The MI State B of Ed has released a policy on the teaching of character. 
Following is today's Detroit Free press article on the policy. The 
complete text of the policy, including the Preamble is at  
http://www.freep.com/news/mich/qeducate2.htm

State OKs lessons on character
Policy urges adding examples to regular teachings 

                   October 25, 1996

                   By PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI
                   Free Press Education Writer

A controversial policy endorsing character education in public schools 
was approved by the state Board of Education on Thursday.

The policy does not require schools to teach character education, but 
does give the board's seal of approval to the idea.

"While this may not be as bold as some would like, it is very bold," said 
board President Clark Durant, a Grosse Pointe Republican.

The measure passed along party lines, with all six Republicans supporting 
it and Kathleen Straus, a Detroit Democrat, casting the only no vote. The
board's only other Democrat, Barbara Mason of Lansing, was absent.

The policy singles out respect, responsibility, caring, trustworthiness, 
justice, civic virtue and citizenship as examples of good character 
traits. But what, if any, character traits are taught would be left up to
schools.

The board emphasized that it was not recommending teaching values as a 
separate subject, such as math or reading. Instead, the concepts would be
introduced through other lessons. For example, a teacher could point out 
the good character traits in a historical figure.

Durant proposed the policy in July, noting that school districts ought to 
be able to teach character using the life of Moses. That set off concerns 
about separation of church and state.

Board member Dorothy Beardmore, a Rochester Hills Republican, said she 
proposed the compromise policy approved Thursday.

"Otherwise it wasn't going to get done," she said. Beardmore strongly 
advocated keeping religion out of character education.

Worries about character education usurping parents' rights or opening the 
door to teaching religion in public schools surfaced again Thursday.

Values "are best taught in the home, the synagogue, the mosque or in the 
church," said Robert Brown, the vice president of the Jewish Community 
Council of Metro Detroit.

"Creating an environment where these values are carried out involves much 
more than a mission statement," Brown told the board. 

The one-page policy statement came with a three-page preamble that quotes 
the Founding Fathers, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Susan B. Anthony. It 
was the preamble, not the policy, that was most controversial. Straus 
said she would have voted for the policy if the preamble was deleted.

"It opens a possibility that it can be interpreted in ways I would not be 
comfortable with teaching," she said.

The preamble is laced with phrases that could be construed as religious 
references, such as "immutable principles of private morality" and
"blessings of liberty" -- both from George Washington's speeches.

The policy is relatively free of such references and reaffirms the value 
of diversity, individual rights and separation of church and state.

Durant and board member Gary Wolfram, R-Hillsdale, were the most vocal 
about linking character training to the roots of American democracy.

Durant passed out postcards with pictures of several of the historical 
figures quoted in the preamble, along with copies of Washington's 
inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and King's "I
Have A Dream" speech.

Understanding how the nation's founders viewed American character is 
critical to understanding democracy, Durant said. Americans, he said, are 
the guardians of their country's liberties and living according to the 
tenets of good character is key to preserving those liberties.

"There really is a need to teach what the founders had in mind," Durant 
said.