Due to the eroding family composition of American families today and other important variables contributing to children's lack of social skills and inappropriate behaviors, the implementation of a Character Education curriculum is a greater need in schools today. This need is much more pressing than during the middle of the last century. Some schools allude to character education; some do not have a specifically designed, adopted curriculum that teaches character traits to young children. Children have to be taught how to act and authoritative teachers have much more to teach other than meeting only academic needs. Due to some students' lack of prior discipline and lack of instruction on how to cooperative in social settings, the teacher has much to do with the success of developing the whole child. The whole child is one that develops wholesome character, integrity, and the trait of honesty in addition to what is right. Teachers wear many hats today and are often replacements for some children who would never learn healthy character traits if they did not attend public schools. Academic learning is vital to success; however, learning how to be a caring, and empathetic person is perhaps even more vital in the success of the whole child. This paper discusses the importance of character education in public schools. School academic curriculum should always center on healthy character traits. A list of references for further reading is provided.