Burke Basic School is highly committed to the character and moral development of children and adults. The Character First! program teaches 49 specific qualities that make up an individual's character. We teach nine character traits each year to help the school and families to develop character in their children. 

"Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wing, and only character endures."
Horace Greeley 

The Character First! teaches us that character is the inward motivation to do what is right, whatever the cost. Every person on earth has equal opportunity to build his or her character by working on qualities such as truthfulness, patience, and loyalty. When daily decisions are based on these qualities, you will experience practical and lasting rewards. 

“To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to create a menace to society.”
Theodore Roosevelt 

Burke Basic School places high priority on teaching character and moral values through its curriculum. For this reason we have combined the Character First! program with reading texts from the 1800s. The McGuffey’s and Harper’s readers are the mainstay of our reading program. These texts are filled with uplifting stories and poetry of character, hope, and patriotism. The books were also published during a time in American history when educational expectations were high and laced with moral values and patriotism.