How do you develop character?

Abstract

Air Force ROTC does an excellent job of developing character in college students by creating solid lesson plans (containing core values, discipline, professionalism, and self-discipline lessons/case studies), by the positive influences of cadre members, upper-class cadets, and peer cadets, by providing a family environment and structure, and with outstanding monetary rewards. Universities could use some of these tactics to develop character in students; however, some are indigenous to AFROTC/a military training environment.

Background: A Study in Contrasts

Imagine walking into a university classroom as a professor, and it is only 1/2 to 2/3 full. As you survey the room, 1/3 of the students appear to be hung-over, another 1/3 are in a catatonic state for an undetermined reason, and 1/3 seem fairly eager to learn. In this rather easy, freshman-level class of 70 students, approximately 8-10 earn a grade of D or F. When the course/instructor critiques are turned in, they are positive regarding the class and extremely positive about your work as an instructor. However, several of the critiques have very odd comments. For example, 2-3 of the critiques say, "He was a great and funny instructor; however, he would have been even better if he would have done 'shrooms with us." What would be your overall impression of the character of these 70 students?

Now, contrast the aforementioned information with the following. You walk into a university classroom as a professor, and all 30 of your students are not only present, but also, they rise when you enter the room and remain standing until you tell them to take their seats. As you survey the room, all of the students are attentive and seem eager to learn. In this class of 30 students, 0 earn a D or F, and 0 or 1 earn a C; the overwhelming majority of students earn an A or B. When the course/instructor critiques are turned in, they are positive regarding the class and extremely positive about your work as an instructor. None of the critiques have odd comments, and no one mentions doing 'shrooms with you. What is your overall impression of the character of these students? Which group would you rather teach?

The Truth is Stranger than Fiction

When I taught Aerospace Studies A100, A101, and A102 for 3 years (June 2000-June 2003) at Indiana University, Air Force ROTC Detachment 215, I experienced these two disparate groups each and every semester. As you can probably surmise, the first group of students mentioned above wasn't a group of AFROTC cadets, while the second group was. Our detachment taught a course for IU students who weren't cadets, introducing them to the Air Force (e.g., core values, career opportunities, pay, benefits, history, etc.). We did this for 3 reasons: 1. To support IU by providing a second 8-weeks of the semester class for students, since second 8-weeks classes were hard to come by. 2. To expose more people to what the AF is all about. 3. To try to recruit a few people into our detachment. The students in this second 8-weeks class behaved exactly like group one mentioned above.

How does AFROTC do it?

So, this begs the question: "How does AFROTC get these young men and women to come to class every time, pay attention, work hard to get good grades, and stay out of trouble?" To begin with, AFROTC isn't 100% successful; not every cadet gets good grades or stays out of trouble. However, in my 3 years at AFROTC Det 215, about 90% of the cadets had good grades, stayed out of trouble, etc. So, once again, "How does AFROTC succeed in developing students of good character and in speeding up the maturation process?"

Based on my 3 years of AFROTC experience, I believe the AFROTC lesson plans, the influences of the cadre members, upper class cadets, and peer cadets, family environment, structure, and money all contributed to the development of character in AFROTC cadets. Also, AFROTC cadre members teach cadets about accountability and responsibility and hold the cadets accountable, and the cadre members teach the cadets about "Duty, Honor, Country," which General Douglas MacArthur immortalized, on May 12, 1962, in his famous speech at West Point (Department of Defense Pamphlet GEN-1A, US Government Printing Office, 1964). The United States Air Force Academy Preparatory School, where I now teach, also teaches these concepts; however, I'm writing about AFROTC because I spent 3 years there, and I've only been here for 1/2 a year.

Excellent Lesson Plans

AFROTC lesson plans contain a plethora of information to help develop character. The cadre members and cadets discuss the Air Force core values of "Integrity First," "Service before Self," and "Excellence in All We Do" throughout the 4 years of AFROTC (Most of this information comes from the United States Air Force Core Values handbook, dated January 1, 1997, otherwise known as the "Little Blue Book"). Not only do instructors and cadets discuss these core values, but also, students get to work and examine case studies, which enhance their understanding and help them internalize the core values. The lesson plans also stress professionalism, discipline, self-discipline, always doing the right thing, and equal opportunity and treatment. The "integrity" discussions show cadets they must never lie--no matter the consequences. Subordinates, superiors, and peers must always know they can trust them. The "service" discussion centers on putting the team before self; in the Air Force, two of the main priorities are accomplishing the mission and taking care of the troops. Those two priorities come before self-fulfillment. The "excellence" discussions teach the cadets second place is not acceptable in war; good enough and status quo are also unacceptable. The Air Force must continuously improve and always strive for excellence (Again, much of the information for these lesson plans comes from the United States Air Force Core Values handbook, dated January 1, 1997). For example, this handbook states, "Excellence in all we do directs us to develop a sustained passion for the continuous improvement and innovation that will propel the Air Force into a long-term, upward spiral of accomplishment and performance." Self-discipline lessons, in conjunction with integrity lessons, teach cadets that they must do the right thing, even when no one is looking. Equal opportunity and treatment lessons teach cadets to embrace diversity and to treat everyone with respect, regardless of race, sex, color, religion, or ethnicity. The Air Force is a diverse organization, and we are proud of this fact.

Positive Impact of Cadre and Fellow Cadets

In addition to excellent lesson plans, the positive impact of cadre members, upper-class cadets, and cadet peers helps develop character. The cadre members and upper-class cadets serve as excellent examples of how to behave in a disciplined, professional, and caring way. The cadre members help the cadets immensely because the cadre members have many years of Air Force experience and excellent stories to pass along. The cadre members also set the example for the cadets (e.g., professionalism, enthusiasm, self-discipline, integrity, service before self, and excellence). Cadre members routinely drop what they are doing when a cadet comes in for advice, so they can help the cadet in every way possible. The upper-class cadets motivate the cadets to be people of great character by giving them one-on-one and group guidance, and this has a big impact because they are almost the same age and because they give the younger cadets excellent role models to look up to, according to retention surveys administered every semester at Indiana University's AFROTC Detachment 215. The peer cadets are helpful because there is safety in numbers. New cadets often feel self-conscious about standing at attention, marching, saluting, etc.; however, they get in that habit by observing the upper-class cadets and because they aren't so embarrassed because their peers are doing the same things. After a semester of observing and participating in these foreign Air Force customs, they become old hat for the cadets, and they are no longer embarrassed, but proud, of the customs and courtesies.

Family Environment and Structure

Besides lesson plans and cadre members and fellow cadets helping develop the character of the cadets, the family environment and structure of Air Force ROTC also assist in this process. When students attend a university with 40,000 other students, they often feel alone and overwhelmed; AFROTC helps them feel like members of a team or even, a family. They belong to something, and that makes the large university less threatening. Since they belong to this team/family, they want to fit in to the structured life of AFROTC, and they fit in by following the rules. These rules foment discipline, professionalism, integrity, service before self, and excellence. The cadets get in the habit of following rules, doing the right thing, treating people with respect, etc. It becomes second nature to them.

Monetary Rewards

In conjunction with the lesson plans, influence of cadre and cadets, and the family environment and structure, the money the Air Force provides cadets also helps build their character. You may ask, "How"? The money helps because it shows cadets they will be rewarded for excellent behavior and being of good character. The cadets can earn scholarships and stipends while in college and excellent, competitive salaries once they enter the Air Force as officers after graduation from college and after getting commissioned. As we well know, in our society, money talks.

Accountability and Responsibility

Cadre members also teach AFROTC cadets how to be accountable and responsible. They teach the cadets that you have to be willing to stand by your work--to take the praise when something goes well and take the blame when it doesn't. When cadets are taught responsibility, they learn that people are depending on them to show up on time, work hard, and meet their obligations. Believe it or not, cadre members actually have to teach most of the cadets to use calendars and alarms to ensure they don't miss meetings. The instructors teach them that it is unprofessional and immature to miss meetings or shirk their responsibility. If this becomes a habit, the cadet will probably not get commissioned.

Summary of How AFROTC does it

In summary, from what I witnessed while teaching AFROTC cadets, we developed character by using excellent lesson plans (containing core values, discipline, and self-discipline lessons/case studies), with the positive influences of the cadre, upper-class cadets, and peer cadets, by providing a family environment and structure, and with fantastic monetary rewards. Also, AFROTC cadre members teach cadets about accountability and responsibility and hold the cadets accountable, and the cadre members teach the cadets about "Duty, Honor, Country," which General Douglas MacArthur immortalized in his famous speech at West Point.

Can This Formula be Applied to All University Students?

How, this begs the questions, "Can universities tap into this character development process? Could AFROTC techniques work in the general student populace?" The answer is "yes and no." Yes, universities could require every student to take a class, complete with case studies, discussing core values, discipline, self-discipline, equal opportunity and treatment, professionalism, integrity, service before self, excellence in all they do, accountability, responsibility, duty, honor, and country. This could help develop the character of the students some; however, the rest of the aforementioned ways AFROTC develops character wouldn't transfer to the general student populace because a university couldn't duplicate the upper-class training system, the family environment, the military structure, or the monetary rewards. Thus, universities could require this class and integrate the aforementioned lessons/case studies, and this would help with some character development; however, the rest of the AFROTC tactics for building character would be lost. On a side note, if a year or two of ROTC were mandatory for all college students, like it was in the past at many universities, universities would be even more successful at building character instead of just teaching the class or classes on character.

Is It Just a Dream?

If universities could unlock this door to the character development of their students, then all professors could walk into a classroom where all of the students are present and engaged, where the effort is 100%, the grades are higher than in years past, and everyone benefits. Until then, professors will have to face half empty classrooms, inattentive students, halfhearted effort, and average to poor grades. The future of this country deserves better.

References

Department of Defense Pamphlet GEH- 1A

US Government Printing Office, 1964

Implementing A Character Education Curriculum and Assessing Its Impact On Student Behavior Presentation at the Character Education Partnership in Philadelphia PA on 10/20/2000 http://www.westga.edu/-sclimate/Character%20Article.htm

Making Citizen-Soldiers: ROTC and the Ideology of American Military Service By: Michael S. Neiberg Publisher: Harvard University Press 

MSL 302 Leadership and Ethics Textbook By: William L. Bolden, Daniel C. Hamilton, Sheila I. Visconti, ROTC Cadet Command Publisher: McGraw-Hill Primis Custom Publishing

United States Air Force Core Values Department of the Air Force, United States of America, January 1, 1997

What it takes to lead. (Special Feature). Career World, Oct, 2002, by P. Gregory Smith http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0HUV/2_31/92682695/p1/article.jhtml

Why ROTC? The Debate over Collegiate Military Training, 1969-1973 Dr. Arthur T. Coumbe Document created: 30 September 99 Air & Space Power Chronicles--Chronicles Articles http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/cc/coumbe.html

Roger Scott, United States Air Force Academy Preparatory School

Capt Roger Scott is an English instructor. He was awarded a master's degree in Human Resources Development from Webster University.