CHARACTER COUNTS! involves advocating, teaching, and modeling six fundamental ethical values which form the foundation of American society. The "Six Pillars of CharacterSM" are: Trustworthiness Respect Responsibility Fairness Caring Citizenship The purpose of this educational program is to help youth, parents, teachers, and others commit to integrate character education consistently and effectively into new and exciting programs, and to encourage young people and their parents to adopt and model the core ethical values comprising the "Six Pillars of Character." Participants will engage in a wide variety of activities and programs built on the simple but profound conviction that is CHARACTER COUNTS! What is CHARACTER COUNTS!? CHARACTER COUNTS! is a framework designed to meet and address the challenges that face our youth today. It is a proven and practical program which contains "how to" approaches to establish and conduct character education through partnerships with school systems, civic groups, other youth serving organizations, and communities. CHARACTER COUNTS! is an approach that translates the "Six Pillars of Character" into practical ground-rules for everyday living. CHARACTER COUNTS! is not something done to young people.  It is something in which they actively participate. The essential elements of CHARACTER COUNTS! include teaching by example and creating an environment where these messages are pervasive. Two great sources of information on the CHARACTER COUNTS! character education curriculum are the National CHARACTER COUNTS! Site and Other State 4-H Program offering CHARACTER COUNTS! Below are links to both of these resources. CHARACTER COUNTS! sponsored by the Josephson Institute of Ethics. Other State 4-H Programs offering Character Counts! programming.

Go to Virginia 4-H Website

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CHARACTER COUNTS!_sm is a service mark of the CHARACTER COUNTS!_sm Coalition. A project of the Josephson Institute of Ethics.