A story in the local paper reports an incident of vicious bullying at a nearby high school during which a student was harassed, humiliated, and physically assaulted. Five students face criminal charges. As I drive by the school I notice that the announcement board outside says "Character Matters."

I am aware that the school board has implemented a region-wide program in schools that focusses on "character education" which according to a Board document is "a deliberate effort to cultivate positive personal attributes and civility among students.... [qualities that are promoted] explicitly, modeled, taught, expected, celebrated and continuously practised in every day actions." Like all such initiatives, it seems like a good idea, and I would like to believe that character can be "taught" but given its complexity, I wonder.

Character is an intricate psychological and social phenomenon, certainly philosophical, even political. How does the interplay of character influence world events, or relationships between people in the most ordinary day to day situations? Commenting on character in his biography of British Prime Minister Gladstone, the English statesman and parliamentarian John Morley said, "Simplicity of character is no hindrance to subtlety of intellect." And with reference to the French political leader Robespierre – the principal engineer of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror – Morley said, "No man can climb out beyond the limitations of his own character."

Character has many components among which can be counted problematic concepts such as: appearance, courage, disposition, ethos, habits, honour, individuality, integrity, mood, nature, spirit, temperament, and rank. Defining it requires a delicate spider's web of conceptual thinking and understanding how character gets translated into behaviour is equally as difficult. It seems to me, however, that real character study must take culture into consideration. But what is culture?

Well, culture is a collective lifestyle, a way of life of a society that generally speaking includes mutual and shared knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws and regulations, language, and ways of behaving to which the majority of the members of the society conform. A culture embodies and demonstrates an ethos – the attitudinal system of the community – but there is also a social dynamic inherent in the culture that is influenced by elements such as history, the innate human need to belong, education and training, commerce, class systems, style, and – if we're lucky – enlightenment. And we would be well advised to remember that culture is massive; it can work in the best interests of the individual and the collective but it can also have negative and injurious elements.

Culture of course is also directly linked to human behaviour – it may be a classic case of "chicken and egg" – and most sociologists or cultural anthropologists will tell you that human behaviour is influenced by four principal systems: biology, personality, the social system, and the cultural system. It is also generally agreed that culture has four basic components:

(a) Symbols and Signals (For example, a red Maple Leaf is replete with meaning for Canadians. And following the western tradition, we tend to shake hands when we meet; an ancient custom of assurance that neither party is carrying a weapon. The Indian gesture of greeting, Namaste, a polite bow with the hands held at chest height and both palms pressed together, suggests also that both parties come in peace.)

(b) Norms and Mores (Which direction do you face when you get into an elevator? Try doing the opposite and see what happens. When you went to school what was considered a "normal" way of dressing? Why is honesty considered "the best policy?" What does the fact that Canada does not have capital punishment mean?)

(c) Social Values (How do we encourage behaviourisms like respect for authority, punctuality, charity, ambition, creativity, politeness, love, humour?)

(d) Cultural Objects (What's a Palm Pilot? Is a pair of jeans just a pair of pants? How did Greased Lightning represent both the adolescent and automobile sub-cultures? Are diamonds really forever?)

Culture is an iceberg. There's a lot more to it than meets the eye.

Last night's newscast ended with a "fluff" piece about the Stanley Cup and beer. More beer is sold – and consumed – in Canada during this national cultural event than at any other time. Beer companies pay a premium during the Stanley Cup to promote their products to their key target audience; twentysomething males. The news piece took a light look at the cultural phenomenon of beer and hockey. I'm not quite sure why, but clips of hidden camera scenes were interspersed in the piece. They showed practical jokes being played on young men; one guy opened his car door and golf balls poured out at his feet. He was startled of course and I guess he looked rather silly. I suppose it was funny; somebody sure got the better of him.

When I was in high school, in the "good old days"of the 60s, practical jokes were often played on the unsuspecting or those considered "weak." Initiation rituals of various types were the norm, and quite acceptable. School was OK, I suppose, but it wasn't always fun, and certainly did not always promote a personal sense of security. I remember the hierarchical culture of high school, and the control structures. I remember the cliques, the rivalries, and the bullying – overt and systemic. I remember the power-based social order in the school that emulated the one on the outside.

I also taught in a high school for 32 years, and I remember this.

Secure in the "drama room" I witnessed ten thousand years pass in a single evening. The play was Thornton Wilder's Our Town. And when it was over, I realized how fortunate we all were that it had occurred there, in a quiet, private place among friends, family, and chosen family. Because if that precious time had been spent in a more public place, I fear the message conveyed by this group of highly skilled and committed young actors could have become the proverbial "sigh in a shouting mob," soundless and sad. As it was, their amiable voices said what always needs to be said with compassion and confidence; their portrayal of the universal human condition in "our town" resonated within a safe haven. And they moved us – we were spectators and participants – in ways one would have assumed were far beyond their years. How did they do it? Should such wisdom and depth of feeling be visited so soon on such young people? What a responsibility they bore for three performances. With what exquisite and seamless rhythms they assumed their roles and guided us through this microcosm; making us see and feel joy, humour, pain, sadness, acceptance of what must be, and ultimately hope. It was the best and most honest student performance I have ever seen. Their youthful guilelessness allowed them to represent through their characterizations Wilder's theatrical sharpness, the edge of his dramatic tension, and the conundrum of life and death. But, as Thornton Wilder intended it, they spoke for each of us and they were also every child. Wilder's play is often staged by high school students. As a vehicle for portraying centuries of social history in North American culture, the play can be easy entertainment or it can evoke waves of emotion and cognition. It requires consummate actors who work as a community themselves to do the latter. And this is what these student actors did. "Playing" out of time and in a timeless mode, they showed us that "This is the way we were in our growing-up and in our marrying and in our doctoring and in our living and in our dying." And we remembered and were happy, sad, and understood the inextricable relationships in all "towns." As one of the actors reminded me later, "All souls of Grover's Corners live but one lifetime. A mere fraction of the ten thousand years of human existence ... there is too much beauty in the world. So much so that a person can process with utter fascination but a few fantastic qualities our universe contains." And we the audience processed this truth.

Speaking for all intents and purposes in unison, the actors gave us a glimpse of the eternal and reminded us that a state of grace can exists among the living and the dead. Role models and poets, these young people in the Drama Room knew intuitively the importance of real human communication. This was not a play performed on a grand stage for recognition or for promotion of the self; this was an affirmation of a cohesive and collaborative culture. This was an altruistic theatrical experience.

In "Liberal Arts Education" in the Canadian Encyclopedia, Robert James Merrett writes, "Liberal Arts education addresses the whole person, distinct from technical and professional training. It opens the intellectual world to individuals, recognizing that our emotional and spiritual life ought to be free to develop through a full and active understanding of society." I remember these drama students because they demonstrated the importance of theatre in achieving this goal and the power of language to effect a public good. What occurred in that Drama Room was enlightenment, and a collective representation of character.