Character training is regarded as somewhat disreputable, but the qualities of determination, carefulness, concentration, self-restraint, patience, conscientiousness, and endurance are each different aspects of personal capability children need to acquire. This paper analyzes and indicates the educational importance of each of these qualities within the categories of endeavor, heed, and control, regarding them as qualities of will. At their heart is the notion of effort as striving. It suggests that teachers need to overcome their reluctance to conceive the goals of schooling through this perspective--paying particular attention to the relative insignificance of cultural pluralism and to the importance of the teacher's role as a model and as a guide through difficulty--and it concludes with a set of implications for the work teachers do and the moral life of schools.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Hugh Sockett (1988) studied this question.