Swarna Kamal Chowdhury’s Academic Discourse

Essay
Should Value Education Be Made Compulsory In Schools And College Curriculum?
Value education refers to planned educational actions aimed at the development of proper attitudes, values,
emotions and behaviour patterns of the learners. Value education is the education that is concerned with the
transformation of an individual's personality. Values are core traits and qualities that represent an individual's beliefs
and guiding principles, which form the foundation of who we are. Values of people in society differ from one another
due to the culture, upbringing, religious beliefs and many other experiences that shape each and every human being.
Primarily, values are fundamentally taught at a young age, these values are predominantly learnt from family and
friends, the community and through education. Therefore, schools and teachers have the opportunity to input into
children positive and worthwhile values, to help build and strengthen personal and social skills and responsibilities.
Values can be looked upon and read in many different ways and can interpret many different meanings to an individual.
This then can be seen as a global issue towards the teaching and learning styles of each teacher. Issues and key ideas
are addressed from local, national and international examples of values framework in order to come to a conclusion
as to what is a balanced way of teaching values education in schools today.
Values are those principles or standards, which help to better the quality of life. Values codify the dos and
don'ts of behaviour. They form the basics of character formation and personality development. The values that spring
from within or the core of the heart, like love, compassion, sympathy, empathy, tolerance, etc. lay the foundation for
the external practised values like honesty discipline, punctuality and loyalty. The most important to remember is that
'values are priceless, while valuables are priced'. Now, moral values are one of the main problems we are facing
especially for children or teenagers. In past generations, we used to regard our parents and teachers with awe. The
question of retaliation when scolded by our parents or elders never arises in our minds. We used to greet our elders,
parents and teachers with love and humbleness. Now, gone are those days. Youths of today lack manners and
discipline. Raising voice and retaliating when the youths are scolded by their parents and teachers, greeting teachers
but in an unruly way. Sometimes they retaliate or even try to take revenge if they are punished by their teachers. So,
such cases of indiscipline among youths are increasing day by day. These children need a firm grip or hold, a brake
type. And this is possible only by value education, which is very much lacking in our present scenario. In some schools,
the subject about moral is still there. But the way it has been taught – just as a light subject – question and answer
type – the whole approach is not right and both teachers and students take the subject lightly.
But no one has considered the importance and value of this subject – how it will help a student, or an individual
for that matter, in the long run. Value education will be the brake that is very much needed to control the youths. It
will help the youths listen to their inner voice – the conscience. And they will hesitate and have second thoughts before
committing a wrong doing, like lying, and cheating others. Values like honesty, truthfulness, courage, and proper
manners should be taught to our students and also how to control their urges, desires and whims, thus it will imbibe
in them. Moral education should be made compulsory in all schools. We can't say that the personality of a youth or an
individual is complete just because he is well-educated and is full of knowledge despite the lack of morality, then it
should be practiced while the youth is still studying. Parents, elders and teachers should try to impart education to the
youths. Organizing seminars and workshops based on moral or value educations, especially for the youths become a
must. A major problem in morality is that if no one claims responsibility for deciding and acting out the ethical
principles of right and wrong, morality becomes a word with no meaning. May be it is time to rethink who has the
primary responsibility to teach moral values. So we should not just sit idly and look at what is happening to our youths
today because youths are our way for our better tomorrow. Our future may be is on their hands. As early as now we
should give them full attention before it is too late.
 A most important reason for reorienting education for values is the fact that the current model of education
contributes to the lopsided development of students. This model of education puts exclusive focus on cognitive to the
total neglect of the affective domain and presents an alienation between head and heart. Students are nurtured in a
spirit of excessive competition and are trained right from the beginning to relate to aggressive competition and facts
detached from contexts. The individualistic idea of excellence is promoted at the cost of emotional and relational skills.
Young learners hardly understand why they are in school, why they are studying different subjects and how their
schooling will be helpful to them. Their understanding is limited to learning about the subjects. They hardly know how
they should live their lives, commit themselves to the welfare of the country, care about the environment and other
social and moral issues. They are not clear as to what sort of persons they hope to become when they complete their
school education. Education of this kind turns children into machines. Such a perspective defeats the very purpose of
education – the wholesome development of personality including ethical development which is fundamental for
making responsible decision making in case of moral conflicts.
The aim of value education is linked with the fundamental question of what education itself is meant for. From
individual's perspective, the purpose is to enable students achieve personal fulfilment for success in life and work.
From societal perspectives, education aims to prepare young people to contribute to the society/nation and world
around. In neither case however, education is to be perceived as an outcome but as an experience in itself, which will
enable student to live safe, healthy and fruitful life and become responsible citizens who make positive contributions
to the society. Education for values aims at promoting broader capabilities, attitudes and skills that matter not just in
schools but also life beyond schools, making the world a better place not just for themselves but also for their family,
friends, colleagues and others. Education for values underpins the understanding that values are to be inculcated in
students not just for their own interest but also for the common good, reflecting the balance between individual's
interest and larger interest.
Education in values also prepares student for the world of work. The attitudes and values of hard work,
discipline, cooperation, communication skills, etc. enable them to develop healthy interpersonal relationships at home
and in school. At the individual level, fostering values in school students therefore needs to be seen as an investment
in building the foundation for lifelong learning and promoting human excellence. The capacity to listen, patience,
endurance, cooperation and team work, positive attitude towards study, work and life are the hallmarks of a good
student or a person. So values, in fact, promote both academic as well as human excellence. In this sense, education
for values humanizes education. At the societal level, education for values aims at promoting social cohesion and
national integration for transforming societies, nations and creating a better world. It can contribute to create the
aspiration for transformation of the culture of war, violence and greed into a culture of peace; where people learn and
understand more about each other's uniqueness, human rights and fundamental freedom; where people learn to care
and share to live together in a just, peaceful and compassionate society both in their immediate contexts and in the
world at large.

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