Published: September 4, 1996

Connections

You should not try to teach values as you would theorems or grammar, says English teacher Catherine Bell, you should model them. In her essay "Character Education," (in this month's issue) Bell concludes, "Values for educators, then, are not to teach but to have." Like it or not, teachers are role models, and the way they act does more to shape character in the young than anything they say.

That's a heavy load to carry--to know that everything you do may be subtly influencing children in ways that could change their lives. Humility, therefore, should be a teacher's touchstone, Bell says, "along with the courage to embody our own values." In the end, she adds, "the only effective way to 'teach' equality is to...