Character Strong: The Wrong Choice for Hamilton

Photo from Character Strong

Kennedy Ellis

Character Strong is a curriculum for K-12 described as “research-based Pre-K through 12th grade social & emotional learning curricula and professional learning services that positively impact lives.” This program costs $999 annually per building and is being implemented within Hamilton, Templeton, and Silver Spring Intermediate. Hamilton’s newest addition to advisements includes replacing the old Monday curriculum with this expensive program. But what many students and staff are asking is: “Should we continue doing this?” 

Charger Press sent out an informal survey to a sampling of 98 Hamilton students in the middle of November asking about how they felt regarding Character Strong. 36 freshmen, 45 sophomores, 14 juniors, and 14 seniors all took this questionnaire. One of the questions was if Character Strong should still be used in upcoming years: 10 freshmen said they think the program helps, while 26 freshmen said it does not help. 

The survey revealed a common trend when it comes to the feelings of the effectiveness of Character Strong. Nine sophomores and one junior thought this program was beneficial; however, a staggering 36 sophomores, 13 juniors, and all 14 seniors saw this program as entirely ineffective. Though this was a small sample size and one can argue that the data might not be truly representative of the entire student body, it also reveals some common trends that seem to reveal that Character Strong is not very popular in each grade.

Lucia Hauser, a sophomore, states, “I feel like this doesn't help, as many kids do not take it seriously and joke about it, which could make kids that do struggle with some of the topics very uncomfortable.”

Others are expressing how the program makes connections feel forced, and if they wanted to connect with a certain peer, they would. These students reported that the concept of having to know everybody to a deeper emotional level is unrealistic and unnatural. For many people, high school is about finding who they fit in with and making friends who they feel they can fully connect with, but by doing Character Strong with some people you may feel uncomfortable with, it is more destructive. 

A quote from Isaac Hasselstrom, HHS freshman, states, “[Character Strong doesn’t make me] feel connected to anyone any better. It is just a waste of time and a waste of money. If a student feels forced to connect to other students, their relationship will feel more false than anything.”

Character Strong states that its goal is for students to “Be Kind, Be Strong, and Be Well. Social skills like listening, friendship, solving conflicts, and leadership. Skills that help students focus, stay organized, and set goals. Skills that help students handle their emotions and deal with stress.”

However, learning your classmates' favorite color and what they do after school is not going to help people grow their character. Growing character comes from within and feeling forced to connect will not truly benefit the students of Hamilton. Doing a quiz with your class on what stresses you out does not solve the real issues of bullying, harassment, and other discomforts that students at Hamilton may face. 

By sophomore year, many already know the students in their advisement. As students grow older, classes tend to get more difficult; Many students are handed loads of work and want to be able to use advisement as a time to be able to work on what needs to get done. However, Monday advisement is now entirely taken up by Character Strong, which displaces more productive uses for this time, like preparing students for important standardized tests, financial literacy instruction, or other important school announcements. 

With this being Hamilton's first year doing Character Strong, there is the question of “what else?” If Character Strong isn’t the answer, how can Hamilton help support connections between students and promote positive behaviors and mental health? Many students believe that there should be either a class added to Hamilton's curriculum or more added to the gym unit in 10th grade which already covers some mental and physical health issues. Overall, Hamilton can do many things to help with mental health issues and the way people are being treated in school…but Character Strong is not one of them.