10 Good Reasons for Character Education
From: Educating for Character: How Our Schools Can Teach Respect and Responsibility by Tom Lickona

1.  There is a clear and urgent need. Young people are in need of moral and spiritual renewal.

2.  Transmitting values is the responsibility of civilization.  A society needs values education both to survive and to thrive.

3.  The school's roles as moral educator becomes even more vital at a time when millions of children get little moral teaching from their parents.

4.  There is common ethical ground even in our value-conflicted society.

5.  Democracies have a special need for moral education, because democracy is government by the people themselves.

6.  There is no such thing as a value-free education.  The relevant issue is never 'Should schools teach values?' but rather 'which values will they teach?' - and 'How well will they teach them?'

7.  The great questions facing both the individual person and the human race are moral questions.

8.  There is a broad-based, growing support for values education in the schools.

9.  An unabashed commitment to moral education is essential if we are to attract and keep good teachers.

10.  Character education is a doable job.  Values education can be done within the school day and is happening now in school systems all across the country, making a positive difference in the moral attitudes and behavior of students.