In his book How Children Succeed author Paul Tough cites a paper by an organization called Character Education Partnership that divides character into two sections: Performance Character and Moral Character.  Performance character, Tough writes, “includes values like effort, diligence, and perseverance.” Moral character, on the other hand, “embodies ethical values like fairness, generosity and integrity.” In the Upper School at EAB we follow a similar model when it comes to our work with students on character education.

On Monday of this week teachers published EAB Learner Profile grades for each student.  While there are aspects of the development of moral character in the Learner Profile, it is largely a document to measure performance character.

Last year a group of students from the Principal’s Advisory Council (PAC) created The Upper School Honor Code.  After months of work and various iterations, the Honor Code was presented to the community on May 25, 2015 during the High School Awards Ceremony. The Honor Code sets the standard for moral character in the Upper School.  

We, as students of the American School of Brasilia, give our pledge to live by the guiding principles of responsibility and respect in all that we say and do. We understand that these values carry far beyond the classroom environment, affecting not only our peers and the activities we participate in, but who we are and who we will become. We commit to treat all people with compassion, be engaged and collaborative in all aspects of our education, and in all cases act with honor and integrity. We will uphold these values as the core of our identity, hence becoming principled individuals and contributing citizens to society.

Today silver and black plaques with the Honor Code can be found at seven different places in the Upper School campus and a major goal of PAC is to make the Honor Code a daily part of the ives of the young men and women of EAB. To that end, and to further the commitment of each student in the Upper School to live by the HC, every student signs a commitment to adhere to the HC before beginning each summative assessment. The goal in both today and for the future is that the Honor Code becomes part of the fabric of the culture of EAB and that decades from now it sets the standard for moral character for the students of the American School of Brasília.