Value Education: Meaning, Importance and Needs
Meaning of Value-Education:
The very purpose and main function of education is the development of an all round and well-balanced personality of the students, and also to develop all dimensions of the human intellect so that our children can help make our nation more democratic, cohesive, socially responsible, culturally rich and intellectually competitive nation.
But, nowadays, more emphasis is unduly laid on knowledge-based and information-oriented education which takes care of only the intellectual development of the child.
Consequently, the other aspect of their personality like physical, emotional, social and spiritual are not properly developed in providing for the growth of attitudes, habits, values, skills and interests among the pupils. It is here that we talk in terms of value-education. A complete description of what value-education is, could entail a study in itself.
There are corroborating findings, by many researchers. After analysing and studying the descriptions (about value-education) of such researchers the definition of value-education may be started as follows:
Value-education is a many sided endeavour and in an activity during which young people are assisted by adults or older people in schools, family homes, clubs and religious and other organisations, to make explicit those underlying their own attitudes, to assess the effectiveness of these values for their own and others long term well-being and to reflect on and acquire other values which are more effective for long term well-being.
Value- education, is thus concerned to make morality a living concern for students. Hence, what is needed is value-education. Despite many educators and educationists description regarding value-education, it cannot be denied that continuing research will continue to making the description of value- education more adequate.
According to C. V. Good — ”Value-education is the aggregate of all the process by means of which a person develops abilities, attitudes and other forms of behaviour of the positive values in the society in which he lives.”
Objectives of Value-Education:
Traditionally the objectives of value-education were based on religion and philosophy. There was no secular value-education; but in today’s modern world, this has been taken as very much essential.
Accordingly, the objectives for value-education may be taken up as follows:
1. Full development of child’s personality in its physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects,
2. Inculcation of good manners and of responsible and cooperative citizenship.
3. Developing respect for the dignity of individual and society.
4. Inculcation of a spirit of patriotism and national integration.
5. Developing a democratic way of thinking and living.
6. Developing tolerance towards and understanding of different religious faiths.
7. Developing sense of brotherhood at social, national and international levels.
8. Helping pupils to have faith in themselves and in some supernatural power that, is supposed to control this universe and human life.
9. Enabling pupils to make decisions on the basis of sound moral principles
10. Evolving the evaluation criteria on value-education.
11. Suggesting measures for better utilisation of value-education.
12. Finding out the interests of pupils in relation to different aspects and activities of value-education.
13. Clarifying the meaning and concept of value-education.
Need For the Inculcation of Value-Education:
Again and again, like a boomerang, the question that bursts out is “where have the values gone?’ While making an attempt for answering this question, one notices a conscious and conspicuous shifts in the latter-day educational philosophy from a cognitive to kinetic development of the pupil.
A wide range of values of moral, aesthetic and social nature that have evolved during the marathon march of the human civilisation is posing before us a crisis of priorities: which of these values is to be cultivated and what is the appropriate stage of doing so?
Hence, the issue becomes all the more jumbled when it comes to fixing up of the responsibilities: who is to inculcate values? — parents, leaders, the affluent, the business tycoons, thinkers, artists, teachers? The easy and obvious answer is — “the teacher is the prime inculcator of values because the young are under his or her formal care”.
Whatever may be the answer! Really speaking, it is not enough just to know about values, because values have to be practiced. Our country is undergoing radical, social changes. So, the students who are the future citizens of tomorrow have to be oriented to respond to and adjust with these social changes satisfactorily by equipping them with desirable skills and values.
The Modern India has committed to the guiding principles of socialism, secularism, democracy, national integration and so on. These guiding principles should be emphasised in the educational system and suitable value; are to be included in the students for promoting equality, social justice, national cohesion and democratic citizenship.
With these aims in view, radical reforms in the present lop-sided education are to be introduced and all attempts need to be made for developing well-integrated personalities for our individuals. Hence, the need for inculcating desirable values.
India is known for its rich cultural and spiritual heritage, and the need for a value-system through education has been felt and recognised through centuries. Value system play an important role in any decision making process. In fact, every human action is the reflection of personal and social values.
Modern age of science and technology has created many evils. Violence, immorality, egoism, self-centeredness, frustration are rampant everywhere. The world has already experienced the horrors of modern wars during WORLD WAR I and II.
It has been the victim of passions and evils like violence, jealousy, national superiority and arrogance. That is why, in spite of wonderful, scientific achievements the world is a place of violence, gloom and unease.
In the midst of material prosperity, a large section of humanity is under the grip of immorality, poverty and corruption. Thus, man has been the monarch of entire world. Now, such unsatisfactory situations have arisen due to crises of values.
The above discussion stresses again and again the importance of the need of value-education. Value-education involves exposing students to a whole series of values in their complete totality. I helps to bring about an improvement in the child’s thoughts, ideas attitudes, interests, emotions, sentiments, personality and character.
Really speaking, value-education influences all aspects of a person’s growth and development. Thus, value- education consequently, is an integral part of education which cannot be separated from the educational process. Value-education has to be placed, therefore, at the centre of the educational endeavour.
Schools should be induced to create a climate of values which should run various activities and would be conducive to the promotion of values among students, teachers, parents and educational administrators. Programmes of value- education should incorporate values of integral personality in all its dimensions — physical, vital, intellectual, aesthetic, ethical and spiritual.
The question now jumps up — How exactly the implementation of such value-education could be done in schools and what are the various activities to be undertaken in different classes? The process of valuing is what we go through when we make judgement about things, events and people that we encounter in our day-to-day life.