The issue of character becomes the mainstream of education along with the moral crisis experienced by teenagers, such as delinquency, pornography, and drugs. At the same time, demoralization became the striking face found in the educational, familial, and community-based institution, and even government agencies. This indicates that education does not have positive impacts on encouraging good behavior that lead to character building as expected. This paper aims to conduct a critical evaluation of the archipelagic outlook approach which is used as a fundamental instrument in shaping the youth character in the
heterogeneous and plural Indonesian society. Observations and interviews show that the concept of nationalism can be an effective approach in instilling the values of a good character based on the nation’s characteristics, such as multicultural, diverse, plurality, and relative. The translation of these characteristics into the values accommodated in the curriculum makes a major contribution to the achievement of the expected competencies
