November 21, 2008

More Than Smart: Why Character is Critical
a presentation by Joe Cavanaugh
 
Eagan High School Parent Night
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 7pm
EHS Auditorium

All parents welcome!

For nearly 30 years Joe Cavanaugh, Founder & CEO of Youth Frontiers, Inc., has been working with schools to build the character of young people--because if character decreases, disrespect increases.  There is a “crisis” in character among our youth: according to the Josephson Institute, 90% of teens believe that “honesty and trust are essential in personal relationships,” yet 82% of these kids admit they lied to their parents in the past year about something significant and 60% of these kids surveyed cheated on a test during the past year.  
Joe will discuss this disconnect and give tangible tips and strategies for parents and community leaders to bridge the gap between belief and action.  Joe will center the discussion around the following four core values:

• temperance: How do we as adults not overindulge our kids, but rather teach them self-restraint and self-discipline, two key qualities to being a successful adult?
• humility: How do we teach our kids to win and lose graciously?
• respect: How do we teach our kids to be civil and courteous given the rising prevalence of technologies that interrupt our
relationships, and give way to cyberbullying over the internet and cell phones?
• moral courage: To paraphrase Edmund Burke, the only way for evil people to succeed is for the vast majority of good people to do nothing.  How do we teach our kids to follow their hearts and not the crowd?   We need to give our kids the tools to stand up for respect, humility, temperance, compassion, integrity and honesty.
 
Finally, Joe will discuss the importance of teaching kids how to be good, and not just helping them feel good.