Abstract
Specific instruction in the importance of and methods for infusing character education in the curriculum is missing from the teacher preparation courses at Sacramento State. This situation is regrettable. The last three decades have been notable with regard to the decrease of integrity and the increase of incivility in public classrooms. This unfortunate situation is the result of changes in core curriculum, teacher behavior and modeling, community values, media distortions, and family mores. The correction between problematic student behavior and diminished academic performance has been clearly established. To reverse this trend, teachers need to create more constructive, orderly classrooms and efficient lesson plans that incorporate ethics. This paper examines the history of character education as a basis for developing new frameworks for implementation; the case is then made for inculcating character education through all strands of the curriculum with a purposeful agenda. Finally, a module of instruction intended to be included in an existing teacher v preparation course at CSUS is presented with the objective of making teaching candidates aware that character education should not be an ‘add-on’ but instead a different and indispensable way of administrating and teaching.