The Scientific World Journal

Volume 2012, Article ID 568272, 7 pages

doi:10.1100/2012/568272
The cientificWorldJOURNAL

Review Article
Behavioral Competence as a Positive Youth Development
Construct: A Conceptual Review

Hing Keung Ma
Department of Education Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong

Correspondence should be addressed to Hing Keung Ma, [email protected]

Received 1 September 2011; Accepted 1 October 2011

Academic Editor: Joav Merrick

Copyright © 2012 Hing Keung Ma. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Behavioral competence is delineated in terms of four parameters: (a) Moral and Social Knowledge, (b) Social Skills, (c) Positive
Characters and Positive Attributes, and (d) Behavioral Decision Process and Action Taking. Since Ma’s other papers in this special
issue have already discussed the moral and social knowledge as well as the social skills associated in detail, this paper focuses on the
last two parameters. It is hypothesized that the following twelve positive characters are highly related to behavioral competence:
humanity, intelligence, courage, conscience, autonomy, respect, responsibility, naturalness, loyalty, humility, assertiveness, and
perseverance. Large-scale empirical future studies should be conducted to substantiate the predictive validity of the complete set of
these positive characters. The whole judgment and behavioral decision process is constructed based on the information processing
approach. The direction of future studies should focus more on the complex input, central control, and output subprocesses and
the interactions among these sub-processes. The understanding of the formation of behavior is crucial to whole-person education
and positive youth development.

1. Background rituals, social laws, rules, and regulations in an organization

or group (e.g., home, school, government, company, or
The goal of education is not only to teach our children the interest group), and the sociomoral values in one’s society.
knowledge and skills to behave gracefully and properly but This parameter is explained in detail in Ma’s [1] paper
also to act accordingly. In other words, education should on moral competence. (b) Social Skills: this refers to the
not stop at the judgment level but should also go straight ability to use verbal and nonverbal strategies to perform
to the real behavior domain. The development of behavioral socially, morally acceptable and normative behavior in daily
competence is therefore one of the most important attributes interaction with others [2, 3]. “Verbal strategies mainly
that we want to teach students. In this paper, we will explore include oral expression and writing, whereas nonverbal
a set of positive characters or attributes that are highly related strategies include body language such as facial expression,
to behavioral competence. In addition, the behavior decision tone of voice, gesture, and eye contact” [2, page 177].
process is investigated based on the information processing The social skill parameter is delineated in Ma [2] as well
approach. We are interested in studying the factors affecting as his paper on social competence in this special issue
one’s behavioral decisions, especially in dilemma situations. [3]. (c) Positive Characters and Positive Attributes: the
development of behavioral competence is highly related to
2. Definition of Behavioral Competence positive characters (e.g., respect, responsibility, humanity,
and loyalty) and prosocial orientation or motivation (e.g.,
Behavioral competence can be defined in terms of four courage, perseverance, and conscience). Positive characters
parameters: (a) Moral and Social Knowledge: children promote moral behavior, and positive motivation triggers
should learn the social norms, common manners and and sustains good actions. (d) Behavioral Decision Process
2 The Scientific World Journal

and Action Taking: the whole process of making a behavioral and right things despite a dilemma, great difficulty, and
decision and finally realizing the decision by carrying it serious threat. The vigorous fortitude and enduring sacrifice
out could be a highly complicated procedure. The present associated with the demanding course to uphold long-
paper focuses on the last two parameters, and an information lasting courage can be quite overwhelming and unbearable
processing approach is explored here. to many common people. Courage is a core moral quality
regarded by many moral philosophers [12]. The courage to
3. Positive Attributes Related to act prosocially and refrain from temptation and corruption
is a character that we should help children to develop.
Behavioral Competence
There are many positive attributes related to behavioral Conscience. There are two major aspects of conscience: the
competence. Ma [4] proposed that there are ten primary cognitive and affective aspects [13, pages 57-58]. Cognitively,
moral characters that we need to help children to develop. conscience knows what is right and what is wrong, and
These moral characters are humanity, intelligence, courage, what one should do and what one should not do. The
conscience, autonomy, respect, responsibility, naturalness, affective aspect refers to the feeling of shame and guilt when
loyalty, and humility. All these characters can be regarded one has done something wrong or when one is not able
as positive attributes that are closely related to behavioral to do something good or right. The conscience is quite
competence. Two other attributes, assertiveness and perse- related to the concept of morality defined by psychoanalytic
verance, are also highly related to behavioral competence and psychologists, that is, one’s moral action is motivated by
will therefore be included here. The summary of the first a negative wish to avoid the painful feeling of shame and
ten characters is based on Ma’s Model of Moral Character guilt [14]. The development of a moral conscience is another
Education. A more detailed description is given in Ma big concern of educators. A student with a high level of
[4]. The humanity (Jen), intelligence (moral cognition and intelligence but a low level of conscience may not have
moral judgment), conscience, and naturalness characters positive and pleasant social interactions with others.
have been discussed in detail in Ma’s [1, 5] theory of
moral development for the Chinese people. In addition, the Autonomy. It should be noted that the concept of autonomy
autonomy, respect, and responsibility characters were also is a key value in Western cultures. Many psychologists and
delineated in Ma’s [2, 3] study on social competence. educators [5, 11, 15–17] regard genuine personal autonomy
as an important characteristic of the highest stage of moral
Humanity. Jen or humanity “has something of the love judgment. Based on their free will, autonomy, and freedom,
which parents have naturally for their children. It has people at this stage act according to their self-chosen
something of the compassion which a man of sensitivity feels universal ethical principles. In other words, people at such
when seeing an innocent animal slaughtered” [6, page 27]. a high stage of moral development are able to transcend
A great Confucian philosopher, Mencius, also said, Jen “is or resolve the moral disputes between the majority and
a feeling common to all mankind that they cannot bear to an individual in a just and least conflicting manner. The
see others suffer” [6, page 132]. Humanity includes empathy, universal ethical principles are the principles that are based
caring, and forgiveness. This feeling of profound love is on good will and are applicable to any person in any situation
the basis of genuine altruism and caring for others in all without exception.
the social actions. The goal of education is to foster the
development of Jen or humanity in our next generation so Respect. According to Lickona [13], respect “takes three
that they would love others as they love themselves. major forms: respect of oneself, respect for other people,
and respect for all forms of life and the environment that
Intelligence. It refers to the ability to adapt to difficult and sustains them” (page 43). Respect of oneself or self-respect
complicated situations in a changing environment and mak- refers to one’s disposition to cherish one’s worth and one’s
ing prosocial actions promptly and effectively in response. confidence in facing challenges. Respecting others stands for
Many psychologists (e.g., J. Piaget and R. Sternberg) regard being polite, tolerant, graceful, dignified, sincere, honest, fair,
intelligence as the most important adaptive ability in one’s humble, and caring of other peoples’ feelings. The respect for
development [7, page 203], [8, 9]. Students should therefore all forms of life includes the respect for animal rights and the
be taught to be critical, creative, rational, fair, and forgiving respect for the rights of all living things. It also includes a
in their judgment and behavioral decision process in order heartfelt respect and love for Nature and hence will cause one
to more effectively adapt to their surrounding environment. to try one’s best to protect Nature.
While intelligence appears to be a necessary condition for
making a prosocial or moral decision, by itself it is simply Responsibility. The value of responsibility is derived from the
not sufficient. Other factors such as moral emotion, prosocial value of respect and it includes four different perspectives
motivation, and situational variables also affect the actual [13]: (a) personal responsibility: it refers to one’s reliability
behavioral outcomes [5, 10, 11]. and trustworthiness; (b) familial responsibility: it prescribes
people to be responsible and accountable for the welfare
Courage. It is the emotional disposition and motivation that and protection of members of their family (e.g., one’s
would push one to act, to move forward, and to do good parents, children, siblings, and spouse); (c) social and civil
The Scientific World Journal 3

responsibility: a citizen has “the obligation to perform on what they think is good and right. In a review of prosocial
certain duties, including the responsibility to obey the law, development, Eisenberg et al. [25, page 691] concluded
to pay one’s taxes, to respect the rights of other people, to that assertiveness is associated with prosocial behaviors in
fight for one’s country, and generally to fulfil one’s social children. Assertive children are relatively high in sympathetic
obligations” [18, page 2]; (d) global responsibility: As a world and prosocial behavior.
citizen, one has responsibility to take care of the welfare of
the people in their own countries and also people in other
countries [3]. Perseverance. It refers to one’s persistent effort to stick to
one’s aim or purpose and never give up in the face of
Naturalness. Chinese Tao philosophers place emphasis on difficulties and challenges. Two of the Chinese idioms are
naturalness (e.g., a childlike heart and adult intelligence) relevant here: “dripping water penetrates the stone” and
in the development of characters [19]. In the description “constant perseverance yields success” [26]. The concept of
of the characteristics of self-actualizers, Maslow [20] also perseverance is well explained in the Analects of Confucius
argued that self-actualizing people always behave with a high in several occasions. Two of them are presented here: (a)
degree of spontaneity, simplicity, and naturalness, which are the philosopher Zeng said, “The officer may not be without
common in young children’s behavior. In short, the virtue breadth of mind and vigorous endurance. His burden is
of naturalness means purity, simplicity, softness, spontaneity, heavy and his course is long. Perfect virtue is the burden
sincerity, and genuineness [21]. Therefore, the teaching which he considers it is his to sustain—is it not heavy? Only
of a pure, simple, sincere, and natural lifestyle should be with death does his course stop—is it not long?” [27, Tao
beneficial to our next generation who are supposed to live in Bo 7]. Scholars and officers must be strong and persistent.
a sophisticated, complicated, and technological world when Their responsibility is heavy and the road ahead is long.
they grow up. They have the responsibility to practice and maintain perfect
virtue until their death. Is the burden too heavy and is
the course too long? (b) The Master Confucius said, “The
Loyalty. The virtue of loyalty is regarded as one of the core
superior man does not, even for the space of a single meal,
moral qualities in Confucianism [19]. To be loyal to a group
act contrary to virtue. In moments of haste, he cleaves
means that one identifies with the value and interests of
to it. In seasons of danger, he cleaves to it.” [27, Li Ren
the group and would stand up to defend the interests of
5]. The superior man should have the perseverance to act
the group when the group is facing crisis or threats at the
according to perfect virtue in any difficult, poor, deprived,
expense of one’s personal interest. The identification with
and dangerous situations. In summation, Confucianism
and loyalty to one’s country favours the development of
teaches us to act morally and to stick to perfect virtue with
national patriotism [2]. The characteristics of loyalty are
a perseverant personality. A similar concept of perseverance
meant to be related to those of integrity and honesty.
in personality psychology is “grit.” Duckworth et al. [28]
defined grit as “perseverance and passion for long-term
Humility. We should be humble and polite towards others. goals. Grit entails working strenuously toward challenges,
Confucius once said “Behave with great respect and pru- maintaining effort and interests over years despite failure,
dence when away from home as though you were receiving adversity, and plateaus in progress” (pages 1087-1088). In
a distinguished guest. Preside over the common people with the empirical study with two adult samples, they found
gravity and seriousness as though you were officiating at a that grit is positively related to success outcomes including
grand sacrifice. Do not do to others what you would not want educational attainments. Grit was also highly related to
others to do to you” [22, page 193]. The teaching of humility conscientiousness in the Big Five personality traits (the other
in our children should hopefully reduce their aggression four personality traits in the Big Five are: extraversion, agree-
towards and any conflicts with their peers and adults. It is ableness, neuroticism, and openness to experiences) [29].
beyond doubt that a society of the humble and polite will be “Conscientious individuals are characteristically thorough,
a society of peace, dignity, and happiness. careful, reliable, organized, industrious, and self-controlled”
[28, page 1089]. In other words, grit or perseverance is
Assertiveness. Goleman [23] in his elaboration of emotional related to carefulness, reliability, industry, and self-control.
literacy argued that assertiveness “emphasizes expressing There are two important features that we need to take
feelings forthrightly, but in a way that will not spiral note of in fostering the development of the above positive
into aggression” (page 266). Bonham-Carter [24] described characters: (a) some of the above characters may not be of the
assertive people as someone who “express their views clearly same nature. For example, naturalness and humility may be
and articulately without being aggressive; stands up for their at odds with assertiveness. How can one be simple, sincere,
own and other people’s rights in a reasonable and clear humble, and yet be assertive? The fact is that reality is very
way; and allows other people a reasonable opportunity to complicated. Our children may have to learn to adapt to a
express their opinions without allowing them to dominate large variety of situations. In some situations, one has to be
a conversation.” In other words, children should be taught assertive at the beginning of the interaction and then turn
to defend their value and beliefs in a reasonably elegant and to being humble later on. In the other situation, we may
graceful manner. In particular, they should be able to debate have to do the reverse, that is, humble first, assertive later. In
with other people, especially aggressive and impolite people, addition, one may need to exhibit some of the characters in
4 The Scientific World Journal

one situation and the other characters in the other situation. very often cannot implement a moral plan successfully are
The complexity in the teaching of these characters is a big quite complicated. Researches on ego strength, delay of
issue in curriculum development in moral education and gratification, and self-regulation (see, e.g., [31]) are relevant
whole-person education. (b) It is likely that some of the here. For example, whether a person is courageous or not,
above characters are culturally specific. We propose these empathetic or not, intelligent or not will significantly affect
characters as a basis for teaching the Chinese children. the successful implementation of the moral plan.
Further researches have to be conducted to substantiate the Obviously, the model is not a linear one. It is quite true
cultural universality of these characters in the education of that the four components have a logical sequence: interpret-
children in other cultures. ing the stimulus, formulating an acceptable course of action,
and executing, but interactions among the components are
evident [11, pages 17-18].
4. An Information Processing Approach to
In order to equip students with the ability to implement
Behavioral Decision one’s moral choice in real-life situations, Raths, Harmin, and
The behavioral decision process is studied by an information Simon have developed a model called “Values Clarification.”
processing approach. We would focus on moral and prosocial They proposed seven steps in valuing process: “choosing
behavior in the following discussion. According to Rest’s [11] freely, choosing from alternatives, choosing after consid-
Model of Moral Judgment and Decision, the whole process ering the consequences, prizing and cherishing, affirm-
consists of four components. ing, acting upon choices, and repeating” [32, pages 77-
78]. The first three steps are related to component (C)
“Evaluating Alternatives and Making Decisions” in the
(A) Interpreting the Stimulus and Identifying the Problem. above model. The last four steps are related to compo-
The incoming information passing through the Selective nent (D). The emphasis on cherishing and affirming of
Filter of the Input System is interpreted by the organism. one’s choice and repeating acting upon one’s choice is
The interpretation may involve “imagining what courses of essential in educating our children to act morally and
action are possible and tracing the consequences of action prosocially.
in terms of how each action would affect the welfare of each
While the information processing approach provides
party involved” [11, page 5].
a useful framework to study how a person processes
incoming information, makes a behavioral decision, and
(B) Formulating an Ideal Plan of Prosocial Action. After the eventually acts upon the decision, the details in each of
moral problem has been identified and structured, the next the subprocesses require more sophisticated and scientific
step is usually to formulate an ideal plan of action which methods to work out. In addition, the detailed mechanism
satisfies one’s ideals, values, or moral principles. In general, on how the environment influences the whole process
social norms affect one’s formulation of a plan of moral is not yet fully understood. Finally, how the emotional
action [11, pages 8–13]. Furthermore, the moral judgment state and the personality of a person affects the process
level of an individual also affects the person to formulate a is another interesting topic for further research. Despite
plan of action. People at a higher stage of moral judgment the above limitations, the information processing approach
tend to formulate a plan of action based on democracy, becomes a popular approach to the study of learning
respect of basic human rights, and principles of universal [33].
love and justice. On the other hand, people at a lower stage
would act according to instrumental purpose, reciprocity,
and expectations of their significant others [1, 17].
5. Assessment of Behavioral Competence
(C) Evaluating Alternatives and Making Decisions. Parallel According to the definition of behavioral competency, the
to step (B), the actor will identify and evaluate all possible assessment of behavioral competence includes the assess-
alternatives. It is quite common that the first possible action ment of the following: (a) Moral and Social Knowledge, (b)
an individual thinks of is not a moral one or an ideal one. The Social Skills, (c) Positive Characters and Positive Attributes,
evaluation of alternatives normally involves the assessment of and (d) Behavioral Decision Process and Action Taking.
the consequences of each alternative action and the pertinent Assessment of moral and social knowledge is discussed in
uncertainties. Very often, people choose not to act according several reviews or articles [1, 3, 25, 34, 35] and assessment
to their ideal plan of moral action. It may be due to one or of social skills can be found in Bashook [34], Eisenberg
more of the following factors: one’s immediate feelings, the et al. [25], and Ma [2]. The proposed twelve positive
nature of the action, and one’s social and moral values. characters require future empirical studies to substantiate
their predictive validity of behavioral competence. As for
(D) Output Process: Action Taking. According to Broadbent the behavioral decision process, assessment of the variables
[30, page 10], the output action is implemented by a set and attributes of each component is difficult and usually
of effectors. It is obvious that the effect of the initial less reliable and valid at the present stage [10, 11]. The
output action will be fed back into the organism in order discussion on the complete set of behavioral competences is
to modify its further action. The reasons of why people complicated and is beyond the scope of this paper.
The Scientific World Journal 5

6. Antecedents of Behavioral Competence a necessary condition for behavioral outcomes but not a
sufficient condition. Emotions tend to “energize thinking
The antecedents of behavioral competence are similar to and acting in ways that are often adaptive to the circum-
those of moral and social competences [1, 3]. Parental stances” [7, page 417]. Adolescents with emotional problems
and peer influences on behavioral competence are signif- usually have difficulty in social interaction with others, for
icant [25, 36, 37]. The following discussion will focus on example, making friends with their peers. In other words,
teacher influences. Teachers exert significant impact on the adolescents with high emotional competence tend to adapt to
development of behavioral competence in children [25, 38]. the social environment better than those with low emotional
Epstein and his colleagues [38] in their review on problem competence.
behavior in elementary school children made the following Kohlberg and his colleague [39], [40, pages 498–581]
five recommendations to help the students by reducing argued that moral stage predicts moral behavior. Those
their problem behavior and increasing their appropriate at a higher stage of moral judgment tend to act more
behavior in schools. (a) “Identify the specifics of the problem prosocially and morally than those at a lower stage.
behavior and the conditions that prompt and reinforce it” Moral development is associated negatively with antisocial
(page 14): a correct understanding of the main causes of and delinquent behavior [41, 42]. In a study of moral
the problem behavior is most important for choosing the development and social behavior of Chinese adolescents
right teaching strategies to help the students. (b) “Modify in Hong Kong, Ma [43] defined moral development in
the classroom learning environment to decrease problem terms of affective and altruistic orientation and moral
behavior” (page 22): teachers can reduce the problem judgment. He found that the moral orientation and moral
behavior by removing the factors that trigger the undesirable judgment of the prosocial adolescents are higher than
behaviors (e.g., changing the classroom environment and those of delinquent adolescents. In other words, prosocial
teaching schedule and increasing learning activities that behavior is positively associated with moral development
meet students’ needs). (c) “Teach and reinforce new skills and delinquent behavior is negatively associated with moral
to increase appropriate behavior and preserve a positive development. In general, adolescents with high-level moral
classroom climate” (page 29): instead of focusing on problem competence tend to act more prosocially and less antisocially.
behavior, teachers should teach new skills for appropriate Similarly, Eisenberg et al. [25] concluded in their review
behavior and withhold reinforcers for problem behavior. that prosocial behavior is positively associated with social
(d) “Draw on relationships with professional colleagues competence. As mentioned before, assertiveness is associated
and students’ families for continued guidance and support” with prosocial behavior in children [25] and perseverance
(page 37): teachers should rely on guidance and support predicts successful outcomes and educational attainment
from professional colleagues such as senior teachers, school [28].
administrators, social workers, and counseling psychologists It is hypothesized that each of the twelve positive
as well as students’ parents in dealing with students’ inappro- characters is related to one or more of the competences:
priate behaviors in schools. (e) “Assess whether schoolwide moral, social, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral. For
behavior problems warrant adopting schoolwide strategies example, intelligence is related to cognitive competence,
or programs” (page 44): in many cases, students’ problem humanity and courage are related to moral and emotional
behavior can be reduced with the help of school personnel competences, and assertiveness and perseverance are related
(e.g., school principal, discipline teacher, counseling teacher, to social and emotional competences. In addition, all of
and subject team). Consistent and transparent school policy these twelve characters are hypothesized to be positively
and a positive school social environment are also essential related to behavioral competence. Albert Bandura argued
in supporting the teachers to reduce inappropriate student that “a person’s behavior is always the result of interactions
behavior. among personal characteristics, behavioral patterns, and
environmental factors” [33, page 270]. Based on this ratio-
nale, it is hypothesized that the twelve positive characters
interact reciprocally with behavior. In other words, some
7. Relationship between Behavioral of the characters may act as antecedents of a certain
Competence and Adolescent kind of behavior, which may also serve as antecedents of
Developmental Outcomes some other characters. Future studies should be conduct-
ed to work out the details of this reciprocal interactive
Behavioral competence tends to be related to cognitive mechanism between the twelve positive characters and
competence, emotional competence, moral competence, and behavior.
social competence. The information processing ability to identify incoming
Cognitive competence is the basis of all behaviors. It stimulus, to make an action choice after considering various
includes the intelligence and the information processing abil- alternatives, and to act upon the final choice is highly
ity in making behavioral decisions. Research indicated that related to cognitive, social and moral competences [10, 11],
intellectual ability as measured by the IQ scores predicts quite which in turn are supposed to be related to behavioral
well the school achievements of children. On the other hand, competence as well. Future empirical researches are recom-
the IQ scores do not appear to predict income and job success mended to be carried out to substantiate these hypotheses
in later life [8, page 120]. Perhaps cognitive competence is systematically.
6 The Scientific World Journal

8. Practical Ways to Promote Behavioral genuine autonomy through behavioral decision making
Competence in Adolescents could be an ambitious goal of whole-person education.

Apart from teacher’s influence, school-based programs on

positive youth development are also effective in facili- 9. Conclusive Remarks and Suggestions for
tating students’ behavioral competence development. One Future Research
popular teaching package on positive youth development
in Hong Kong is P.A.T.H.S. (Positive Adolescent Training Behavioral competence is delineated in terms of four
through Holistic Social Programs). In an intervention study parameters: (a) Moral and Social Knowledge, (b) Social
involving 3,006 experimental students and 3,727 control Skills, (c) Positive Characters and Positive Attributes, and
students, Shek and Ma [44] found that “participants in (d) Behavioral Decision Process and Action Taking. Since
the experimental schools displayed better positive youth Ma’s [1–3] previous papers have discussed the moral and
development than did participants in the control schools social knowledge as well as the social skills in detail, this
based on different indicators derived from the Chinese paper focuses on the last two parameters. We hypothesize
Positive Youth Development Scale, including positive self- that the following twelve positive characters are highly related
identity, prosocial behavior, and general positive youth de- to behavioral competence: humanity, intelligence, courage,
velopment attributes” (page 253). In a similar study on conscience, autonomy, respect, responsibility, naturalness,
problematic behavior, Shek and Yu [45] also found that loyalty, humility, assertiveness, and perseverance. Large-
the participants from the experimental schools “displayed scale future studies should be conducted to substantiate
lower level of substance abuse and delinquent behavior the predictive validity of the complete set of these positive
than did the control students” (page 546). These findings characters. In addition, longitudinal studies are useful to
clearly indicated that good school-based program is use- investigate the development of these positive characters
ful and effective in helping students develop behavioral and its relationship with social behaviour at different ages.
competence. Finally cross-cultural studies should be carried out to test
the cultural universality of the twelve positive characters in
There are two rather radical attempts on implementing
the prediction of positive or prosocial behaviors in different
real action in schools: Lawrence Kohlberg’s Just Community
cultures.
Approach and Fred Newmann’s Social Action Model [32].
The whole judgment and behavioral decision process is
Democratic governance is the main focus of the Just
quite complicated. The direction of future studies should
Community Approach. Kohlberg has tried his approach in
focus more on the complex input, central control, and
an alternative high school in 1974. About sixty students and
output subprocesses, and the interactions among these
six staff members from the regular school participated in this
subprocesses. In particular, the impact of an individual’s
study. Students and teachers in the alternative school met
emotional state on the function and implementation of
once a week for a two-hour community meeting to decide
each component of the behavioral decision process is most
on the policy and rules for running the alternative school.
interesting and important for understanding the real action
For example, what sort of punishment should be imposed on
taking mechanism. The understanding of the formation of
cutting classes, fighting, stealing, and using drugs? Members
behavior is crucial to whole-person education and the study
of the alternative school had the autonomy to adopt rules
of positive youth development.
for running their own school. Once a rule was set up by the
agreement of the majority of the students, all members had
to comply with the rule and regulation. Violators of the rules Acknowledgments
were subject to disciplinary action by a discipline committee
which comprised student representatives and teachers as The preparation for this paper and the project P.A.T.H.S.
members [32, pages 150–157]. In contrast, Fred Newmann’s were financially supported by the Hong Kong Jockey Club
Social Action Model focuses on citizen action and “aims to Charities Trust.
teach students how to influence public policy” [32, page 161].
He has tried his model in a secondary school in the USA.
His proposed Citizen Action program is a one year-long
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