Graduate experience with character education: a narrative study of the experiences of graduates from an international high school infused with character education program with character during college in the United States.

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20237895

This narrative study examined the lived experience of students with character education. Specifically, it examined how students from an American international school in Taiwan who were infused by a character education program experienced character and described the meaning they ascribed to character after they attended university in the United States. This study sought to answer the following research question: How do recent graduates of a character education infused high school make sense of character experiences in college? Through purposeful sampling, four graduates of the research site who were attending college in the United States were selected to take part in this study. The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with each of the participants to gather data on their experiences. Three superordinate themes were identified in the analysis of the data: Developing character identity, Life experiences that reinforced character identity, and Evolving understanding of character identity. Findings from this study supported the ideas that character education programs have a long term impact on students and that they shape students' understanding of character and their experiences with character after they leave high school and attend college. Additionally, findings suggested that character education programs are beneficial in establishing common character norms across communities and that character culture taught in schools may have more impact on students than the character culture the students learn at home. Recommendations included suggesting that schools develop and implement character education programs that are linked to their curriculum. Although more studies on the long term impact of character education programs are needed, this study made an important contribution to that research.