By Mary Faulds, AFA Journal staff writer

October 2009 – Bernie Madoff. Enron. Ted Haggard. South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. Once upon a time, a man’s word was his bond, but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. Scandals have rocked Wall Street and government with increasing frequency. People look fondly back at days gone by when society simply seemed more polite and honest, and it is hard not to wonder why society has fallen.

The Josephson Institute has been working for almost two decades to create a more ethical society. The institute develops and delivers services and materials to increase ethical commitment, competence and practice in all segments of society. The AFA Journal spoke with executive director Richard Jarc and Justin Lu, assistant director of Character Counts!, a curriculum for teaching character to children.

AFA Journal: Why was the Josephson Institute started?
Richard Jarc: In the mid-1980s, law professor Michael Josephson saw the need to train the next generation in proper ethics and manners. The institute is basically an organization that was founded to improve the ethical quality of society. In other words, that sounds very lofty, but what Michael Josephson did is that after he sold his business, a successful bar study system, and rather than just retiring, he founded the institute in 1987 to honor his mother and father with the purpose of trying to make this a better world, make it a more ethical environment for everybody.

This was enhanced even more when he became a father. He saw that a lot of the ways that things were being done in society, he thought, could be improved and make it a better place for his son and four daughters. As a result the institute has several different aspects to it.

The biggest is Character Counts! which is a program where we teach teachers how to incorporate values into their curriculum. That doesn’t mean an extra class to teach, but rather it is a framework that is used to work with existing subjects to get stories across about the importance of values. Character Counts! can also be included with sports teams.

In addition to that, we do work with organizations like government agencies and police agencies to help them make sure that their workplace and their involvement with the public is done in the most ethical manner possible. We also do the same thing for the private sector. The Center for Business Ethics has done work with small organizations all the way up to huge corporations like Johnson & Johnson, Goodyear and 3M. We are also currently working on the government side with Puerto Rico.

AFAJ: What are the Six Pillars of Character as described in the Character Counts! curriculum?
Justin Lu: The Six Pillars of Character are the real basis of the Character Counts! program, as well as a lot of the other work we do at the Josephson Institute. They are trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. The idea behind that is that those are a common language for educators and adults to have a consistent vocabulary, within the Character Counts! curriculum, to address attitude and behavior issues. That way, issues such as bullying are tied into values such as respect. Coming to class on time with your homework done, that’s responsibility.

The origin of the Six Pillars comes from a summit that we did in 1992 in Aspen, Colorado. A group of educators, youth service professionals and leaders in the field of character education sought to identify core ethical values, values that truly transcend time and culture. These “thought leaders,” as Michael called them, came from the left and the right, so we knew that these values really were a universal language.

AFAJ: Many people say our society is getting ruder. Are more people/organizations seeking out your help?
RJ: I would say that our appeal has broadened. We’re a small organization, so we get as much exposure as we can. Awareness about us is growing, and there are continuing to be, especially in the private sector, examples of people who lack any ethics. And also, we are seeing that in government. It just calls the need to people’s attention.

We also have people in the private sector saying, “Look, we want you to come in to prevent this problem from happening.” We have a little saying, “You don’t have to be sick to get better.” Those people in the private sector who come to us are training their people in ethics as a preventative action. Many of them feel they currently have a good reputation and they don’t want that tarnished.

I mentioned earlier that we have begun talks to work with the government of Puerto Rico. They brought us in because they elected a new governor who took office in January, and he’s a native Puerto Rican and has seen the values decline on his island, and it was very troublesome. It was across the board from young kids to older adults, so he has decided that we need to do a major program there to help people understand that the whole place would be a much better place to live if people operated on a stronger set of values.

AFAJ: Last year, you released the report card on youth ethics. In it, you said 63% of those surveyed cheated on a test at least once, over 80% lied to their parents about something significant, and 30% stole something from a store. Were you surprised to see how unethical today’s young people are?
RJ: Surprised, no. Disappointed, yes. We’re disappointed to see that the number of people doing unethical things seems to be staying at a high number. It just seems from study to study to study that those numbers stay very high.

We had hoped that just things in general would make society a better place, and the unfortunate thing is, it just hasn’t. It’s actually pretty scary. It’s scary when you see that today’s youth, today’s high school students, think it’s OK to cheat and such. We need to do something about this because these are the future politicians, the guys who are going to make our laws, the doctors, the construction workers, the people who are going to take over the world!

I think any one of us, if you asked, would say, “It would be great if the kids could rely on getting their values at home, because that’s really the root of where values are supposed to come from.” But just look at our society. How many single moms, how many latchkey kids are out there? The parents aren’t necessarily doing anything wrong, they’re just working so hard, in many cases. Some parents aren’t very good parents, to be honest. Some parents are relying on the schools to teach the kids values, or they rely on church or religious groups. What we see ourselves doing is filling a gap that has been created.

AFAJ: When was the first Character Counts! Week?
JL: The first Character Counts! Week was in 1993. I know during his first term, I’m not sure when he started, but President Bill Clinton did start declaring national Character Counts! Week as the third full week of October. And every year since then, there has been a presidential declaration recognizing the third full week of October as national Character Counts! Week. This year it is October 18-24. Many governors have proclaimed Character Counts! Week in their states, and we’ve also had House of Representatives and Senate declarations as well.

AFAJ: What are some of the success stories from the Character Counts! program?
JL: We have one school out here in Los Angeles where Character Counts! really helped turn the school around. The school is St. Genevieve High School in Panorama City, California. Their school was on the verge of being closed down. It was known as a gang school, a ghetto school, by the kids in the community.

A new principal came in around 1999 or 2000. He wanted to bring in an edict of character and really help change the culture for character on the campus. There had been a culture of hazing on the campus, where freshman were scared to come to school because they knew the upperclassmen were going to torment them.

Through promoting Character Counts! and character development on the campus, he was able to get the buy-in of the staff and the students. It was hard to do at first, to really sort of change the culture. But now, the campus has totally turned around over the past eight or nine years.

When you walk on campus now at St. Genevieve, it is really an amazing place. The kids are welcoming and friendly. You can tell that they are happy to be there. If you ask any kid, they can tell you about the Six Pillars and the importance and relevance of them.

AFAJ: Any final thoughts?
JL: We hope that people everywhere will celebrate Character Counts! Week, not just those whose organizations or schools hold celebrations. Our hope is that celebrating that week will lead to a year-round focus on character.
RJ: My final thought is a phrase Michael Josephson likes to use a lot, and that is, “What you allow, you encourage.” So you’ve got to think a lot about what you are allowing because you may well be encouraging behavior that’s not really what you want.  

The Josephson Institute’s Character Counts! curriculum is used to promote ethical behavior in business, schools, sports, government and law enforcement. To learn more, visit www.josephsoninstitute.org.

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Family ministries offer character education resources
Both Focus on the Family and FamilyLife ministries offer resources for teaching character to children.

Focus on the Family
Colorado Springs, CO 80995
Web: www.fotf.org
Phone: 800-A-FAMILY

FamilyLife
P.O. Box 7111 Little Rock, AR 72223
Web: www.familylife.com
Phone: 800-FL-TODAY