The Teens Character Forum
Prospectus
2004
Copyright 2004 by David K. Edmonds Dale O. Condit
Introduction
The Teens Character Forum is based on The Leadership Forum which was initiated in 1993 by Mark Beierle and Dale Condit. It has been a voluntary activity for the Cadets at the Air Force Academy – and, during fall semester, exchange Cadets from other Service Academies. The Forum meets for seven sessions over the course of a semester to discuss various characteristics of leadership, using movies and short readings as the catalyst for discussion. Pairs of participants serve as moderators for the central sessions. The three fundamental purposes of The Forum are to help participants understand more about themselves in a leadership context, to improve their listening skills, and to develop their critical thinking – all with the goal, not to discover a set of supreme answers, but to develop and explore the necessary questions for the leadership issues discussed. One of the central requirements of The Leadership Forum is the development of a “Leadership Credo” by each individual at the completion of The Forum.
Bob Edmonds has thought that this format would be an excellent way for fathers and teenage sons to discuss issues that are important to young men of character. Therefore, we together have developed The TeenTeens Character Forum, based on The Leadership Forum, to accomplish this goal. This Prospectus provides the details of the format for The TeenTeens Character Forum for those who might be interested in being a participant.
Brigadier General Bob Edmonds
Fairfax Station, Virginia
Dr. Dale O. Condit
Colorado Springs, Colorado
March 2004
Copyright © 2004 by David K. Edmonds & Dale O. Condit
The Teens Character Forum
An Introduction
The Teens Character Forum Description
To conduct a “teenage-level” character and characterleadership forum for fathers and sons as a means of developing their maturity and understanding of the critical issues that they face, not just as teenagers, but as responsible adults. To discuss a small number of important character issues with a group of fathers and sons with common interests.
Rules of Engagement
The Forumwill meet once a month on Sunday afternoon after church
The Forum will typically be 1.5 hours long from about 12:30 to 2 pm
Participants willnot watch the entire movie during the meeting of The Forum
Prior to each session of The Forum, fathers and sons will have:
Watched the assigned movie
Prepared an outline on their collective thoughts on the subject
Read the assigned reading, if any
The Forum Director will prepare the questions for discussion for each session of The Forum
Preliminary CharacterTopics
“Self-Worth/Self-Discipline/Perseverance”
Movie: Chariots of Fire
Reading: tbd
“Honesty/Integrity/Trustworthiness”
Movie: The Emperor’s Club
Reading: tbd
“Moral Courage/Responsibility/Accountability”
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Reading: tbd
“Loyalty/Friendship/Community Service/Charity”
Movie: The Power of One or Door-to-Door
Reading: tbd
“Humility/Respect”
Movie: Gandhi
Reading: tbd
“Leadership”
Movie: Band of Brothers (Episode 1)
Reading: tbd
Forum Creators
Brigadier General David K. Edmonds, United States Air Force
Dr. Dale O. Condit, Colonel, United States Air Force (Retired)
Participants
Fathers and sons in a close community – a neighborhood, a high school athletic team, a high school church group, a local community center
The Teens Character Forum
Forum 1: Self-Worthworth/Self-discipline/Perseverance
Objective:To internalize a mature appreciation of the role of self-worth, self-discipline, and perseverance in the mature man of character.
Central Theme:How does the maturing young man develop self-worth, self-discipline, and perseverance that will serve him well in the future.
Movie: Chariots of Fire
Reading:
TBD
Questions for Discussion:
<Quotation: TBD>
Copyright © 2004 by David K. Edmonds & Dale O. Condit
Notes from the Movie Chariots of Fire:
Reflections and Questions Raised by the Movie Chariots of Fire
The Teens Character Forum
Forum 2: Integrity, Honesty, and Trustworthiness
Objective:To internalize a mature appreciation of the role of integrity, honesty, and trustworthiness in the mature man of character.
Central Theme:How does the maturing young man develop integrity, honesty, and trustworthiness that will serve him well in the future.
Movie: The Emperor’s Club
Reading:
TBD
Questions for Discussion:
<Quotation: TBD>
Copyright © 2004 by David K. Edmonds & Dale O. Condit
Notes from the Movie The Emperor’s Club:
Reflections and Questions Raised by the Movie The Emperor’s Club
Prepared by: Dr. Dale O. Condit/February 2004/(719) 389-1665
Movie Synopses
[Source: All Movie Guide at Barnes & Noble Website]
Chariots of Fire
Based on a true story, Chariots of Fire is the internationally acclaimed Oscar-winning drama of two very different men who compete as runners in the 1924 Paris Olympics. Eric Liddell, a serious Christian Scotsman, believes that he has to succeed as a testament to his undying religious faith. Harold Abrahams, is a Jewish Englishman who wants desperately to be accepted and prove to the world that Jews are not inferior. The film crosscuts between each man’s life as he trains for the competition, fueled by these very different desires. As compelling as the racing scenes are, it’s really the depth of the two main characters that touches the viewer, as they forcefully drive home the theme that victory attained through devotion, commitment, integrity, and sacrifice is the most admirable feat that one can achieve. This powerful film ended up with four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score. Don Kaye
The Emperor’s Club
A dedicated teacher learns some important lessons about himself years after he retired from the classroom in this drama. William Hundert is an instructor at St. Benedict’s School for Boys, an exclusive private academy on the East Coast where Hundert drills his charges on the moral lessons to be learned through the study of Greek and Roman philosophers. Hundert is fond of telling his students, “A man’s character is his fate,” and he strives to impress upon them the importance of the ordered and examined life. In 1976, however, Hundert finds himself with an especially challenging group of students – party-minded Louis Masoudi, introverted Martin Blythe, bright but mischievous Deepak Math, and most notably, openly rebellious Sedgewick Bell. The son of a powerful politician, Bell pointedly runs against the current of Hundert’s example, questioning the importance of the material, flouting the school’s rules, talking out of turn in class, and devoting as much time to his interest in girls as in his studies. However, Hundert sees the possibility of great things in Bell, and encourages him to take part in the school’s annual academic competition for the title of Mr. Julius Caesar. Hundert even goes so far as to bend the rules in scoring to favor Bell in the early stages of the contest, but his faith is betrayed when Bell is discovered cheating during the contest finals. Years later, Hundert is reunited with his students, where they learn the years have taught them all a great deal about their virtues and weaknesses. Mark Deming
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiographical novel was translated to film in 1962 by Horton Foote and the producer/director team of Robert Mulligan and Alan J. Pakula. Set a small Alabama town in the 1930s, the story focuses on scrupulously honest, highly respected lawyer Atticus Finch, magnificently embodied by Gregory Peck. Finch puts his career on the line when he agrees to represent Tom Robinson, a black man accused of rape. The trial and the events surrounding it are seen through the eyes of Finch’s six-year-old daughter Scout. While Robinson’s trial gives the film its momentum, there are plenty of anecdotal occurrences before and after the court date: Scout’s ever-strengthening bond with older brother Jem, her friendship with precocious young Dill Harris (a character based on Lee’s childhood chum Truman Capote), her father’s no-nonsense reactions to such life-and-death crises as a rampaging mad dog, and especially Scout’s reactions to, and relationship with, Boo Radley, the reclusive “village idiot” who turns out to be her salvation when she is attacked by a venomous bigot. To Kill a Mockingbird won Academy Awards for Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Art Direction. Hal Erickson
The Power of One
John G. Avildsen, director of Rocky and The Karate Kid, adapts Bryce Courtenay’s compassionate novel about the coming-of-age of a white anti-apartheid activist during the years of World War II in South Africa. Avildsen cumbersomely grafts Courtenay’s tale of fighting apartheid onto a Hollywood style fight-for-the-championship-bout. Seven-year-old P.K. is a white South African raised on his family’s farm by his Zulu nanny. When his mother takes ill, he is sent away to an Afrikaner boarding school, where he is picked on and nearly killed by the school bully during a pep rally for Hitler. P.K. survives and is sent to live with his grandfather. He befriends Doc, a jailed German musician, and a black inmate, who teaches P.K. how to use his fists for some quick boxing moves. At 12, P.K. witnesses black inmates being cruelly humiliated by their racist white jailers. Taking note of P.K.’s fluidity for languages, his black mentor spreads the word that P.K. is the incarnation of the mythic Rain Maker, a messianic liberator who is destined to unite all the African tribes. By the time he’s 18-years-old, P.K. is becoming the Great White Hope for the black Africans, boxing his way into their hearts and minds. He joins up with an old boxing foe, who is now a township activist, and takes up the apartheid struggle. But things get confusing when P.K. falls in love with the daughter of an apartheid leader. Paul Brenner
Gandhi
It was Richard Attenborough’s lifelong dream to bring the life story of Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi to the screen. When his dream finally reached fruition in 1982, the 188-minute Oscar-winning Gandhi was one of the most exhaustively thorough biopics ever made. The film begins in the early part of the 20th century, when Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of “passive resistance,” endeavoring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed. In the horrendous “slaughter” sequence, more extras appear on screen than in any previous historical epic. Gandhi won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director. Hal Erickson
Band of Brothers
Executive produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks for HBO, Band of Brothers is a ten-part miniseries based on the book Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne From Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest by Stephen E. Ambrose. The series dramatically re-creates the path of Easy Company, an elite paratrooper unit, from their basic training at Camp Toccoa in Georgia in 1942, to D-Day, to their critical involvement in the Battle of the Bulge, through their triumph at the close of the war. The unit was one of the best trained and most productive in American military history, but it also suffered immense casualties. The series is an ensemble piece, involving dozens of characters, and cast with relative unknowns. To the extent that there is a central character, it is Dick Winters, who went to Toccoa as a lieutenant and was promoted, over the course of the war, to battalion commander. Each episode includes brief excerpts from present-day interviews with some of the surviving members of the company. While the series is not a hagiography, Winters is depicted as a brave, resourceful, and humane leader. It’s clear that the men revered him, and that he genuinely respected and cared about them. There are a few other members of the unit that make a strong impression. Sobel, their C.O. at Toccoa, is depicted as a petty tyrant whose men bond together in their hatred of him. Nixon is Winters’ fellow officer and best friend, and an alcoholic. Carwood Lipton is a decent, hard-working man, and a tremendous soldier who earns a battlefield commission for his exemplary leadership. Bill Guarnere fears nothing, and is known for his wise-guy attitude and hot temper. The series dramatizes the courage and fortitude of many others, but it’s clear that Winters sets the tone for his men, and plays a pivotal role in the unit’s success. The project involved several screenwriters, and eight different directors were called upon for the ten installments. Still, the tone and style of the series remains fairly consistent. While the story of Easy Company has been condensed and altered in some minor ways for dramatic purposes, and much of the dialogue was, by necessity, invented, the producers placed a strong emphasis on accurately depicting the conditions under which these men lived, fought, and died. Several survivors from the company consulted on the project, and an enormous amount of money was spent on sets, costumes, and special effects in order to re-create their experience. Josh Ralske
Book Synopses
[Source: Publisher’s Comments from Barnes & Noble Website]
The Art of Leadership by S. W. Roskill
In politics and war everything depends on leadership. So, too, it is widely held, does progress in such different fields as education and industrial enterprise. For most of our [English] history it was taken for granted that leadership was the function of the nobility and gentry. Such a view, no doubt, had the merit of simplicity, but today it appears irrelevant or absurd. There is no question, however, that the need for leadership is more pressing – and perhaps more widely felt – than ever.
The real essentials of leadership, [Royal Navy] Captain Roskill maintains in this wise and lucid book, lie in education, example, and personal integrity. He draws on his own experience as an officer and on his unrivalled knowledge of contemporary [British] naval history, as well as a lifetime of reading and reflection to support his contention. Great commanders, both from the past – Nelson and St. Vincent, Wellington and Caesar – and from our own time – Sir William Slim and Lord Montgomery, Lord Cunningham and Lord Wavell – illustrate a point or exemplify a precept, as do philosophers such as Whitehead, explorers such as Nansen and men of letters like Sir Philip Sidney. But those unacclaimed leaders of the British fighting services, to whom the book is dedicated, afford some of the most telling examples of all. Although Captain Roskill first thought of writing on this theme as the result of an invitation from the Admiralty, no one interested in the subject can fail to recognize how the truths here outlined apply to any and every walk of life. [Taken from the out-of-print book jacket]
Captain Roskill was born in 1903 and joined the Royal Navy at 13. After passing through Osborne and Dartmouth, he served at sea, between the wars, in China, the Mediterranean, and the West Indies. During World War II, he commander the HMS Leander, which saw engagement in the Solomon Islands. He was then assigned to the Naval Mission in Washington, D.C. He subsequently served as the senior offices of the British Services team organized for the Bikini atomic bomb trials, then became Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence. After being medically retired, he was asked to write the official naval history of the war, which was followed by several other books. [Excerpted from the book jacket]
Please Understand Me II by David Keirsey
For the past twenty years Keirsey has continued to investigate personality differences – to refine his theory of the four temperaments and to define the facets of character that distinguish one from another. His findings form the basis of Please Understand Me II, an updated and greatly expanded edition of the book, far more comprehensive and coherent than the original, and yet with much of the same easy accessibility. One major addition is Keirsey’s view of how the temperaments differ in the intelligent roles they are most likely to develop. Each of us, he says, has four kinds of intelligence – tactical, logistical, diplomatic, strategic – though one of the four interests us far more than the others, and thus gets far more practice than the rest. Like four suits in a hand of cards, we each have a long suit and a short suit in what interests us and what we do well, and fortunate indeed are those whose work matches their skills. As in the original book, Please Understand Me II begins with The Keirsey Temperament Sorter, the most used personality inventory in the world. But also included is The Keirsey Four-Types Sorter, a new short questionnaire that identifies one’s basic temperament and then ranks one’s second, third, and fourth choices. Share this new sorter with friends and family, and get set for a lively and fascinating discussion of personal styles.