Dear Editor;
I was very happy to see Ms Yvonne Sam’s letter in the media of Tuesday 11th October, asking the question: “Should Character Education form part of the School Curriculum?” To me as a concerned citizen, I believe that her question should be answered with a resounding “YES”.
And, as an ‘old teacher’ myself, I wish to plead with our teachers not to await any ‘instructions from above’, but to start, if you are not already doing so, by initiating simple modalities or techniques for imparting the building blocks for good character development. I have no doubt that our teachers, especially our senior teachers, are already aware – from the accumulation in their ‘bag of tricks’ – of the various ways in which this simple yet crucial, but apparently overlooked , subject can be subtly put on the front burner without sacrificing the so-called ‘3 R’s’ and other substantive subjects.
I recall for example from my teaching days using opportunities readily available for teachers to utilise at their sole discretion in the choice of topics for essay writing, or passages for précis writing or approaches and activities in the teaching of Civics etc. Of course there is nothing better than role modeling!
NowrangPersaud