Each time a teacher or student completes a stay in a foreign university, knowingly or unknowingly they honor a tradition that dates back to medieval Europe. The cradle of higher education, Europe in medieval times was characterized by the constant pilgrimages of masters and pupils from one center of learning to another. For some, the objective of this uncertain voyage was to be accepted as members of a new learned community and to dedicate their lives to the glorious pursuit of wisdom and knowledge; for others, it was the opportunity to continue a process of personal growth which the universities could nourish; for others still, students and teachers alike, it was the search for one of the beacons of academia, a master among masters like the philosopher and theologian Abélard, whose guiding light one might be lucky enough to follow.
Last year I had the privilege of completing a pilgrimage of my own in all three senses to the Center for Character and Citizenship of the University of Missouri–St. Louis: there, I visited one of the world’s most prestigious centers of learning in the subjects that most occupy my time and thoughts, I traveled a little further along my own road of personal growth and, finally, I spent a precious month and 2 weeks basking in the light of a particularly distinguished teacher, the modern-day Abélard, Dr. Marvin W. Berkowitz. Looking back 1 year later, I am also aware of having found and experienced much more than I went looking for.
First, during my time at the center I encountered an excellent team of professionals whose painstaking research into character education, moral development, ethics, and citizenship was matched by their own integrity in all these areas, so that the object of their study was at the same time also their own modus vivendi. Then, at the end of my stay, Dr. Berkowitz suggested that I might coordinate this themed issue of the center’s prestigious Journal of Character Education (at that moment still published under its former name, the Journal of Research in Character Education), edited by Berkowitz himself and Dr. Jack Benninga of California State University, Fresno. Given my own field of research, the title I proposed for the issue was “Higher Education and Character Development: Professionals, Citizens and People.”
In its essence, the education of citizens or of people that we call character education is no stranger to our universities. Indeed, we would be hard put to describe our system of higher education without somehow acknowledging the role played by character education. Of the two reasons accounting for this, the first is historical. The creation of our international university system was in part driven by the desire to be edified and to transmit knowledge to the community at large; but its prime objective was to train students to practice certain professions, starting with the law, medicine and theology. The literature shows that character education was already an important part of this training, if not the most important of all. The second reason, which comes hard on the heels of the first, is philosophical. Character education may have formed part of society’s original conception of university education in medieval times but would have been just as central to it in any other period or setting. Its raison d’être is such that now, just as then, we are wary of those university-educated professionals whose expertise is undermined by their lack of personal qualities, such as the ability to empathize, show solidarity or respect, commit to common causes or demonstrate their regard for justice. Now, just as then, we want our professionals to be people who understand the moral and ethical dimensions of their work.
This special issue brings together the experiences and thoughts of an international array of character education specialists, teachers and researchers seeking to improve the quality of our university education system by bringing out the best in the people who have chosen it. It is therefore my pleasure to be able to briefly introduce their work here.
First, in “The Complexity of Character: An Ability-Based Model for Higher Education,” Sandra E. Graham and Mary E. Diez (Alverno College) propose a model of character education that may become applicable in a variety of university types and settings. Then, in “Actualizing Moral Education in Japan’s Tertiary Sector: Reitaku University’s Response to Today’s Challenges,” Osamu Nakayama (Reitaku University) provides a thought-provoking gloss on the reality of the Japanese university system. Sandra Cooke (University of Birmingham) offers an illustrative case study and useful data for other researchers in her article “What Part Does University Play in the Development of a Caring Character Disposition for Nurses? Some Theoretical, Historical, and Empirical Considerations.” In my own contribution, “Wilhelm von Humboldt, Cardinal John Henry Newman and José Ortega y Gasset: Back to the Future of University Education,” I make a case for reinstating principles whose depth and potential strength once enlightened many of our universities and which may still prove useful for the times we live in, when while setting our sites on the future we should also remember our progress in the past.
Finally, the invited commentary for this issue comes from the renowned higher education specialist Richard H. Hersh (Yale University), who has graciously contributed with “Moral and Character Education: A Ground-Truth Perspective,” in which he draws from his own substantial experience in the field to offer a series of reflections on the subjects discussed in the rest of the issue.
I sincerely hope that all the articles here will be of interest to our readers and to all of those who, in one way or another, are involved in furthering the objectives of university education. The nature of that interest and the conclusions readers draw will simply depend on the manner in which each of us understands higher education and the role that character education plays within it. Finally, I wish to extend my heartfelt thanks to Marvin W. Berkowitz for having made this special issue possible, and to the team at the Center for Character and Citizenship of the University of Missouri–St. Louis for all the support they have given me.
