It is difficult to imagine a more pressing need in education today than to ensure that we are cultivating students with character: students who are honest, respectful, diligent, prudent, and full of integrity. Character is the foundation for any society. For a civilization to flourish, it needs to be populated by a citizenry with moral conviction to pursue and live out what is good no matter the circumstances.
In our classical schools, we often speak confidently that classical pedagogy uniquely equips teachers to cultivate character, or virtue, in our students. But what exactly do we mean by this? And what don’t we mean? And what role does the Holy Spirit play in this process as Christians?
Biblical Foundations: Wisdom Leading to Action
Before unpacking a classical approach to cultivating character, I first need to lay the biblical foundation. As Christians, we want all that we say and do in our classrooms to be shaped by the gospel, including moral formation.
A biblical foundation for cultivating character is grounded in wisdom, and the idea that wisdom leads to action. Proverbs is the foundational Old Testament text on this topic. Here are some key passages for consideration:
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7
“For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints.” Proverbs 2:6-7
“Raise up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6
“Hear, my son, and accept my words,
that the years of your life may be many.
I have taught you the way of wisdom;
I have led you in the paths of uprightness.”
Proverbs 4:10-11
“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise.” Proverbs 13:20
“The reproofs of discipline are the way of life” Proverbs 6:23
“Reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.” Prov. 9:8-9
“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge.” Proverbs 12:1
Through these passages, we learn that wisdom is built into the very fabric of the universe. God ordered the world to operate a certain way, and wisdom is the practical knowledge for how to flourish morally within this order. All wisdom begins with a foundational fear of, or faith in, the Lord. Without a proper humility and reverence before the Lord, wisdom will ultimately be disconnected from its source.
We can see in the New Testament, the writers building on this tradition from Proverbs. Consider:
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Matthew 7:24
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” James 1:5
“By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” 1 John 2:5-6
“Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also the life to come…Set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” 1 Timothy 4:8-12
In this last passage, we see one of the clearest example of the apprenticeship model of character cultivation emerge. Paul is modeling for his spiritual son Timothy how to live a life of godliness and providing practical instruction toward this end. As they live life together, Timothy is following Paul and imitating him in word and deed. Paul is provide challenge, support, wisdom, and counsel for Timothy as Timothy follows in his footsteps.
In summary, a biblical foundation for character cultivation entails:
- The foundation for all wisdom is a proper fear, or faith, in the Lord.
- Wisdom and discernment is the foundation for leading a life of character because character is ultimately about wisdom-guided action.
- The cultivation of character begins in childhood.
- Discipline is essential for growth in wisdom and character.
- Character cultivation occurs through relationship: father and sons, masters and apprentices.
Classical Philosophy: Virtue Formation Through Habit
With this biblical foundation in place, let us now examine the classical philosophy of character cultivation. The idea of character cultivation isn’t an invention from the 21st century. Civilizations have understood the importance of moral formation for millennia, and the big idea from the western tradition is that virtue formation occurs through habit. We will look to the premier philosopher on this topic, Aristotle.
Aristotle grounds a life of character in virtue ethics, a philosophy that asks the question, “What would the virtuous person do?” rather than:
- a Platonic form (e.g. the idea of virtue in the abstract sense)
- a list of moral rules (e.g. never tell a lie)
- the outcome of the act (e.g. ends justify the means)
A person becomes virtuous by habitually choosing to make virtuous decisions and perform virtuous acts. For example: acts of courage, discernment, honesty, justice, self-control, etc. This approach is very different from other ethical theories in that it is rooted in action, not rules, consequences, or abstract ideas.
Crucially, this process of becoming virtuous must: 1) begin when a person is a child and 2) give children the experience of feeling pleasure when they act virtuously and pain when they act viciously. To clarify, not extrinsic pleasure and pain, such as giving a child a piece of candy when they exercise self-control. Aristotle was talking about intrinsic pleasure, the joyful experience of performing a virtuous act, such as the joy-filled emotion that comes from courageously protecting a loved one.
The ultimate goal in this process of performing virtuous acts over and over and over again is the formation of a certain state of character in which the person naturally chooses virtue over vice and feels proper pleasure at the choice.
For this reason, the right act must be done for the right reasons. Otherwise the virtue formation process won’t work. Aristotle’s moral philosophy entails the integration of head, heart, and hands, aligning what we think with what we love with what we choose to do.
The only way a person can be properly focused and attuned to virtue is by:
- performing the right actions
- in the right way
- for the right motives
Interestingly, Aristotle’s insistence that the heart be involved with proper moral action aligns with scripture. In From Aristotle to Christ (IVP Academic, 2025), Louis Markos points out the Old Testament example of David’s kingly anointing. When God commanded Samuel to anoint a son of Jesse, Samuel was drawn to Eliab, “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). Eventually, God would direct Samuel to anoint David, the youngest of the sons who would one day be known as “the man after God’s own heart.”
Through this emphasis on motives and heart, we can see why a rule-based approach to character cultivation falls short. In his book, Markos goes on to reference C.S. Lewis, the Oxford don steeped in Aristotle who converted to Christianity later in his life. Lewis writes,
“We might think that God wants simply obedience to a set of rules; whereas He really wants people of a particular sort.” Mere Christianity, p. 77
Again, character cultivation is about the formation about a certain state of character, and it is the choices we make that shape our character. Why do choices matter so much? Again Lewis is helpful:
“Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different than it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy and peace and knowledge and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state of the other.” Mere Christianity, p. 86
Here Lewis, with Aristotle in the background, explains that our choices change us into either a virtuous person or a vicious person. To be clear, the end state of virtue is not a choice. Choices are the avenue. The end state is a state of being, the shaping of a person into a person with character.
This is why childhood is crucial for character cultivation. When a child is young, there is a seemingly infinite amount of choices before them. Taken individually, these choices are of little value. But taken collectively, they combine into a string, which becomes a pattern, which forms character. Note that this is a different message than Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken,” which emphasizes the impact of a single major decision. While Frost is making a fair point as well, what we need to understand about character cultivation is that the farther along the person gets in their moral journey, the stronger the pattern and the more difficult it is to change paths (which may actually be Frost’s deeper point if we were to unpack his imagery of road). The freedom of the will, which was so malleable as a child, is hammered into immovable iron. As Aristotle warns, the evil man eventually reaches a point in which he cannot not be evil.
A Biblical-Aristotelian Framework
To conclude this exposition of a classical framework of character cultivation, there are a few Christian principles that come to bear on this topic. First, no person can morally repair themselves. The gospel is good news because it is the story of God who saves us as an act of sheer grace. At the same time, the Bible does affirm that humans have moral agency. Our choices do matter.
Additionally, we must see the process of moral formation for Christians unfolding through the lens of sanctification. When a person becomes a Christian, they are made into a new creation, are gifted the Holy Spirit, and are empowered (and therefore expected) to train for a life of godliness, or its corollary in this article, character. The vision of this Spirit-filled life Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience (forbearance), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
With this talk of the fruit of the Spirit and the clarification that character cultivation must be precisely this–fruit of the Spirit–we can describe more fully what this virtuous life looks like.
In the classical tradition, there were four cardinal, or core virtues, from which all others flow:
- Courage
- Wisdom or Prudence
- Self-Control or Temperance
- Justice
From these four, we can deduce others: honesty, integrity, diligence, loyalty, hospitality, responsibility, obedience, gratitude
Finally, let us remember the famous triad that the Apostle Paul offers:
- Faith
- Hope
- Love (this being the greatest of all)
Secular Substitutes for Cultivating Character
In today’s secular culture, the idea of character cultivation is not controversial, even if, as we have seen, its roots are primarily biblical and classical. The reason for this is that secularism has substituted in its own ideologies under the namesake of “cultivating character.”
The first secular substitute is behaviorism, the idea that humans are fundamentally no different than animals, and ought to be trained as such. We do not need to consider deeper spiritual and moral realities because they do not exist. According to behaviorism, we should train children the way we train monkeys and horses, through positive and negative reinforcement, rewards and punishments. For example, teachers should give stars, candy or more recess as rewards for good behavior, incentivizing this behavior to continue. The problem with this view, of course, is that it is focused on behavioral conformity and pleasing the teacher, not the formation of desire, the fear of the Lord, and working in concert with the Holy Spirit.
The second secular substitute for real character cultivation is the current focus on “values.” The problem is not the values themselves–-teamwork, empathy, respect, responsibility, grit, etc.–it is that secularism has unmoored them from any objective reality. Whereas virtue implies some objective embedment of morality into the core of reality, a reality that which humans must conform to, values are up to each individual and therefore morally equivalent. Even the idea of grit is presented as a “value” of which the benefit is determined by its material results, not something objective, eternal, and woven into the fabric of reality. In other words, if grit as a value was not producing positive outcomes, it would cease to be a value.
Secular values begin with a child’s feelings (“What do you care about? Pursue that.”). Whereas virtues begin with what is good and the feelings come from learning what it is like to be virtuous so they desire it more. The habit drives the feelings, such as the way the act of serving overtime builds in students a heart for service. Values are about the self-actualization of the individual whereas virtues are connected to the flourishing of the individual and ultimately the flourishing of civilization. Values have no telos whereas virtue has a telos, which is the formation of a virtuous person.
How to Cultivate Character
Now that we understand what character is within the biblical foundation of wisdom and the classical framework of virtue, let’s talk about how you can cultivate character in your students.
First, build the relationship. Whether we are talking about father to son in Proverbs or Paul to Timothy in the New Testament, we can see that character requires a role model, a wiser person further down the road showing the son or student the way. This is the apprenticeship model of learning we talk about at Educational Renaissance in the sphere of moral formation.
Without relationship, the additional strategies won’t work.
Second, read stories about men and women of noble character. From the Great Books to William Bennet’s The Book of Virtues, we need to put before our students compelling stories of why character matters and the good life character leads to. The courageous battles of George Washington and the perseverance of abolitionist Harriet Tubman are more than historical facts. They are stories that inspire our imaginations and form our souls to desire such acts for ourselves.
Charlotte Mason is helpful here about the importance of sowing inspiring ideas of how a child should act. She writes, “We entertain the idea which gives birth to the act and the act repeated again and again becomes the habit; ‘Sow an act,’ we are told, ‘reap a habit.’ ‘Sow a habit, reap a character.’ But we must go a step further back, we must sow the idea or notion which makes the act worth-while (Towards a Philosophy of Education, p. 102).
Here we see that imagination and desire precedes the act. We want to fill our students minds with stories of virtue, providing visceral and emotional intellectual experiences of the life of virtues. Stories of service and self-sacrifce, courage for a great cause, honesty for the sake of truth.
Third, train habits. Individual acts become habits. Habits become routines. Routines form character. Aristotle and Lewis have made the case for this point already. Here Charlotte Mason’s reflection on habits is helpful:
“We have lost sight of the fact that habit is to life what rails are to transport cars. It follows that lines of habit must be laid down towards given ends and after careful survey, or the joltings and delays of life become insupportable. More, habit is inevitable. If we fail to ease life by laying down habits of right thinking and right acting, habits of wrong thinking and wrong acting fix themselves of their own accord. We avoid decision and indecision brings its own delays, “and days are lost lamenting o’er lost days.” Almost every child is brought up by his parents in certain habits of decency and order without which he would be a social outcast. Think from another point of view how the labour of life would be increased if every act of the bath, toilet, table, every lifting of the fork and use of spoon were a matter of consideration and required an effort of decision! No; habit is like fire, a bad master but an indispensable servant…” (Towards a Philosophy of Education, p. 101).
Here, Mason draws out the analogy of habit as a railway for a train, ultimately providing the direction and certainty of achieving the end of goal, in this case, the formation of a particular state of character.
Fourth, provide challenges and give support with intentionality. Our students need teachers and mentors to speak into their lives, to affirm their strengths, call out their shortcomings, challenge areas of weakness, and provide unwavering support that they can meet the challenge of the day. Each day is a new day for a student to make a single choice, that can as we have sene, over time, make all the difference. Give feedback and don’t be afraid to give reproof, or consequences. Remember from Proverbs:
- Discipline (“the reproofs of discipline are the way of life” Prov. 6:23
- Giving feedback and reproof (“Reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be stil wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.” (Prov. 9:8-9)
- “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge.” (Prov. 12:1)
Our students will never grow if we aren’t willing to have the difficult conversations or give natural and appropriate consequences.
Finally, create your classroom culture, using your classroom as the incubator for character cultivation. Each class period, each lesson, each day is full of micro-decisions and habits. Taken in isolation, they mean little. But taken together and you have a laboratory. One more quote from Mason is helpful to understand at a deeper level the connection between habits, class culture, and character cultivation.
“The intellectual habits of the good life form themselves in the following out of the due curriculum in the right way. As we have already urged, there is but one right way, that is, children must do the work for themselves…The reward is two-fold: no intellectual habit is so valuable as that of attention…Attention is not the only habit that follows due self-education. The habits of fitting and ready expression, of obedience, of good-will, and of an impersonal outlook are spontaneous bye-products of education in this sort. So, too, are the habits of right thinking and right judging; while physical habits of neatness and order attend upon the self-respect which follows an education which respects the personality of children” (Towards a Philosophy of Education, p. 100).
Each of these little habits add up to form character. Give students worthy worth and then support them.
Conclusion
Putting all of these ideas together, from scripture to Aristotle to Charlotte Mason, we can see that character cultivation is the long-term process of walking alongside a student in the Spirit-empowered pursuit of wisdom and training of habits that will form them into a virtuous and godly person. It is the long process of choosing wisdom over folly in daily situations. It is not glamorous, it is not romantic, it won’t make the nightly news most of the time. But it will lead to a crown in heaven and Lord-willing, a little bit of good on this earth.
As Mason puts it, “But the one achievement possible and necessary for every man is character; and character is as finely wrought metal beaten into shape and beauty by the repeated and accustomed action of will. We who teach should make it clear to ourselves that our aim in education is less conduct than character; conduct may be arrived at, as we have seen, by indirect routes, but it is of value to the world only as it has its source in character” (Towards a Philosophy of Education, p. 129).
Let me close with the inspiring words of John Milton:
“The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him, as we may the nearest by possessing our souls of true virtue, which being united to the heavenly grace of faith makes up the highest perfection.”
We have the great opportunity to cultivate students of character, helping them possess true virtue, know God aright, and through this process to love Him. May the Lord go before us and bless our work.
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