(Excerpt from Chapter Five, Traits for Success)

It is time for parents and educators to take back control! We must keep the finance-driven technology gurus and the politically driven corporate masters from gaining an outsized influence over our children. We need to agree on a common set of values and teach them directly to our children to counteract the messages our children receive in an increasingly individualistic society.

It is important to note that I am not advocating for societal change. Pluralism is a good thing, especially in America, where you dream of becoming anyone you wish. But the values shared amongst all families need to be clearly articulated. We need to fight the notion that we are a nation divided by subsets of disunity.

Children need to learn that being smart is not enough; that they will not become successful without working hard (persistence), without paying attention to organization, without establishing goals (attentiveness), and without being flexible. They will not become successful in isolation, and the pleasure all receive from being significant to others will be lost without very human values like generosity and courage.

Open minds can come up with better lists of community values than I can create from a distance, but the important thing to remember is that we all share values in a pluralistic society. Our job as parents and educators is to uncover the common ground and to speak with a singular, clear voice to our children about what it takes to be successful in life.

In recent decades, scientists have come closer and closer to mimicking the intellectual capacities of the human brain through AI and the Internet. Today there is always someone in the room who can access more information, more quickly. Its name is Google, Alexa, Siri, AI Chatbot, or some other yet-to-be-determined moniker. We have already lost this race for intellectual superiority.

But here is the deal. We win with character because computers have none. A computer does not know how to be persistent, have a positive attitude, be flexible, be courageous, or be responsible. It can mimic these attributes, but at best, it will always be a poor imitation of character because as hard as programmers try, computers have none. Rather than lament our loss of intellectual superiority over machines, we must enhance the common character qualities of the people driving our machines. [i]

Thanks to required levels of public schooling, all Americans today share a common educational experience. As a result, schools are the single, most important social organization in America. Accordingly, schools are the last social institutions that might hold enough respect to affect national change.  Schools must begin by taking the lead in redefining success for our children and our future children.   Today, you can’t ask people to agree on issues like abortion, gun control, and minority rights. However, you can convince them to agree on their children’s future and the importance of their children’s schooling. Agreeing on what it means to educate our children to grow up an American is the critical first step in resolving our differences.

We need to stop breaking ourselves into smaller and smaller minorities with indelible rights and start thinking about the expectations we share for all Americans. This is what Traits for Success is all about. The clearer we can agree on what it means to be an American – whether black or white, rich or poor, rural or urban, college-educated or not – the clearer we can set up a school system to support this. Discussion needs to focus on what is unique about being American and what values we all share for our children for the future.   Terms like persistence, positive attitude, flexibility, generosity, and courage will not be hard for most people to support.

For those who believe Americans are too independent to agree on common goals for character education, I point them to the millions of books sold by business authors like Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, Spencer Johnson, and James Clear. Each promotes the idea that hard work (persistence) pays off, that positive attitude matters, and that success demands a level of courage. [ii] [iii]

There is another salient and perhaps, more urgent reason to restore the influence of parents and teachers on our children. In November 2022, the New York Times reported on the looming crisis in teacher resignations.[iv] A survey of members of the National Education Association revealed that more than 50% of current teachers are looking for a way out of their chosen field.

Stories out of school today follow classrooms with no regular teacher, unqualified substitutes, and stressed-out colleagues who are trying to find ways to support the empty teacher desks. I personally am dismayed at the young, motivated, and outstanding teachers with whom I have spoken who are discouraged by the ravages of COVID-19, the attack of political voices in schools, and the resulting burnout of long-term career choices.

Teachers need to be inspired by the impact they are making. They need to be brought out of the political arena in which every lesson is questioned by some individual or group with a political agenda. They need to be reminded that their job is to develop intellect but also to create character; to provide opportunity for students; to change worlds.

This is not an annual fix that needs to take place but rather a generational change that needs to develop over many decades. Teachers need to be reminded that, above all, they teach their students character – the ability to seek out and find success in a challenging environment. Success will not be achieved by intellect alone but also by character-driven traits like persistence, responsibility, and positive attitude.

In recent years, teachers have been undercut by book banning, curriculum mismanagement, and political elements that move schools away from core issues of teaching children to be successful in life. It is time for schools to reassert our uniquely American character [v] by focusing on educating our children for the ideals of democracy – educating students for both talent and virtue, academics and good character. American schools have always voiced a commitment to teaching character. But we have allowed intellectual attainment to dominate for too long over character growth. It is time we move our American education system from good to great.

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[i] I should note that no one discusses developing a technology tool based on AC – Artificial Character. Character is the most profoundly human characteristic that sets us apart. No one envisions a future in which a machine makes courageous choices, where one computer is more persistent than another, or where one computer has a more positive attitude than another. Humans will lose the battleground over intellect and knowledge accumulation. Instead, we need to seek out how good character best manages the increasing knowledge base of our machines.

[ii] America has been grounded in capitalistic endeavors since its birth as a nation in the 1700s. People in America pay attention when business leaders speak because they speak in terms that define community success over religious morality.   This is not to say that religious morality is wrong, but instead that morality (good character) can ultimately become a shared parameter for success.

[iii] Any definition of good character need not be mired in theological terminology. What defines America is not the American intellect but the American character. Intellect will grow over time but not extensively. In character, there is endless room for new learning and growth.

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[iv] NY Times, (November 18, 2022), “Empty Classrooms, Abandoned Kids: Inside America’s Great Teacher Resignation”, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/18/opinion/teachers-quitting-education-crisis.html.

[v] American ethics is not substantially different from ethics in any country, except that America was founded differently.  American democracy is built on the hard work and courage demanded for establishing colonies in a New World, in the democratic process of taking full ownership of government, in the positive view of building a better civilization than the Old World Order, in embracing ourselves as a land of opportunity and possibility, in the generosity of opening doors to others (for all citizens as well as for future citizens), and in fostering a level of independence for each American.  Yes, there are challenges and missteps and ambiguities in our founding as well, but our aspirations for future generations need to be focused on ways we can take our greatest strengths and make them stronger.