For all of the lip service our Republican legislators may give to parental rights and personal responsibility, it's clear that they don't think much of our ability to teach our children ethics. In this past legislative session, they added a new area of curriculum for our educators to worry about. In addition to bus safety, stranger danger, sex respect, and "just saying no," teachers are now mandated to teach "honesty, temperance, morality, courtesy, obedience to the law, and respect for the Constitution, parents and home."
This all seems like a bit of overkill and feel-good politicking. Worksheets and video presentations don't teach ethics. Overt behavior and clear expectations teach ethics, just as you can't instill good eating habits by serving up macaroni and cheese for every meal. Helen Keller stated that "Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."
We all have stories and memories of teachers and leaders who imparted great bits of morality and character without ever preaching the words, but merely carried themselves with dignity and expected us to do the same. I learned about personal responsibility from Dr. Malcolm Harvey who felt that he hadn't succeeded unless we succeeded.
My own children learned a valuable lesson in courage when their beloved second grade teacher, Carol Ratcliffe, fought a battle with cancer but was never too ill to speak with gentleness and never too tired to pull a wobbly tooth from a 7-year-old's mouth. These are the lessons that stick, not some feeble words intoned by state legislators.
If you want your children to grow up treating others with respect, examine your own behavior. Demeaning a sales clerk, another driver, or members of your own family won't teach them to be kind. If you continually make excuses for their behavior or won't apologize for your own mistakes, the lesson of personal responsibility and honesty will fall on deaf ears.
Teachers can have a big impact on a child, but at the end of the school day a child comes home and observes the powerful lessons played out by the way their parents conduct their lives.
Indeed it is in those private moments at home when example speaks loudest. Instead of wasting time and paper on "teaching character," we would be better served by leaders, teachers, and most importantly, parents who simply live good lives.

Raised in Davis County, Brandvold is employed in the financial industry--and proud to be a Utah Democrat.