Tulare County Office of Education

Building Character Collectively - A Tulare County Legacy

The following guest commentary was printed in the Visalia Times-Delta on October 21, 2011 during National CHARACTER COUNTS! week, October 16-22. The piece was written by Kelley Petty, Coordinator of the CHARACTER COUNTS! program operated by the Tulare County Office of Education.

Kelley Petty, CHARACTER COUNTS! Coordinator

Kelley Petty, CHARACTER COUNTS! Coordinator

Character building is experienced by the young people of Tulare County day in, day out and year round; however, during the third week of October each year we make a special point to celebrate the success of our efforts through CHARACTER COUNTS!, as sponsored by the Josephson Institute of Ethics. During the week of October 17 - 22, we publicly acknowledge how CHARACTER COUNTS! promotes and instills those traits known as the Six Pillars of Character. These six pillars - Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship - are first and foremost the responsibility of the immediate family and their faith-based communities. Additionally, our schools and youth service organizations also contribute to Tulare County's collective efforts of character development.

We are very fortunate to have the support of the Visalia Time-Delta, and we give special thanks for their commitment to sharing "Kids of Character" stories during CHARACTER COUNTS! Week. This important community support for character education, as demonstrated in the profile articles and on-line pillar recognition, has served as an exemplary model for communities throughout the nation.

The Tulare County Office of Education takes an active role in building character by providing CHARACTER COUNTS! Training for all Tulare County Schools and their communities. Training materials include a comprehensive delivery of the six pillars of character traits and teaching strategies for schools to include as part of their school's culture.

These training materials cover all six pillars of character. One of the strongest segments details a description of responsibility - what it means and how it is exhibited on campus and in the classroom. With sample lessons of character building around the responsibility trait, participants develop a sound knowledge base along with a selection of strategies to enhance personal and collective responsibility. At the conclusion of this year's collection of "Kids of Character" nominations, we will institute a major change in this section of training. We will with great pride include some of the most powerful actions that have been displayed by our own Tulare County students.

The CHARACTER COUNTS! Training manual defines Developing Collective Responsibility as "providing students with a sense of what it means to be a member of a school, enabling students to share the responsibility for holding all accountable and having the courage to speak up when these expectations are not held."

Actions of our students in Tulare County, as expressed in this year's nominations, speak louder than words in the training manual. See for yourself -

A young lady is recognized by more than one nominator and is described as one who deeply cares for her family, friends, schools and church and not afraid to stand up for what is right.
An 8th grader can be trusted to tell the truth, even if that means the truth may bring negative consequences.
A 3rd grader becomes the computer expert in the classroom and spends his own free time ensuring his fellow classmates do not have difficulty logging on to the classroom computers.
A student-athlete who takes initiative to collect assignments prior to missing class for a sporting event.
A 6th grader consistently points out others in class that have completed a task just as well as he has, rather than taking the spotlight for himself.
A middle school student believes collective responsibility means you are part of a dependable community and then tells a student who needed to leave class early, "Don't worry, I'll take notes for you."
A high school freshman didn't think twice about helping another student pick up his papers off the ground as upperclassman walked by laughing. When the freshman was thanked for his gesture, he simply said: "Hey, we are all Mustangs here."

These students are living proof of a Tulare County legacy - building character collectively is the result of intentional and purposeful strategies providing a common framework of ethical values that transcend divisions of race, creed, politics, gender and wealth.

An anonymous observation is often cited when one describes a deficit of collective responsibility. It reads, "Too many people are willing to carry the stool, when it's the piano that needs to be moved."

In Tulare County, our youth "move the piano." We shouldn't be surprised if they one day move mountains as well.

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