8/10/2019 CAN't Values Be Imparted in Classrooms
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CANT VALUES BE IMPARTED IN CLASSROOMS?
Vijay Srinath KanchiLibrarian & Asst. Professor
(Philosophy),
Moolji Jaitha College, Jalgaon-42!!2
ABSTRACT
In the present fast changing world, thanks to the information
and communication technologies,
communities across the world are able to interact with each
other closely. Satellite television channels,
computers with interactive web 2. technologies and mobile
telephony with apps like !hatsapp and
Skype have shrunk the world into a small village, resulting in
cultural influences that transgress all
boundaries. !hile there are several good things that happen as a
conse"uence of cultural influ# from
other parts of the globe, there is also a danger to the
prevalent cultures. $his threat is more conspicuousin case of
ancient civili%ations like India whose time tested value systems
are world renowned. &nder the
influence of consumerism and capitalism, the young generation
seems to be bent upon being more and
more hedonistic and egocentric, forcing many to wonder whether
we are witnessing a wave of moral
degradation and erosion of value systems. $o preserve the
cultural heritage and inculcate cherished
values among the young generations and simultaneously keep pace
with the changing currents, manyacademicians and intelligentsia
along with many educational commissions have underscored the need
to
include value education as part of the classroom teaching across
the schools and colleges, raising the
debate whether values can be imparted in the classrooms. '
section of academicians strongly argue that
values are intrinsic to one(s personality and it is only the
life e#periences that shape up the value system
of an individual and classrooms cannot be the right platform for
value inculcation. $his paper e#amines
both the views for and against value imbibing in classroom
setting and suggests ways and means forvalue inculcation in
classrooms.
KEYWORDS
Value system, duties, responsibilities, obligations, morals,
ethics, value education.
1. INTRODUCTION
!hile it could prove tricky to precisely define
what values are, a#iologically and
deontologically one could say )all those things
and actions which are intrinsically good are
valuable( *p2+, illie-. ut again the "uestion
arises as to what is a good action/ 0oralistsargue that from a
ethical point of view, )all
actions that are resultant of good conduct can
be called good(1. $hus values have a direct
bearing on the conduct of an individual and it
is the conduct of an individual that is of great
concern to us all as social beings. ' society
with a good value system ensures welfare of it
constituent individuals and individual welfare
in turn results in societal wellbeing. ence the
chief object of value education is to bring
about such behavioral change in the students
that behooves good conduct which in turn
results in societal well being and also gives a
sense of meaningfulness to their lives.
In the present fast changing world, thanksto the information and
communication
technologies, communities across the
world are able to interact with each other
closely. Satellite television channels,
computers with interactive web 2.
technologies and mobile telephony with
apps like !hatsapp and Skype have shrunk
the world into a small village, resulting in
cultural influences that transgress all
8/10/2019 CAN't Values Be Imparted in Classrooms
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boundaries. !hile there are several good
things that happen as a conse"uence of
cultural influ# from other parts of the
globe, there is also a danger to theprevalent cultures. $his
threat is more
conspicuous in case of ancient civili%ations
like India whose time tested value systems
are world renowned. &nder the influence
of consumerism and capitalism, the young
generation seems to be bent upon being
more and more hedonistic and egocentric,
forcing many to wonder whether we are
witnessing a wave of moral degradation
and erosion of value systems.
ut how does one begin to ac"uire values/
3amily in which one is born and the
upbringing one receives at home shape up the
values one appreciates in one(s life. owever
not every family setup is conducive enough to
impart cherished human values to its members,
thereby necessitating inputs from other
sources. ' school or a college is a social
institution meant for this purpose whose
primary objective is to imbue values among
the pupils and knowledge imparting is, indeed,
only of secondary concern. In good old timeswhen the world was
not as inundated with
information as on today, educational centers
such asg"r"#"ls had the prime duty of value
imbuing among their learners and all
knowledge is viewed upon as a tool for
imparting lasting values. owever, thanks to
radical reorientation of educational system by
0acaulay during the ritish era, and the
subse"uent changing currents that resulted
from information e#plosion of last two
centuries, the schools and colleges lost their
footing in values and began to serve only as
information providing machineries, losing the
all important thread that information and
knowledge shall have to be subservient to
value inculcation. 's more and more schools
began to be established by the government
with the sole aim of making the populace
literate, the object of education slowly began to
shift from value imbibing to information
gathering. Soon after India gained
independence, the already concerned
educationists raised their voice to incorporate
value education at least as part of the course
content, leave alone designing academic
courses around values.
2. AN OVERVIEW OF VALUEEDUCATION
Value education is a system consisting of pre4
identified values that are incorporated in a
carefully designed courseware with well
defined objectives which are administered to a
target group of students in a classroom
environment under the supervision of a
competent facilitator.
$o preserve the cultural heritage and
inculcate cherished values among the
young generations and simultaneously
keep pace with the changing currents,
many academicians and intelligentsia
along with many educational commissions
have underscored the need to include value
education as part of the classroom teaching
across the schools and colleges, raising thedebate whether
values can be imparted in
the classrooms.
Several education commissions set up by the
government of India after independence to
suggest reforms in the education, have
aggressively underscored the need for
mechanisms that build the personality of the
student as a whole through value inculcation.
$he 5ational 6ommission of Secondary
7ducation *189249:- while emphasi%ing
character building as the defining goal ofeducation, stated ,
;$he supreme end of the
educative process should be the training of the
character and personality of students in such a
way that they will be able to reali%e their full
potentialities and contribute to the well4being
of the community.< $he &niversity 7ducation
6ommission *18=2- maintained that ;If we
e#clude spiritual training in our institutions, we
would be untrue to our whole historical
