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Many schools across the country have adopted the Character Counts program in their schools. This program aims to teach children how to have good character under what the program calls the "six pillars of character" which include: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship. These pillars are important in the development of one's character.

As I have dug deeper into these pillars, I have found something in the pillar of fairness that could be considered a serious flaw in this program. "Don't blame others carelessly" is one of the guiding principles of the fairness pillar. Many educator sites on the internet refer to this as being a tattletale.
The Character Counts program may mean well in that it is trying to curb "chronic tattletale" behavior. But, should we be trying to curb that behavior? I know teachers get tired of hearing "Timmy butted in front of me" and "Becky took my pencil." I personally think that Timmy should go to his rightful place in line and that Becky ought not be taking what doesn't belong to her.
Character Counts seems to want us to suppress tattling behavior.
Last week, Asa Coon, a 14-year-old student in Cleveland walked down the halls of his school with two firearms wounding two students and two teachers. These acts of violence seem to be increasing in our schools. What if someone had tattled on Asa Coon? What if someone had tattled on the other teenage gunmen at the other schools where tragedy has struck in the past?
Character Counts will say that they are trying to teach children responsible "telling." Children, in my opinion, need to be taught that telling, or tattling, is okay. It should not be left up to the child to determine if the tattling is appropriate or not. It needs to be determined by the proper authority (in this case the teacher or administrator). The definition of tattling has to do with "letting out secrets." A child bringing a gun to school should not be a secret.
As a parent of school age children, I'd like to see the tattletale component completely removed from the Character Counts program. The world we live in demands that we report suspicious behaviors and we should encourage children to report these things to an adult. Will kids over-report? Sure. In my mind, that's a lot safer than children under-reporting because they don't feel like they can talk to a teacher.
I like the Character Count program; however, as long as we live in a world where children are bringing guns to schools, I think we could use a few more tattletales.

Learn more about this author, Adam Woodworth.
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