IN a recent news item carried in this newspaper with the headline ‘Clergyman bemoans lack of character development among Jamaicans’, general secretary of the Jamaica Baptist Union Rev Karl Johnson accused Jamaican leaders of only paying lip service to character development. The cleric argued that to ignore the promotion of character formation is to run the risk of breeding qualified workers who will take their unethical practices on the job. He was speaking at a church service to launch Holland High School’s 10th anniversary celebrations at the St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Trelawny.

This is a most timely observation that should have sparked a national debate. Many readers will recall that former Prime Minister P J Patterson unsuccessfully tried to introduce a Values and Attitudes Programme, but it eventually fell by the wayside because of widespread cynicism and a lack of political will. Subsequently, during the period 2001 to 2002, then Opposition Leader Edward Seaga put together a group of distinguished Jamaicans to formulate a plan for the introduction of character education in schools. I had the honour of chairing that committee, which included such luminaries as Dr Henry Lowe and the late Dr Joyce Robinson. The Jamaica Labour Party lost the election in 2002 and so that plan went to file 13. It must be made clear that this was not a partisan group, but comprised professional people from various recognised disciplines.

So far, the current People’s National Party Administration has not fully embraced such an idea whose time has come. As Rev Johnson pointed out, “neither country nor community can survive without an ethical guidance. We need to get this country to start thinking again about character formation. Let us not be duped; some things are right and some things are wrong. Let us not be duped about that (and) act as if everything is all right and if once it is popular it is proper. It is not everything that is popular is proper.”

These are potent words worth repeating in the corridors of power where decision-makers oftentimes gather to determine our fate. The late talk show icon Wilmot “Motty” Perkins frequently alluded to the frightening yet instructive words of a young female caller on his Perkins On Line radio programme, who bemoaned the fact that, in Jamaica today, it is good to be bad. Almost daily when one reads the newspapers, there are numerous accounts of fraud, larceny and other immoral and unethical acts being committed — sometimes by people in high places or in areas of trust. I well recall overhearing a young woman telling a friend that anywhere she works she has to be able steal some money, if not, is not worth it. She was a cashier.

In another timely intervention, South African Christian businessman Graham Power, who recently visited Jamaica to introduce an ethical behaviour campaign, urged the island’s business, church and political leaders to join his international campaign promoting ethical behaviour. Part of his campaign is to get leaders in all disciplines to sign pledge forms committing themselves to a range of ethical principles and clean living. Among the pledges are honesty, faithfulness, selflessness; refusing to elicit, accept or pay bribes and to encourage others to do the same; caring for the poor, widows, orphans and strangers; and to pay reasonable salaries to staff.

It is no secret that corruption is rife in the society at all levels. What is most worrying about this trend is that many citizens do not see anything wrong in what they are doing — so long as they do not get caught. It is against this backdrop that the teaching of character education should become an essential ingredient, starting from the basic school right up to university.

According to Wikipedia: “Character education is an umbrella term loosely used to describe the teaching of children in a manner that will help them develop variously as moral, civic, good, mannered, behaved, non-bullying, healthy, critical, successful, traditional, compliant or socially acceptable beings. Concepts that now and in the past have fallen under this term include social and emotional learning, moral reasoning and cognitive development, life skills education, health education, violence prevention, critical thinking, ethical reasoning, and conflict resolution and mediation.”

There are many character education programmes in various countries outside of Jamaica, so it would not be necessary to reinvent the wheel as the core values

(for example, stewardship, honesty, courage, kindness, generosity, , freedom, justice, equality, and respect) are universally recognised and accepted. When one looks at what is happening in our schools today, it becomes painfully obvious that character education should be a must. After all, a school is the microcosm of the society.

One worrying aspect to all of this is whether or not the political directorate should be at the forefront of such a campaign. Let’s face it, politicians are seen by most citizens as corrupt, unethical, and cannot be trusted. Indeed, it may well be argued that politicians themselves should be subject to a course in character education. However, the horse has already bolted through the gate so it may suit us to focus now, instead, on the youth so that future politicians among other people of influence will be well equipped ethically and morally.

In this vein, it behoves the Church, service clubs, political parties, professional bodies, among other stakeholders, to execute character education in their various schedule of activities so as to help sensitise the nation on the importance of having a sound character.

Mahatma Ghandi lists as the Seven Deadly Sins: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, science without humanity, knowledge without character, politics without principle, commerce without morality, and worship without sacrifice.

In the final analysis, Jamaica’s education system will continue to fail in real terms until the output is sufficiently infused with a good dose of character education. Passing subjects or even acquiring a PhD cannot and should not be the endgame with respect to being a well-adjusted human being whose behaviour and thoughts should help to enhance the quality of human life in a holistic way.

Civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King Jr puts it best: “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character; that is the goal of true education.” Enough said!