The Authors: Francis J. Ryan, Ed.D. is Professor of Education and American Studies at La Salle University, where he teaches courses in foundations of education, social and moral development, American history, and American Studies. He has published in numerous journals and presented at national and international conferences. His current interests include the history of American education, American immigration and ethnicity, culture theory, and character education.
John J. Sweeder is Associate Professor of Education at La Salle University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he teaches courses in educational technology, secondary teacher education, and educational psychology. He received his Ed.D. in English/Communication education from Temple University. He has published widely in professional journals and presented at national and international conferences.
Maryanne R. Bednar is Associate Professor of Education at La Salle University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she teaches courses in reading, secondary education, assessment, and young adult literature. She received her Ph.D. in educational psychology with an emphasis on reading from Temple University. She has presented at numerous national and international conferences and published widely in professional journals.

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With marked increases in school violence, educators have again been called upon to emphasize character education in their classrooms. While diversity of community values has rendered such efforts increasingly problematic, a more fundamental impasse to character education is cultural narcissism. Adolescents influenced by an inflated sense of grandiosity, entitlement, devaluation of others, and self-absorption often dismiss character education as irrelevant or constraining to their "me-centered" life-styles. To counter cultural narcissism, teachers need to foster character education by developing the moral system (self-understanding, social cognition, moral sentiments, and moral judgment) in each of their students. A creative use of educational technology can help teachers raise moral sensitivity, while simultaneously diluting the negative influences of cultural narcissism that pervades much of contemporary American life.