by Rick Lowe

I’m not sure how I stumbled across the web site Prospect, but it sure makes me think sometimes.

In their August issue there was a very interesting essay on character, which caused me to do a lot of thinking about character in The Bahamian context.

I hope the following article does the same for you.

A question of character

The idea of “good character” sounds old-fashioned and patronising, but it may be the key to some of our most entrenched social problems. Politicians across the spectrum are starting to realise this

by Richard Reeves

The first headmaster of Stowe school, JF Roxburgh, declared his goal to be turning out young men who would be “acceptable at a dance and invaluable in a shipwreck.” A mixture of courtesy and courage used to be essential to the idea of a British citizen’s character. Brits were the sort of people who knew both how to survive a Blitz and queue politely. Similarly, Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the scout movement, aimed to induce in his young charges “some of the spirit of self-negation, self-discipline, sense of humour, responsibility, helpfulness to others, loyalty and patriotism which go to make ‘character.'” He described his movement as nothing less than a “character factory.”

But in the postwar shift towards a less constrained and judgemental society—”character-talk” in Stefan Collini’s phrase—dropped out of public discourse, except when considering someone’s suitability for high office. The idea of good character came to sound old-fashioned and patronising. [More…}