Character Strong: Still the Wrong Choice for Hamilton
Photo from Character Strong.
Kennedy Ellis
Character Strong has been implemented into Hamilton for about two years now and is still clearly the wrong choice (see Character Strong: The Wrong Choice for Hamilton from last year). While it was implemented with good intentions to try to combat the ever growing behavioral issues at Hamilton, it simply is not doing its job. The canned program is now simply aggravating students instead of helping with the behavior issues.
But first, what is Character Strong? In the words of Mrs. Newcomer, Hamilton High School's principal, “Character Strong is about learning to be a good human being.” So if Hamilton believes that this issue needs to be combated, and students at Hamilton largely despise Character Strong, then what is the right answer?
When asked about the total cost of Character Strong, Mrs. Newcomer was not able to give an exact price tag, but stated, “Cost is not the same for different schools.” Essentially, more students using the program means more money is spent, and Character Strong has a formula used for what to charge schools. So though we are not fully aware of the price, the cost of Character Strong, however much it may be, is not worth it, which is a concern echoed among students. Junior Norah Jaworski writes:
I feel like it's money wasted. Rather than educating us on how to be competent socially and mentally (because I feel like that course doesn't actually teach us how to be socially and mentally healthy), I wish they spent our advisement time on teaching us things we could do in our senior year, like blended classes, college courses, work experience, etc., I just feel like that would be better time spent because it would help us plan our final year out while being a little more informed. Being a "good person" and being social and part of a community isn't something that can be taught through a digital course; it's learned through real life experiences, which is why I think Character Strong isn't really needed.
Though this is one student’s opinion, it seems to largely reflect how many students feel about Character Strong.
But while this is a widespread opinion, it is also clear from survey data and student perception that Hamilton needs to increase the sense of student belonging and decrease student behavioral issues. In short, this is a problem that needs a solution. When asking Mrs. Newcomer what she thinks should be done and if she still believes Character Strong is necessary, she stated that Character Strong will continue to be used until “we stop getting referrals from underclassmen and upperclassmen; that will be an indication that our job is done.” Mrs. Newcomer also added that “the underlying message of it is really good.”
No doubt about it, the issues at Hamilton need to be addressed and confronted, but doing things like Character Strong that many students rarely find value in is not the way to go about it. Having curriculum or lessons in advisement is not the issue, but the program Hamilton picked–Character Strong–makes it feel like a waste of time. As junior Lauren Bickler notes, “Students don’t take it seriously and so the benefits that the administration thinks it provides aren’t there.”
While the participation of students is needed for the success of this program, it seems clear from conversations with many different students that Character Strong is not something that students are fully invested in. Though this could be evidence that we aren’t fully utilizing the program, this directly shows how the program is not worth it if students do not find value in what they are doing and makes it unlikely to achieve positive results. But what else can be done is unclear when there are contradicting feelings about something that needs full support and participation in order to work correctly.
When sending out a survey to Hamilton students, many felt passionately about what could be done to replace Hamilton's Character Strong, showing that students themselves have good ideas for how to better the community at Hamilton. Surveyed students were asked the question: Based on data in the Panorama survey, our district has noticed a trend of students not feeling like a greater part of the community. Character Strong was instituted to help students feel a better sense of belonging and safety. If given the opportunity to do something else to accomplish these goals, what would you implement?
The overwhelming responses of students who felt passionately about this was moving, many stating concern for the actions of students at Hamilton and having great ideas. This shows that students can help create meaningful advisement activities that will actually improve the community, rather than a band-aid fix with an expensive canned program that doesn’t suit the needs of Hamilton students. Many of these student ideas came with no costs and could save the district money.
Here are just a few ideas from Hamilton students:
Jaworski suggested, “If someone is aware that they aren’t connected and want to be connected, then the school can provide support groups for people.” It is worth noting that Student Services is already running some of these groups where students meet regularly to connect with each other. This might be an area that the school could better promote or provide greater awareness of so it can benefit more students.
Jaworski also adds, “If the school really wants to allow students to flourish in this aspect, maybe host a wider variety of student-led/community events. One example was the Holi festival last year; it was a student-led event, and there was a community present. Empowering students to host a wider variety of these types of events will let more people be involved, which gives them more chances to feel like part of a community.”
Ella Janiszewski (junior) suggested, “I think that the two most beneficial ‘community-building’ opportunities are in classrooms and during large group events like field trips or pep rallies. Since the latter can be difficult to arrange and expensive, building individual communities within classrooms is a better way to go than forcing students to participate in awkward, formulaic exercises during time that could be better spent on school work.”
Junior Derek Zhang echoes Janiszewski’s idea about building more school spirit, stating, “More school-wide events like spirit weeks could be helpful in bringing a sense of Charger Pride and connecting the student body.”
Jordana Jenson (sophomore), adds, “I think we can find better ways to help students feel more comfortable speaking their mind, whether that is finding ways to talk to someone in student council or feeling more included in their community. Our school could do something as simple as having staff listen more and help the situation. However, I feel that it should not be entirely dependent on the school or staff, so we could research other programs that could help people and our school be better to each other as a whole.”
Senior Ava Buchholz adds that “honest conversations about how we can support each other rather than presentations where data and well known things are pushed on students for a long period of time” would be a better and more productive fix to some of the issues of lack of community.
One of the common student critiques of Character Strong is that the lessons are designed to last for an entire advisement and contain hundreds of slides. Noah Bilstad (junior) notes that one way to have higher student buy-in is to have “shorter lessons that are more involved so people have time to do other things and actually have a reason to participate in the lessons.”
While these are just a few quotes, many students expressed similar beliefs on how we could change what Hamilton does to incorporate a sense of community at Hamilton. Although there is not a foreseeable change in the future in the continuation of Character Strong, an eagerly growing sense for change in the way Hamilton chooses to try to build a sense of community is apparent. But one thing is apparent–the students' opinions. Hamilton students who have first-hand experience with the way Character Strong has affected them are looking for a change, and know one can be done.
