8 Integral education and Development of Human Values

• Learning Outcomes
• Introduction
• Value education as a concept and its intention Need of value education
• Methodology adopted for value education
• Content of value education
• Process of value education as intended by the course
• Summary

1.      LEARNING OUTCOMES

• After studying this module, students will be able to understand:
• Value education as a concept and its intention Need for value education
• Methodology adopted for value education
• Process of value education as intended by the course

MODULE 7: INTEGRAL EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN VALUES

VALUE EDUCATION AS A CONCEPT AND ITS INTENTIONS:

Every human being values his own existence beyond most other things. While living thus, he continues to attach personal values to other objects, thoughts and beings, within the parameters of his likes and dislikes. As every human being thinks in his own independent and unique manner the values for similar objects, thoughts or beings may differ except for certain common essentialities like life, air, water and food etc. It is, therefore, essential to identify various other common objectives like the common essentialities which may generate identical values in different people. In the absence of such identical response to certain values all efforts in terms of value education may remain vague and futile. In spite of different thoughts, patterns, likes, dislikes, values humans want to live in the society for support, protection and individual prosperity. To meet this end, he must mould his individuality in a common social mould to gain acceptability in the society. This foundation course in value education attempts to identify such common essentialities which, when fulfilled, assure fulfillment, growth, prosperity and happiness, not only for an individual but for the entire universal society. This course has been introduced with the basic intention of making students fully aware of the following facts:

1. Every human needs to act in order to fulfill his desires. It is the knowledge or wisdom of a person that prompts him into selecting an appropriate action for the fulfillment of his desires. If we equate wisdom with ‘value’, the resulting action is the skill with respect to fulfilling a desire. The desires could be right or wrong and accordingly the resulting actions could be right or wrong. Depending upon such right or wrong actions committed, an individual lands into happy or unhappy life situations. Value education intends to make students aware of the right thinking process leading to right actions, which ultimately culminate into fulfillment of aspirations, satisfactions and happiness.
2. Though every human being identifies himself as an individual, he is fully dependent upon the environment comprising his family, society, country, world, nature inclusive of all other living beings and finally, the entire universe. Individually, only the physical identity of a person is not enough, as it is his intellectual identity that is important in displaying his skills and abilities to the world around. As the spirit governs the mind and mind controls the body, a person is known by his holistic persona represented by his body, mind and soul. This individual holistic persona is again a tiny speck in the whole existence comprising other living beings and nature. Value education aspires to make every student aware of such a holistic existence on which every individual depends for the fulfillment of his desires.
3. Holistic understandings helps a person imbibe ethical thoughts into his thinking system as he understands that every act he commits must, at the least, not be harmful to others, if not beneficial every time. Ethical thoughts lead to moral conduct towards all and sundry. This leads to interpersonal trust, mutual satisfaction and harmony within the society. Holistic thinking also gives rise to better understanding of the nature and environment that leads to ecological harmony, enriching human life manifold. Value education helps students to understand the necessity of maintaining mutual harmony between human beings and nature.
4. This foundation course is especially tailor-made for tomorrow’s technical personnel. The effects of value education will bring rich dividends to entire humanity as technology is likely to grow more mature and eco-friendly.

THE NEED FOR VALUE EDUCATION:

Every individual cherishes desires and aspirations for his life and he is individually responsible for their fulfillment. This has been the way of life since time immemorial. Some desires are fulfilled and some are not. Some people meekly accept their failure to fulfill their desires and some do not. The cause behind the success of some and the failure of others is mainly wisdom which differs person to person. This means that the wisdom of every individual is his primary value for developing appropriate skills. As wisdom helps generate skills needs for fulfillment, sharpening the wisdom of larger number of individuals through education is necessary to ensure that success and fulfillment is achieved by a larger number. However, sharpening of wisdom alone does not solve the purpose, as wisdom devoid of ethical values may easily provoke a person into unethical skills. What is really required to sharpen the wisdom by adding universal values to it, thereby developing such skills which make universe worth living in? There are many other areas, too, where value education is deemed necessary.

Identifying one’s own ‘self’:

In absence of right understanding of self or its aspirations, a person would naturally attempt to fulfill every desire appearing in his mind, if he possibly can. If such a person has picked up unethical values in the process of his upbringing, it is natural for his mind to generate unethical desires. In his attempts to fulfill such desires, he would continue learning the rights and wrongs from his success, failure acceptable and unacceptable social response. Such a process of learning is too slow and also painful. In order to improve upon his performance, he would need to differentiate between ethical and unethical desires in the first place. After identifying the unethical desires, he would need to develop skills to eliminate such desires. This is where value education is expressly needed.

Identifying the aspiration of self:

Once clarity is established with respect to ethical and unethical desires, one must attempt to identify the core desires and aspirations of the self in the light of ethical values. There could be any number of aspirations which may be contradictory to each other and in such a case, happiness of fulfillment of one’s aspiration; one needs the skills for balancing his basic needs with his aspiration in life. Such a balance in individual needs and aspirations is generally conducive for a happy and satisfied life. More often than not, certain aptitudes and skills lie hidden and dormant in a person’s subconscious, of which he may not be consciously aware. Such aptitudes and skills, if identified correctly, may become invaluable tools for a person in achieving dazzling success in life. Only identifying one’s aspirations is not enough, one needs to systematically select long term goals that are supported by several complimentary short term goals, which would in turn, lead him towards his long term goals step by step. It is value education that is needed for identifying such skills and aptitudes, which can lead a person towards identifying and actualizing, his unique goals of life.

Actualization of Goals:

The next stage after identifying one’s goals is the action-oriented implementation programme for the actualization of such value-based goals and aspirations that have been identified. The stages as discussed and explained earlier are internal exercises, whereas the action oriented implementation programme, apart from self-discipline, needs interaction with the external world. The individual values and skills need to meet approval from the external world. Both self disciplining and real action for actualization can be practiced simultaneously as self disciplining is a long process. Once the unethical values, immoral skills, beliefs and misconception are identified and sincerely accepted, self-awareness assumes the role of a strict guide by interfering each time one is tempted to tread the forbidden path. An important part of value education is to learn to listen intently to such inferences and suggestions and practice those suggestions diligently.

The Holistic Approach:

While committing to action for actualization of one’s goals, every action needs to be analyzed in the light of those universal values which are generally acceptable by the society in general. Over and above being an individual, every person is a citizen of his country and one’s actions must remain within the framework of the laws of the nation and they must not jeopardize the interests of the nation as a whole in any manner. Such actions should not be harmful towards the nature, ecology and life as a whole. This is where value education is needed, as it also guides the students in the direction of universal happiness or goodwill towards everyone.

Technology and Value Education:

Technology is a giant capable of meaningful construction and even meaningless destruction, since it has neither its own brains nor heart. It can create or destruct as the person wills. However, the human who creates technology has both brains and heart and that is where value education is needed to train the future technocrats by making them fully aware of both the constructive as well as destructive aspects of technology. If technology can produce life-saving drugs, it can also produce nerve gas that may be used for mass destruction of life. Whereas certain derivatives of the dreaded opium like codeine and morphine are heavenly tools in the hands of medical practitioners for bringing relief from pain, drugs like heroin, derived from the same opium have caused havoc all over the world. It is not the fault of technology but the technocrats who misuse the technology for producing destructive tools.

If technology is a tool in the hands of technocrats, the human values implanted in their minds guide them into using this tool for bringing happiness to humankind. The need of value education for technical students is, thus, more than justified in order to produce upcoming generations of technocrats, well-trained in understanding genuine human needs and establishing a welcome change. If technology is necessary for creating more comforts and happiness in human lives, it must follow a path that leads not only to the happiness of humankind but also that of the entire life form.

If human kind is enjoying immense benefits of advanced technology, it is also facing its woes in the form of pollution, global warming and dwindling ecology because of a colossal absence of human values in the so-called advancement. Only technocrats who are well-grounded in human values can reroute the path of technical advancement for the better.

METHODOLOGY ADOPTED FOR VALUE EDUCATION

The concept and intention of value education as described earlier, including the identified needs for value education, provide the basic guidelines for this newly introduced course. Due to rapidly growing communication and mutual cooperation, the world is getting smaller day by day. Obviously, education system cannot remain restricted to a specific country or community. This necessitates a wide open approach to be adopted in the field of education too, which provides the following guidelines for the course on value education especially tailored for technical students.

Universality

The course contents of value education must be universally applicable to all human beings notwithstanding the geographical, religious or communal differences. Thus, the course must promote universal human values, not merely those of specifically selected groups.

Natural acceptability

Openness to any suggestion or principles depends directly upon a person’s natural acceptability. Thus, the methodology adopted for teaching value education and the principles conveyed therein must be naturally acceptable as well as verifiable for every student. One cannot learn something that is not naturally acceptable or verifiable for every student. One cannot learn something that is not naturally acceptable or verifiable from day to day life. The word value can be understood in different terms by different persons. A beholder evaluates the world including all animate and inanimate entities from his own point of view. At the same time, he is evaluated by others from their own point of view. Thus, the evaluation of any entity may drastically, differ from person to person and specific point of view may not be acceptable to every person. In such a situation, the teachings of value education need to find a commonly-acceptable logic for every value. For example, a person committed to vegetarianism may readily accept the value behind a suggestion of non-violence towards every chicken or goat in contradiction with a non-vegetarian person. However, both of them may simultaneously agree to a suggestion of non-violence in general. Similarly, every such value or non-value needs to be expressed in a wider perspective.

Reasonability

Value education cannot be taught by lying down fixed rules, regulations and commandments. Every value-based principle must appeal to individual reason in order to make an effective impact on the students mind. Rules and ordinances compulsive in nature often face defiance, whereas principles appealing to reason are willingly complied with. Therefore, value education needs to be imparted in such a manner that it spontaneously wins a willing acceptance.

Versatility of value education

Value education is not merely a subject for learning; its sole intention is to establish the values so learned into every aspect of the life of the learner. If a person is truly impressed by the value of truth, it must corroborate with his belief and actions in real life. True assimilation of values must reflect itself in belief, speech and action of the learner. As discussed above, values can never be enforced by an ordinance; they must make a deep impression on the conscience of a person for their strict adherence. This is where the versatility of a learning process justifies itself. Once such values are firmly established, they mould into the spontaneous behavior of their learner which is the ultimate aim of value education.

Universal harmony

The prime concern and responsibility of value education is fulfilled when a learner experiences total harmony within and without. Only a person who enjoys harmony within can become an effective tool in establishing universal harmony. There are no mathematical and scientific formulae that explain the technique of universal harmony. Only a value-oriented realization within can make a person feel the urgency for establishing harmony between each and every entity within the universe. Value education must make its learner realize that except humans, every other inanimate and animate being helps maintain total harmony in nature. Once humans realize this fact through effective value education, they can themselves become an effective tool in establishing universal harmony.

CONTENT OF VALUE EDUCATION

The term value represents a multi-faced phenomenon. The values keep changing relatively from time to time, place to place and object to object. However, every entity contained in this universe has an absolute value all by itself. The sun is the nearest known source of light and energy for the entire planetary system including earth; it is of absolute value for the entire animate and inanimate existence on earth. In spite of its absolute value as a provider and supporter of the earth, the living beings keep altering their relative values from time to time. Whereas on a chilling winter morning, everyone welcomes the sun spreading warm sunlight, at the noon of a midsummer day, almost everyone wants it hidden behind a thick blanket of clouds thereby devaluating it as compared to the clouds irrespective of such relative devaluation, every living being remains firmly aware of the absolute value of the sun. Similarly, every existing entity in the universe has its own relative, as well as absolute value. As the relative values continue fluctuating time to time, they seem to camouflage the true value of things. Therefore, value education must contain such inputs as can help a learner in identifying the difference between the ever-changing and hence non-dependable relative values and the true absolute values of things and beings. In this context, a course on value education must explain to its learners the values with respect to the following:

• Individual aspects such as one’s thinking process, behavioral patterns, self-esteem, desires and aspiration.
• Reciprocal values, rights and responsibilities between the following: an individual and his family, society and country; an individual and nature, an individual, humankind in general and the entire life form.
• Mutual respect and equality between an individual and the entire existence.

THE PROCESS OF VALUE EDUCATION AS INTENDED BY THE COURSE

This course has the following process and agenda:

• It intends to lead the students onto a path of self-exploration with respect to their intrinsic virtues and shortcomings through gentle guidance rather than just preaching. Self-realization of one’s drawbacks is the best tool for self-improvement.
• It will gently guide the students into self-evaluation in order to identify their cherished desires, ambitions and aspirations. It will also help then to identify their hidden talents which may lead them to actualize their aspirations.
• It will help students in evaluating their justified or unjustified beliefs and thereby getting rid of certain pre-conditioning and misconception.
• It introduces values in the form of gentle suggestions and allowing the students to anlyze them and then accept them logically in case they meet their natural acceptance, otherwise reject them as guided by their own logic.
• It will guide students in the process of experiential validation of the values they naturally accept.
• Acceptance or rejection of certain value-based suggestions naturally differs from one student to another. Whether accepted by someone or rejected by the other, values always remain as values. Therefore, the process needs to follow a healthy and open dialogue between the teachers and students for bringing more clarity into their own decisions to accept or reject certain suggestions. Such dialogues will lead to more values being accepted.

SUMMARY:

In spite of different thoughts, patterns, likes, dislikes, values humans want to live in the society for support, protection and individual prosperity. To meet this end, he must mould his individuality in a common social mould to gain acceptability in the society. This foundation course in value education attempts to identify such common essentialities which, when fulfilled, assure fulfillment, growth, prosperity and happiness, not only for an individual but for the entire universal society.

As wisdom helps generate skills needs for fulfillment, sharpening the wisdom of larger number of individuals through education is necessary to ensure that success and fulfillment is achieved by a larger number. Value education must make its learner realize that except humans, every other inanimate and animate being helps maintain total harmony in nature. Once humans realize this fact through effective value education, they can themselves become an effective tool in establishing universal harmony.

SELF-ASSESSMENT

1.  Explain the relevance of value education in the present era.

2.  Explain the need for value education

3.  Write down the methods as well as the contents utilized for value education.

REFERENCES:

• Pramod Sharma, “Business Ethics and Corporate Values: An Indian Perspective” Ravitanaya Publications, Shimla, 2017
• S.K Bhatia, “Business Ethics and Corporate Governance” Deep & Deep Publications, New Delhi, 2004
• A.C. Fernando, “Business Ethics and Corporate Governance” Pearson Publication, 2013
• Harris & Hartman, “Organizational Behavior” Jaico Publication House, 2002
• French, Bell & Vohra, “Organization Development” Pearson Prentice Hall Publication, 200
• S B Gogate, “Human Values & Professional Ethics” Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi, 2011