Doak House Museum to offer special program for 'Character Counts Week' Oct. 20-24

Good character is a major component of the Doak House Museum's "Quill Mark & Ink Spot" educational program, and it will be a focus of particular emphasis Oct. 20-24.

The Doak House Museum on the Tusculum College campus is marking National Character Education Week, Oct. 20-24, with a special "Quill Mark & Ink Spot" program for all grade levels. Every student that participates in the special program that week will receive a Character Counts pencil and a blue ribbon promoting good character.

The daily school life of children in the 19th century is examined in the "Quill Mark & Ink Spot" program. Students learn about bartering for an education during the 1800s and about the classroom of this period through such hands-on activities as writing with a quill pen to make a copybook. The good moral character emphasis of education in the 19th century is compared today's "Six Pillars of Character" as mandated by the State of Tennessee.

The Doak House Museum is a partner of the Character Counts program in Northeast Tennessee. "Six Pillars of Character" are emphasized in Character Counts: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. Character Counts helps provide schools, organizations, businesses, and other institutions with resources and training to enable them to teach their students, employees, or the public about these values and the importance of good character.

Reservations are now being taken for the special Character Education Week program. To register or for more information call the Doak House Museum at 636-8554 or 1-800-729-0256 ext. 5251.

The Doak House Museum, which is operated by the Department of Museum Program and Studies at Tusculum, was the home of the Reverend Samuel Witherspoon Doak, co-founder of the college. The museum hosted more than 7,000 school children from Northeast Tennessee last year for a variety of educational programs related to the early 19th century.