Ethicist Michael Josephson will discuss character and the specific challenges and pressures teenagers face at an assembly on Oct. 21 as well as a parent meeting later that night, Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts said. He was selected by Huybrechts as part of her theme for this year that “character, not circumstance, makes the person.”

Josephson, the founder of the Josephson Institute for Ethics, emphasizes improving the ethical quality of society by changing decision-making and behavior.

The Honor Code violations last year led to Huybrechts’ decision to invite Josephson to speak at the assembly.

“I told him about the problems that we had last year and that at the end of the year we were really questioning whether we, the school, were doing an adequate job of developing character in our students,” Huybrechts said.

At the assembly, he will be addressing ninth through twelfth graders about the coinciding of school and character.

“I think he’s better for high school kids than middle school kids, so I invited all of our high school kids rather than have two assemblies,” she said.

Huybrechts said that the topic of building ethical character amongst students continues to remain a significant focus for the school.

“This is the old ‘hard right vs. the easy wrong’ scenario that all teenagers face,” she said. “How are you going to develop your own moral compass?”