Episode 1
Character Development at West Point: Insights from Dr. Peterson
In this episode, Dr. Jeff Peterson and Brig. Gen. Reeves discuss the crucial role of character development at West Point. They introduce an upcoming transformation of the Academic Program—the integration of 5 mandatory courses from throughout a cadet’s four years that focus on different components of character development. In particular, they explore the History of the Army course, drawing lessons from historical leaders, and emphasize the evolution of the Army as a trusted profession. The episode provides a comprehensive view of how West Point prepares cadets for the complexities of military service.
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction and Guest Background
01:21 The Importance of Character at West Point
03:33 The Role of the Honor Code in Character Development
05:16 The Evolution of the Honor Code and Character Expectations
09:06 The Intersection of Personal and Professional Life in Character Development
15:21 The Journey to Leading Character Efforts at West Point
18:09 Defining and Developing Character at West Point
25:47 Introduction to the Character Thread in the Academic Program
28:48 The Five Core Courses in the Character Thread
30:09 The Role of History in Character Development
34:07 The Importance of Character Integration in the Academic Program
39:47 The Challenges of Character Integration
47:21 The Role of Character in Navigating Complex Situations
49:42 Rapid Fire Questions and Concluding Remarks
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Credits:
- Recording: West Point Public Affairs-Visual Information
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- Publisher: West Point Press (https://westpointpress.com)
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Transcript
EP1
===
[:Welcome, Jeff.
[: [: oint's economics program from: ficership at West Point since:Thinking about the next episode, you were the top of my mind. Character development is something special about West Point. We know that we are more than an academic institution. We talk about that a lot. But central to everything we do is character, and you and I have talked about how it's foundational.
And how all of our other pillars, as we like to call them, are tethered or nested into this foundation of character. So , let's talk about what you're doing today. And so, to get us started I think our listening audience could use some context.
d so, let me just ask a very [:Well, when you think about why West Point even exists, our sole purpose is to provide commissioned officers for the United States Army to serve in the Army profession. And the bedrock, or the essential ingredient for the Army profession, is trust.
rate. Trust is a function of [: other commissioning sources, [:And there's an argument to be made that you can get a good education in a lot of different places, you can get in shape in a lot of different places, you can get military training in a lot of different places. But there's only one place where you get all three of those. Immersed in this culture of army profession and character that really creates an expectation for exceptional trustworthiness in our graduates.
So that's why I think it's central to who we are. We have to get that right.
cably linked to character at [:Could you explain how you see it connected to character, why it's important, and then I'll follow up with how it's developed over the years.
[: [: [: ve a written honor code until: past, it's sort of been the [:The expectations for what it means to be honorable have changed, evolved, and expanded over time. So the honor code, although sacred and foundational, is not sufficient for the character we need in our graduates.
[:Can you talk about how that changes the expectations of what we want out of a graduate.
[: there's an expectation that [: mple of this is that we have [:He was silenced simply because he was an African American. But every graduate that was in that class or in the Corps at that time that silenced General Davis considered themselves to be honorable. Today, that's completely unacceptable. Right, so this is how this notion of character and what it means to live and lead honorably has changed.
it means to be honorable. It [: [: [: er cadet would even speak to [:I can't even imagine what that would be like. And that's clearly dishonorable and trust breaking within the formation. And at the time, it was accepted. It's no longer acceptable, and I think that's a move in the right direction.
[:What you're basically saying is that the expectation is that you're going to be the same regardless of the situation. There's going to be an authenticity to you. You're going to treat people with respect in all situations. And then we expect you to live. And you made an interesting point about there's no line of demarcation between your personal life and your private life.
Is that realistic? Is it realistic to hold someone to that type of expectation?
[: er and a mixed race platoon, [:I can submit you for awards. I can put you, I can recommend punishments. But you just need to know that while I'm at work, I'm all for you. But then when I go home or on social media, maybe I'm posting racist or sexist comments. Maybe with a certain group of people, I'm treating women or people of another race differently.
If I'm a soldier and I [: and another person at home, [: [:In a professional environment and think that no one's going to see how you act in a different environment.
[:And so you can't just Keep up the false front through all the conditions that an officer has to lead through. So it's better just to be a person of integrity, right, that I'm like this all the time. This is who I am. Doesn't mean that I'm perfect. It doesn't mean that I'm not going to offend people sometimes.
n that I'm not going to make [: [: [:Right? The person who offended somebody else. We spend a lot less time on how should I respond if I'm the person who's offended. And that's also a matter of character. Right? And you mentioned grace. There's this idea of giving a person the benefit of the doubt. Their action is one thing, their intent is completely another.
And if you just gracefully, [:I don't think we're really there yet, right?
[:Where, cause the response could be, I mean, I don't, I didn't mean to offend you, and I don't think you should have been offended by that. I mean, there's a, there could be a real discourse here.
[: would be something along the [: [: [: tiple conversations with him [:This was a time where I was really struggling with whether or not I wanted to stay in the Army. So these, to me, were critical discussions not only about my own personal decision to stay in or to leave, but also to understand this organization that I'm going to remain a part of. So that was really the nudge that put me in this direction.
on the Army Profession and I [: mon Center, and then through [:And so that's Sort of the pathway that led us to where we are.
[: [: But that was really a major [: he azimuth for our character [:So the first thing was defining it. The second thing was how has it developed? And then the third thing is how do all the things we do at West Point contribute to that development? So it's a tiered process.
[: [:It needs to happen whether they're being watched or not. This is not about extrinsic motivation where people do things so that they don't get punished. This is about intrinsic motivation that I'm going to do this because this is who I am and this is the right thing to do. That is a lofty goal.
[: [:General Gilland, our superintendent, his big emphasis on character is that it's revealed through your actions and your decisions. So it really is about how you're behaving and how you're either building or eroding trust over time.
[:So what is different about your efforts.
[: bad, then we just separated [: lop somebody's character. We [:So maybe we can take somebody who's made a, had a character lapse, and we can develop them over time. And so we've migrated towards this developmental model, and there's all kinds of components to it that we can discuss, but that's
[: And they're adults, albeit [: [: g through, I'm not sure that [:I look at my own life. When people tell me that character is not developed while you're a cadet, I think about my life as a plebe versus my life as a firstie. I was a different person by the time I was a firstie. In lots of different ways, but part of that was with my character. And then when I think of how I was as a firstie compared to how I am now, I've continued to grow.
ys to go. I mean, one of the [:And these are the kinds of things that equip you to develop your character over time, to strengthen it.
[:We do both very well. The training is a bit more of a Effort to indoctrinate someone in a particular way so that they get good at it. I think about going to a rifle range. Education is preparing someone for uncertainty. Asking them difficult questions that perhaps there isn't a right or wrong answer to.
der academic program. So one [: that have certain things in [: [:So that in the minds of cadets, they're going through this experience and they can put together all the pieces that they're learning about character. The academic thread. is vital for several reasons. First of all, an important part of character is intellectual virtue. So they're learning the aspects of critical thinking, curiosity, love of learning.
o these are all part of good [: s appropriate for character. [: l for this overall character [: [: [: ey take the superintendent's [:But what we believe is that those five courses provide a common thread on helping to transform somebody into an army professional, giving them the skills they need for leadership to help them with moral reasoning, and then to apply this in the military context. And every single cadet has to take it.
. Every cadet is taught by a [: [: [: p plebes understand the army [: rant is another obvious one. [: y. In fact, America was very [:Not just the economics of it, but the fear of it, that it would take over the government. And this is rooted in fact, in how they were treated by the British army. We take for granted now that America doesn't worry about that. But the only reason they don't worry about that is because we've evolved as a profession.
wn a revolt of officers that [:He had to operate in an environment that was at times hostile between him and Congress, but he always deferred to Congress. And then this becomes a thread throughout the whole course. And then the third thing is just the moral complexity of the missions that the Army has the moral complexity of leading a diverse Army.
Army's been very diverse for [:But to be able to get a granular view of the readings and to think of it through a profession lens and a character lens, it really helps me think about how we connect all of these ideas.
[: [: about anything in the Army. [:And so what we're doing with this course is we're exposing them to what We are preparing them for, it helps them make sense of all these different things that they're going to go through. This is just not something random that's designed to make them miserable. It's preparing them for these great challenges.
ow I have a snapshot of what [: [: [:We can't fully replicate the sustained difficulty of combat operations and deployment. We can give them a taste of it. And so we can get them an MX400 and they can articulate answers. This is what I would do. We put them through some role playing so that they can demonstrate it. So we can show a mastery of some comments.
[:And I think, for the most part, our track record is pretty good about people rising to the occasion. We always have examples of failure, I mean, we're human beings. But, on the whole, I think West Point does a good job on preparing people to handle those situations.
[:How has this been important to this integration effort?
[:And these two courses, the one during their junior year is military leadership, and then their senior year is the officership course. So there's two major writing requirements in the military leadership course. One is called a journey line, which is a reflection on your life and how you've developed up to this point, and what the implications are for the future.
lty, or coaches that coaches [:It's mentorship and coaching along the way. And then, they keep those essays, and then when they get to the officership capstone, they have to write a self assessment on what do I need to do for the next year or six months to get myself ready for commission service. Cite your leadership philosophy essay.
lenges that they've faced at [: [:And you pointed this out, there's, it's hard to replicate some of these real world experiences, which is, there's no way to do that. But what are some of the other challenges in integrating across the academic program? This effort to try to emphasize character development.
[: n, is that the time we spend [:And it's hard to get over that cultural hurdle, right? The traditions, the norm is that I have my lane, you have your lane, and if your lane gets bigger, my lane's going to get smaller. So it's a zero sum game. This is perfectly normal. I mean, people respond to incentives. This is how we're organized. So we shouldn't be surprised by this, but we do need to take some steps to.
And I think [: [:And it's, we're trying something very different. Why? Why did, why do you think we needed to try to tie all this together?
[: 's only so many hours in the [: al term, but if I do task X, [:And that way, I can use resources that are already in place to elevate the whole thing instead of just trying to tag on all these little things in whatever wedges of time we can find available.
[: ld elevate character amongst [: [: nd there's a growing body of [:And one of those upstream prevention aspects is character development. There's one other thing I wanted to say about the importance of this and why we need to do better. And I would make this argument. We could have cadets at West Point that have no misbehavior, no misconduct, no character lapses. They could just be perfect people.
nto an army that is going to [: Wong wrote an article called [: oing to be a lot of pressure [:And you've got to set the standard early, but that's where it all begins, and then it's maintenance, and then it's training. So we have to prepare them to handle this pressure that we know exists in the Army.
[: scribed. And so, this effort [:And I think you would agree.
[:As a tank company commander at Fort Cavasos, Do you think I ever imagined that I would be in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba? No. Right. But I had to exercise judgment on how to do all this. Now some of my decisions were better than others. I'm not saying I got it all right. But West Point helped prepare me to think through that.
to exercise judgment in this [: m, the military program, the [:I think that's the essence of why West Point exists. And it's also the essence of why character is important, because that judgment has to be based on exceptional Character, adherence to an ethic that meets the expectations for public trust. It's an enormous responsibility.
[: [: [: [: k by Martin Dempsey, No Time [:So those three would be good.
[: [:And this person, Calvin P. Titus, who scaled the walls of Peking. He was a musician. In the regimental band, the infantry unit couldn't figure out how to get up the wall, and so the commander turns and says, I need somebody to get up that wall. Who can do it? And so this musician from the band raises his hand and says, I'll try, sir.
victory. So Calvin Titus was [:I'd love to have lunch with him. Figure out what happened after he graduated and what it was like to be an underclass cadet wearing a Medal of Honor. And how the interactions with the upper class went.
[: [: [: [: re everybody's afraid to say [: cessary to get the job done. [: [: [: ountry in the army and doing [:So I watched that and That's my most prized possession right now.
[: [: [: [: [:Remember, you can find this podcast, as well as the other podcasts, journals, and books, hosted or published by the West Point Press at westpointpress. com. Until next time.
