Character education cooperation is difficult for teachers. Why not? Cooperation is a word that is unwelcome in many spheres. Cooperation means me stepping aside to make room for you. For example, in the world of construction, many workers must cooperate to build a single small home. If the project is to be a skyscraper, it will require cooperation from many more workers. It will require common effort for common benefit.

When students watch a video about character, do you watch with them, or grade papers at your desk? When a guest speaker does a presentation on character in the school auditorium, do you stay focused on the speaker, or chat with other teachers? Do you set up a hypothetical situation and ask teens in groups to work through the moral implications and reach their conclusions, allowing you preparation time? Or do you guide a full-class discussion so that they reach proper conclusions?

Character education cooperation can be cooperation in its finest clothing. Teachers who cooperate fully with students to educate their minds can produce many learned individuals. If they do not cooperate to educate the morals, however, it is as Theodore Roosevelt said: "To educate a person in the mind but not the morals is to educate a menace to society." Teachers, and I include parents in the home, can make great strides in building character if they work together with the students toward selected, clearly stated character goals.