ABSTRACT
Often schools have sincere intentions to prioritize character education and may even engage in explicit rhetoric about those intentions, but the initiative sputters because there are no structures in place to make those intentions become a reality or to sustain them consistently. Developing the competency to reason about social and moral issues, however, requires very different methods. This is a matter of critical thinking. To educate for critical thinking, in character or any academic subject, requires giving students the opportunity to grapple with concepts and issues, rather than giving them the answers to, in this case, moral questions. Behavior management is a good example. This is a perfect place to nurture the flourishing of human goodness, but it is frequently done ineffectively and even counterproductively. Middle and high schools often partner with their feeder elementary schools and have their students volunteer to mentor and tutor their elementary partners.
