Character Education
“Everything is useful which contributes to fix in the principles and practices of virtue.”― Thomas Jefferson
Academic and personal integrity are essential to the success of our educational mission. The school helps parents develop the student’s intellect and character by grounding them in strong morals and responsible citizenship. Liberty Common invests thirteen years of character education into the lives of its students, providing scholars with the moral tools needed to live in a democratic republic and share in common virtues.
Foundation Stones
Liberty Common School defines a standard of behavior using seven foundation stones (emphasized in grades k-6) and six capstone virtues at the junior-high and high-school outlined below to help students internalize virtuous character based on moral habits.
Respect
Showing consideration for the rights and wellbeing of others and ourselves; treating all with due esteem and honor.
Responsibility
Keeping our commitments, being accountable for our actions, being dependable stewards of ourselves, our families, our property, and our community.
Self-Control
Being proper in words and deeds, relying upon ourselves to correctly regulate our own thoughts and behavior.
Cooperation
Exchanging with others ideas, effort, and virtue toward achieving a noble goal; uniting talents in pursuit of positive outcomes.
Citizenship
Leading a community by loving our family, being loyal to friends, promoting liberty and justice for all, being dependable, self-reliant, courageous, and living boldly with honor.
Integrity
Knowing right from wrong and having the courage, in every situation, to do what is right.
Perseverance
Being steadfast in our duties, responsibilities, and in achieving worthy goals despite adversity.
Capstone Virtues
Character education expands to include six capstone virtues and the Keystone Virtue of Wisdom. These capstones are fundamental virtues indicating honor and maturity. These qualities are studied and advanced through rich literature and biographical example. They are also reinforced through dedicated character assemblies and serve as the pillars of the school’s House System.
Prudence
Predicated upon practical reason, prudence entails discernment of the true good surrounding every situation and seeks the moral means of achieving it.
Temperance
Restraint in passions of ambition and pleasure. Temperance places intellect, balance, and reason above impulsiveness, setting limits in order to attain that which is honorable.
Justice
Balance between self-interest and the rights of others. Justice entails a mature appreciation of what is due another whether among equals, superiors, or subordinates.
Fortitude
Including forbearance, endurance and the ability to withstand fear, uncertainty or intimidation, Fortitude is the strength to defend what is good.
Gratitude
An inclination to express thankfulness and gratefulness to others for their gifts and gestures of kindness, Gratitude kindles virtue in both ourselves and others.
Patriotism
Devotion and dedication to the country – allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and justice for all.
Wisdom - The LCHS Keystone Virtue
Understanding and being inclined toward beauty, truth, goodness, and perfection.
*With regard to Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Fortitude, Plato identified these virtues with the classes of the city described in The Republic, and with the faculties of man. They are also known as the “cardinal virtues,” indicating “the hinges upon which the door of the moral life swings.”