Week of February 22, 1999Our show begins with the tale of Anansi the spider and sister Breeze. Anansi stories come from the Ashanti people of Ghana, and are popular throughout West Africa. They made their way to the Caribbean through the slave trade. Anansi is a character who everyone can identify with--but who doesn't always do right. None the less, the stories are a way of transmitting cultural values from one generation to the next. We asked Jamaican-born storyteller Marline Martin to tell us about Anansi's exploits. The story begins here, and continues later in the program.
Next, Dr. Goodwin speaks with two experts on character development. Dr. William Damon is a professor of education and director of the Center on Adolescence at Stanford University. Mrs. Lynn Macan is in her fifth year as principal of Brookside Elementary School in Binghamton, New York. Brookside, a public school, has made character education an important part of its curriculum and last year was one of ten schools in the nation to receive a Schools of Character Award from the Character Education Partnership.
The panelists discuss the important role of the community in building character. Dr. Damon says that since children learn everywhere and from everybody, they need to get consistent messages about what constitutes good character. Parents and teachers are of course important elements in this respect, but local business people, sports coaches, religious leaders--all are key.
They talk about some changes in American society that have affected children's moral development, for example the decline of extended families, with their variety of adult role models, and the lessening of neighbor-to-neighbor contact as well. Dr. Damon says that mass media has replaced much of this in terms of what kids come into contact with.
Mrs. Macan explains how character education works at her school: ten core principles such as honesty, tolerance, friendship, and respect are incorporated by teachers into their normal lesson plans. The activities built around these principles are designed to be age-appropriate, and community members, including parents, were involved with the decision to implement character education. Brookside also runs programs with senior citizens in their district to help connect the generations.
There is a discussion of the issues involved in school choice and of disability issues. Dr. Damon has some concern that there is a tendency to over-diagnose children with learning disorders. Dr. Goodwin shares his take on this as a practicing psychiatrist. Mrs. Macan explains that whether or not someone has a disability, her school expects them to fulfill their own individual potential with respect to character-building activities. Everyone agrees that it is important to understand each child as an individual and work to meet their needs and help them meet universal standards on that basis.
Dr. Damon can be contacted through the Center on Adolescence at 650-725-8205. His mailing address at the center is Cypress Hall, Building C, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-4145. He is the author of The Youth Charter and Greater Expectations, among other books, available from the Free Press.
Next, the end of our Anansi story. And an interview with storyteller Marline Martin about her childhood in Jamaica. Without television, stories were her entertainment. And the elders in her community used stories to subtly rebuke people in the community who weren't living right. These stories help teach children the skills necessary to get along with other people and survive in a community.
You can get in touch with Marline Martin and learn more about her theater company, Back-A-Yard Theater, by calling 718-638-4138.
Dr. Goodwin now interviews Dr. David Sloan Wilson, a professor of evolutionary biology at the State University of New York in Binghamton. He explains that while many people like to explain all human behavior as selfish at its root, the study of both animals and humans shows that this is not the case.
Many different kinds of organisms seem programmed to be "self-sacrificing" when there is a good consequence for the group of which they are a part. Of course, motives and emotions of unselfishness are unique to humans.
Dr. Goodwin and Dr. Wilson talk about the interaction between genetics and the environment when it comes to character and altruistic traits. They speculate about the larger forces that shape society, and about how mechanisms for social control develop.
In humans, Dr. Wilson says, there is a broad range of behavior when it comes to altruism or unselfishness. It can pay to be unselfish and surround oneself with like-minded people, but on the other hand one may leave oneself open to exploitation at the hands of those who are not so nice.
Dr. Wilson is the co-author with Dr. Elliott Sober of Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior.
MSNBC's John Hockenberry offers a special commentary on character as a journalist who has covered the recent Presidential scandal. And covered it and covered it and...
Finally, a special report on a series of investigative reports by the Hartford Courant. The paper says that at least 141 psychiatric patients--many of them children--have died in the last decade after being placed restraints. Dr. Goodwin speaks with Eric Weiss, the lead author of the series that ran last fall.
Mr. Weiss explains how such deaths often go unmonitored and unreported, and how psychiatric hospitals are in many respects less regulated than nursing homes or facilities for the mentally retarded. Many of the deaths are at the hands occur after action by aides who are sometimes ill-educated, low-paid, and minimally trained. He and Dr. Goodwin discuss what can be done to remedy the situation in our hospitals and legislation that is now pending as a result of the Courant's series.
To read the newspaper's full report, you can visit their Web site.
Underwriting for the Character show provided in part by the John Templeton Foundation, exploring the creative interface between science and religion.
