The Importance of Character Education

When we hear the word 'youth' what do we think? of course we answer young, strong willed, unstable. why is it said like that? Many people say that adolescence is a period of span, because this period is where a human being has a high curiosity, an unstable ego, and requires a sense of attention to the people around him. 

But there are also those who say that this is a very pleasant period because this is the period when we get new experiences, new friends and other new things. 

According to psychology "Adolescence is a transitional period from early childhood to early adulthood, which is entered at the age of about 10 to 12 years and ends at the age of 18 years to 22 years. Adolescence begins in rapid physical changes, increases in Dramatic weight and height, changes in body shape, and development of sexual characteristics such as enlargement of breasts, development of waist and mustache, and deep voice, in this development the achievement of independence and identity is very prominent and more and more time spent outside the family "

From the changes in youth, we can see that teenagers are creatures of curiosity. We notice from the time he saw something strange or that he had never done. 

For example, he saw his friend like to play and surely he asked 'What is that? can I be like him? ' it must be like that. But even a teenager is someone who has a strong desire so that whatever he wants must be obeyed and of course he does not know all his desires are good or bad. Youth is also someone who needs advice and teachings. 

Why ? because we remember that many teenagers are still unstable and want to try something especially when it comes to their name, character, the most vulnerable part of adolescence is character. 

Because when he is still a teenager, the brain of a teenager records some moments that are actually good and bad, so when he is already recording, it will have an impact on his character. 

Character development is needed in a teenager because the character of a teenager shows a personal mirror of a teenager. For example a teenager who always forgives people easily means he has a forgiving character, a teenager who doesn't talk much means he has a quiet character, a teenager who can be a good listener means he has a wise character.

There are several experts and psychology defining the character of adolescents

"Character is a way of thinking and behaving that characterizes each individual to live and work together, both within the sphere of family, community, nation, and state" (Suyanto, 2009)

According to the psychological dictionary, "character is a personality in terms of ethical or moral starting points, for example one's honesty, and is usually associated with relatively fixed traits (Dali Gulo, 1982: p. 29)" 

This is where the role of parents and teachers is very important to provide character education.

What is character Education ?

Character education is education that is very important for us, especially for children who are still in the world of education, because character education in the world of education is used as a forum or process to shape the child's personality to become a good person. 

Character education includes values that must be possessed by a student such as basic knowledge that is conveyed or given from parents, namely courtesy, warmth, kindness and others.

What is the function of this character education?
  - Developing the basic human potential to become individuals with good hearts, thoughts and behavior.
  - Build and strengthen people's behavior, in this case a multicultural Indonesian society.
  - Build and improve the nation's civilization.

Unfortunately, there are not a few children who have not received character education from their teachers and parents. Even from an early age, character education should be given through small things such as saying please, apologizing and being grateful. 

Things like this have a big impact and the child will keep remembering the parent's message that if asking for help say 'please'; get something say 'thank you' and if you make a mistake say 'sorry'.  

You can imagine what will happen if a student is lacking or even no character education at all so that an individual will not be able to achieve his life goals properly and as expected. A student who lacks character education will be considered a poor individual in the eyes of educators.

Therefore, a student is required to have a good character education for himself. Especially now, namely in the millennial era. This is a great note for parents to instill character education in their children. 

In fact it is written in law no. 20 Article 1 point 14 of 2003 states that every child has the right to education and teaching in the context of personal development and the level of intelligence according to their interests and talents.

.

.

.

source : [1] [2] [3]