolescent need for self-determination.  As Emerson said, “Be your own Bible.” 

            In keeping with this emphasis on personal morality, we recognize that there comes a point in one’s growth when he realizes that he is responsible for his own actions.  He will benefit from his positive actions, and he will suffer for his misdeeds.  This fundamental fact of life is a major focus in the classes I teach at Joliet Central High School.  My kids, in many ways, present a microcosm of society.  They vary from remedial students struggling through high school to honors students on the fast track to major universities, from the very poor to the very rich, and from the blackest black to the whitest white, but despite their educational, economic, and ethnic differences, they show, when confronted with the opportunity, a desire to be moral individuals.

            Great literature is one source of role models of various moral hues.  It is the English teacher’s privilege and responsibility to help students see this connection between literature and life.  Class discussions and essays provide the opportunity to relate the work to their lives.  When my students, particularly those from troubled backgrounds make this connection, when they understand the practicality and usefulness of what they’re reading or writing, the effect is almost therapeutic.  They realize that many have endured hardships similar to those which currently plague them.  They see that many have shared similar thoughts and feelings during painful periods in their lives.  They discover that they must solve, endure, or transcend these problems rather than succumb to the weakness of cynicism.

           "If we are to inspire our students to take, or at least consider, travelling this moral high ground through life we must model it in the classroom, as well as in our lives.  Our personal commitment to morality must be a given. This is not to suggest that we need to be saints.  We must remind students that we are imperfect beings in an imperfect world.  We must learn to forgive ourselves and others.  Honesty and sincerity establish credibility and rapport.  Hypocrisy and other forms of deception destroy trust and respect, two necessities for learning.  It is also important that teachers feel free to occasionally vary from scheduled lessons to discuss the moral implications of events or incidents that happen in the classroom, the school, and the world, at large.

            These moral lessons, both literary and non-literary, must be discussions, not lectures.  It is not our job to teach our personal code of ethics; we are to inspire our students to develop their own.  But there’s also nothing wrong with taking a moral stand during classroom discussions.  It’s important that we honestly communicate our convictions, but we must also be tolerant of minority opinions, as well.

            All the works I teach show us that morality matters.  Emerson and Thoreau’s Transcendental philosophy, Ellison’s Invisible Man, Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, Hamlet and many others deal with significant moral issues.  Honesty, discipline, forgiveness, tolerance, courage, self-confidence and an optimistic outlook are all components of a truly successful and happy life.

            As Faulkner noted in his Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, the role of the writer is to create literature which serves as a realistic inspiration to all readers, particularly the impressionable young. He points out the need to emphasis our strengths without denying our weaknesses, to speak of man’s victories while acknowledging his defeats.  In short, we need to use great literature to illustrate the potential of man.  We must teach our students that cynicism is a sign of weakness and optimism is a sign of strength.  Ralph Ellison said that his definition of life is possibility.  That’s not a bad thought.

            That says it all. The lessons and role models are there.  It is my honor to teach them to some great kids.