What does that mean to you?  Loyalty? The dictionary gives us many definitions – faithfulness, devotion, allegiance, constancy, reliability, fidelity, dependability, and more.  That certainly covers a wide range of behaviors and responses.

The character education program Building Good Citizens for Texas defines loyalty as “the need to establish personal and career relationships and select causes based on positive ethical principles for which one can remain true.”

How can educators demonstrate that “need” with our students?  The critical phrase in that definition is “select causes based on positive ethical principles.” Some infamous gang members have established personal relationships, but usually not based on “positive ethical principles”.  Certainly that is not our goal for students!  So where do we start?

As is so often the case, we must recognize the importance of modeling the  behavior we are trying to form in our students.  It may be helpful to ask some questions.

Are we loyal to our peers?
Are we loyal  to our administrators?
Are we loyal to our community?
Are we loyal to ourselves as we strive to be the best we can be?

As pointed out at the beginning, as we stress LOYALTY,  the positive character trait for January, we need to keep in mind that includes reliability, faithfulness, dependability, devotion, and more!  If we are truly Character Educators, we must model that behavior, and help our students embrace it in their daily lives.