School is growing strong characters to better community, says parent
Monday, October 30, 2006 -- Michelle Strutzenberger
In Ontario public schools, character education is coming back in vogue. Posters, workshops, and lectures are highlighting timeless values ike honesty, empathy, and kindness.

Sylvia DeKoning describes how at Rhema character education happens not only in the classroom setting but through the response of strong, wise leaders to all kinds of situations.

Sylvia, a parent of two and active volunteer, remembers the time a number of grade five students from Rhema started a food fight in a ski chalet. She believes the lessons taught after that escapade show clearly a top strength of the school leadership. “[They are] teaching a Christian worldview in a fashion that helps the students grow to become strong individuals… to better the community as a whole.”

The food fight in question took place several years ago during a class trip. After the scenario was reported, the students were reprimanded, Sylvia remembers. “And for a lot of schools, it would have been left at that.”

Not at Rhema. First the students took part in the clean-up. Then, with the guidance of the principal, they wrote letters to the management of the chalet, apologizing for their behaviour.

“The people at the chalet were dumbfounded. They couldn’t believe these students were actually apologizing.”

Sylvia says that through that event the students learned an important life-lesson about taking active responsibility for one’s actions.

She refers to other incidents where teachers have demonstrated wisdom in handling different situations, like misunderstandings between students. “They show that it’s not just about me, me, me, but the greater picture of building community.”

Strengthening the character of the students, so that they actually contribute to the community, hinges on teaching them to make “wise choices,” says Sylvia, a process which happens regularly at the school.

She adds that the school leadership is adept at keeping the balance between allowing the students to mature “at the rate they can mature, knowing that they’re kids, and at the same time holding kids very much accountable for their actions.”

She believes that that accountability, as demonstrated in the chalet food fight, “can help the kids mature at a greater rate or be even more responsible.”

The result is “strong, community leaders later on in life.”