Transcript:
Ms. Devoto:
First of all, I’d like to welcome 6th graders to your first Character Ed piece. You saw an intro to this program in Camp Hillview. Today’s topic is moral courage. That means standing up for what you believe is right. I selected it because in August the 7th and 8th graders who weren’t involved in Camp Hillview, did a “Guess Activity,” after watching a video about Academic Integrity.
(Congratulations to Ms. Hutsell’s homeroom, by the way, for coming the closest to the correct percentages. They’re enjoying a breakfast treat this morning.) Anyway, one of the answers on that “Guess” was that only 4 percent of high schoolers said that they would turn in another student for cheating….Does this say something about their moral courage. I think we can all agree that cheating is wrong. But what is it about speaking up that makes it so difficult.
Being shunned, a moral outcast, not being able to fit in….. To have courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s doing what’s right in spite of being afraid. There’s physical courage….think of the firefighters who went into the burning World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, or the Amish girls, who told the shooter in their schoolroom last year to please shoot them first, so the younger ones might have time to get away. There’s emotional courage….the kind that it takes to overcome your fear of failing….like giving a speech in front of your class or getting up to bat when there are two outs in the top of the ninth.
Like these, moral courage is about overcoming your fear and speaking out when you see an injustice; things like bullying, teasing, cheating, stealing, vandalizing. All of those things go on, and how powerful would it be if the bystanders chose to speak up. Here at Hillview we work very hard to keep anonymous where we get our information. Our goal is a safe campus, where we can all feel comfortable. And sometimes that means having the moral courage to stand up and speak out. It’s something to think about as you begin to decide who you’re going to be….
So now, in Action Team, you’ll be given some scenarios to decide if you’d have the courage to do what’s right. The game is called Scruples. What kind do you have?
Activity
Scruples Game
