Distance Learning, Does Character Education Keep Growing?

It has been more than a year since all students in Indonesia have carried out face-to-face learning at school. This is because the rate of transmission of the Covid-19 virus in Indonesia is still quite high, so face-to-face learning has not yet been carried out. This raises concerns about the delivery of character education in the world of education. During this pandemic, children are accompanied by their parents in the learning process. So what about the children's character? Can it be formed well, or the opposite? If character education tends to be neglected, it is feared that what is called “Character Lost” will occur in children.
On the one hand, it is the children who are harmed because character education is neglected, but on the other hand, it is the nation that is harmed. Because it is the children who will carry the task of advancing the country in the future. The research results of Howard Gardner (2002) state that a person's success is 20% determined by intelligence (hard skill) and 80% determined by character (soft skill). Therefore, we need to bring character education into the distance learning currently being carried out.
Character is the key to every person's success and is a determining factor in the success of a nation and state in preparing its future. Therefore, character education is a basic need for a nation that wants to progress and develop.
When education has to implement distance learning, students have to learn from home, and teachers have to teach from home, who is responsible for students' character education? I agree with what David H. Elkind and Freddy Sweet Ph.D. said in their article entitled “How to Do Character Education”, that all of us, whoever we are, are character educators, who can help to shape the character of the children we meet. Therefore, anyone can provide character education to children.
In this case, hard work and good cooperation between parents and educational units are needed so that character education is not neglected during this pandemic. If teachers are responsible for preparing the material to be taught, thinking about online learning methods and media, and evaluating children's learning outcomes, then parents can play a role in educating children's character. At the Elementary and Junior High School levels, the use of diaries, companion books and character control books can make it easier for parents to monitor their children's character.
Parents' role in nurturing children's character can be carried out through various activities, such as cleaning the house, cooking, caring for plants, caring for animals, and so on. Worship activities together at home can also be a strategic means of nurturing character; voluntary fasting can also teach children to care for those in need.
Character education can still be guided by teachers, one way being by providing a “Character Control Journal”. This control journal can be designed by the teacher in a suitable way, adapted to the learning programme, the situation and conditions of the area where students live, and the character to be highlighted as the hallmark of a class or school.
In making this control journal, the targets and items to fill in do not need to be too numerous, so that students and parents are not burdened; it is enough to include only what is considered important and can be done by students routinely. Even if the habits are few, the most important thing is that the child enjoys doing them and does not feel forced. This is in line with conditioning theory, in which a person's response is determined by their environment: a person will feel happy and content if the environment is friendly, open and accepting. 
This control journal may be a solution to the concern of the deputy chair of Commission X of the DPR RI, Dede Yusuf Macan Effendi, expressed on 21 January 2021, namely: One thing that must be considered in distance learning is character education. Because it is feared that a year of distance learning (PJJ) can cause “Character Lost” in students.
With a character control journal that is given by the teacher to students, known to the parents, and filled in routinely, it is hoped that character education will grow back little by little during this pandemic. Even though the situation and conditions are an emergency because there is no face-to-face learning yet, the mandate to educate the nation with national character will be fulfilled through the presence of a student character control journal that is filled in every day by students under the guidance of their respective parents.
The character control journal that can be made takes the form of an elaboration of spiritual attitudes (obedience in worship, praying, tolerance in worship, gratitude) and social attitudes (honesty, discipline, responsibility, politeness, caring, self-confidence) that are contained in the curriculum.

Newspaper: Mata Banua
E-paper: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cdcRyeTeJm8XPuyB1_UpBOogZfXh71hq/view?usp=drivesdk