Alleviation: An International Journal of Nutrition, Gender & Social Development, ISSN 2348-9340 Volume 6, Number 6 (2019), 1-9
© Arya PG College, Panipat & Business Press India Publication, Delhi
www.aryapgcollege.com

Role of Values in Higher Education: Challenges and Solutions

Dr. Anjali Dewan
Retd. Associate Professor and Head
Department of Home Science, St. Bede’s College, Shimla
(Himachal Pradesh), India
Email: dewananjali2014@gmail.com

Abstract

Values guide our behaviour and add meaning to our existence. We organize our desires and ambitions around our values. It is a recognized fact that modern education and training have failed to produce men and leaders of character and integrity who can make India to attain its past glory. Not only in India, but throughout the world, there is a cry for going back to basic values, so that the strength to deal with the complexity of modern living is developed. Value education is about nurturing the human spirit, exploring human freedom and realizing that education without goodness is without ethics. The present paper deals with the importance of values, their role in education and the suggestions to make our education system value oriented. There is an overall degradation of values in society at large which has left a negative impact upon the mindset of the student community. The youngsters are in clasp of eroding values such as dishonesty, insincerity, lack of punctuality, disrespect for elders, lack of patience, loss of concern and absence of sensitivity towards others etc. A code of morality based on what works, what profits, what is convenient or what is pleasant has emerged. Due to this, his spiritual dimension, his humaneness and his bondage with his fellowmen has given way to a total selfish attitude. Networking arrangements must be created between educational institutions and university departments of education for instilling ethical values in students, teachers and society

Key Words: Values, Education, Degradation, Ethical, Morality.

Introduction

Value has been defined as a belief upon which man acts by preference. We live by certain values. Value education comes from two latin words ‘Valere’ and ‘Educatio’. The word ‘Valere’ means to be of worth, to be strong and the word ‘Educatio’ refers to the development of character. They guide our behaviour and add meaning to our existence. We organize our desires and ambitions around our values. They come into full play whenever decisions are to be taken. When a student decides not to copy in the examination or be punctual in coming to school, he is making a value decision. To enhance this capacity to make moral choice is the task of value education. It is a recognized fact that modern education and training have failed to produce men and leaders of character and integrity who can make India to attain its past glory. Not only in India, but throughout the world, there is a cry for going back to basic values, so that the strength to deal with the complexity of modern living is developed. Value education is about nurturing the human spirit, exploring human freedom and realizing that education without goodness is without ethics.
The overall degradation of values in society at large has left a negative impact upon the mindset of the student community. The youngsters are in clasp of eroding values such as dishonesty, insincerity, lack of punctuality, disrespect for elders, lack of patience, loss of concern and absence of sensitivity towards others etc. Ascent of market economy and the growth of consumerism have resulted in the emergence of the economic man, the material man of transience. A code of morality based on what works, what profits, what is convenient or what is pleasant has emerged. Due to this, his spiritual dimension, his humaneness and his bondage with his fellowmen has given way to a total selfish attitude. Unlike in the past, the situations and circumstances leading to confrontations and conflicts have increased considerably. Suddenly, everyone is concerned about the urgency of introducing values into education and into society. It is only value oriented education that can bring change in the attitude, vision, thought, character of youngsters today so that they could be guided towards becoming well integrated individuals. Human values must be operational, relevant and dynamic. The present paper deals with the importance of values, their role in education and the suggestions to make our education system value oriented.
In the process of the gradual journey from primary to higher education, two types of major changes, relative to our attitude towards values, occur in our life. They are external or bodily and internal or self affirming. External changes in the sense that the students get degrees by fair or foul means and on that basis get higher job positions. While in the job, they collect more and more money, cars, bungalows and manage academic awards by having which they may exploit themselves and the society with the disguised repute but they fear to face the deep hollowness of their disguised selves. They ruin self to the extent of dissatisfied and meaningless life. Higher education in the present era is stimulated by economic consideration without any reference to age old human values that separate man from animals. Cut throat competition to achieve material success has made man mechanical. Results of such rat race in the field of education and economic life can be seen in terms of insecurity, distrust, lack of fellow feeling, lack of honour for human values etc. leading to discontent and maladjustment in personal and social life and finally leading to drug abuse and even suicide among students. It is here that the urgent need for value education is felt by one and all currently. Values in higher education make one's own life and the life of his fellow beings lively and meaningful. Is there any meaning of being educated if the educated man is still away from getting a way of life and redeeming from the disastrous and life-killing ideologies? The purpose of education is self-affirmation and not self-negation. It is the process of removing the self-negating ideologies in order of self-affirmation. Value education alone can provide real meaning and content in life.
National Policy on Education (1986) on Value Education
Recognizing the urgent need for value education the National Policy on Education (1986), in its Chapter VIII observed that:
8.4 The growing concern over the erosion of essential values and an increasing cynicism in society has brought to focus the need for readjustments in the curriculum in order to make education a forceful tool for the cultivation of social and moral values.
8.5 In our culturally plural society, education should foster universal and eternal values, oriented towards the unity and integration of our people. Such value education should help eliminate obscurantism, religious fanaticism, violence, superstition and fatalism.
8.6 Apart from this combative role, value education has a profound positive content, based on our heritage, national and universal goals and perceptions. It should lay primary emphasis on this aspect.
Value Nurturing Climate
The inseparable link between education and values is evident in the nature and aim of education. Certain conditions are necessary to create a value nurturing climate. These are as follows:
• Relationships: The quality of a home is governed by the quality of relationships that exist. The child sees his father as protecting, caring, helping, supporting and the mother as nurturing and loving etc. The child feels secure, comfortable and has a feeling of belongingness. Like a good home, the value climate in school or college must depend on genuine relationships.
• Attitudes: These are stable mindsets, a way of thinking, feeling and perceiving. The set of attitudes that one has, gives colour, identity and character to the person.
• Congruence: When the child sees that parents practice what they preach, there is a reaffirmation of values. If the parents preach and practice honesty, punctuality, concern for others, the child imbibes what he observes.
• Clarity of norms and rules: Rules and norms formulated on the basis of reason and communicated to the child in a direct and a non-threatening way enables the child to know the limits namely what is acceptable, what is good and what is not permissible.
• Appreciation: Often the action is praised, namely, achievement becomes the measure for worth of a person. What creates growth is the appreciation of the person as a person of worth and value.
• Freedom to be and to become: The child must have freedom to ask a question, to express an opinion, to disagree, to make a mistake and correct it. In such a congenial environment, the child learns to appreciate and trust himself. This will help in the overall development of personality.
Education and Values: Need for Integration
Many people think that education is imparting knowledge, solely an intellectual process. To some people, the most important characteristic of the processes of higher learning is objectivity, totally devoid of values. On the other hand, increasingly all over the world, there are signs of return to the idea that in a world where moral abdication and valuelessness is a sign of times and basic illness of modern society is rootlessness, there is a need to integrate ethical values into the learning-teaching process. The most effective tool for value change is education which should be viewed in a broad and comprehensive manner. The integration of moral and spiritual values in the life and work of universities and colleges must be a matter of top priority. What is important is that what is done in the classroom in the area of value-oriented education must be reflected, supplemented and reinforced in the total life of the institution in all the give and take of human relationships. A social consciousness should be developed in the students through a framework of response, experience, experimentation, instruction and inspiration.
Experiments have shown that development of values is best stimulated when problems and challenges are presented before the student in a way in which he is gradually brought to see things for himself. This helps in the development of the ability to discriminate among values. This consists of the distinction between different kinds of values, their relative importance like intellectual values like love of truth, aesthetic values like appreciating a work of art etc. There is no doubt that the prime instrument in the integration of values in the teacher-learning process is the teacher. It is not only the subject matter of what is taught in the classroom that counts but the way it is handled, the integrity and the objectivity of the teacher, his prime concern for the highest and best in the growth and development of the students.
Suggestions
What should be done to impart value oriented education could consist of the following suggestions:
• Studying the course content to find out what it contains that is applicable to other subjects and outside academic life too. Values may be different pertaining to different cultures, societies, different times and situations.
• Selection of the appropriate teaching aids like while teaching conservation of environment, the love for nature, compassion for all animate and inanimate objects could be stressed as well as prevention of excessive use of natural resources.
• Using appropriate method of teaching which will facilitate active learning of values like leadership, co-operation, group harmony, mutual respect.
• Provide opportunities for practice. Values like punctuality and discipline, sympathy and tolerance, democratic rights and responsibilities may be taught in applied situations.
• Stories of great persons and the values that they cherished always have a salutary effect on the minds of the young people. The important thing is to impress upon the students, the qualities of head and heart that made them as great as they were. It was not only their intellect or intelligence but their patience, perseverance and practice that made them great.
The dogma free religious education for promoting ethics and values would go a long way in building the character of our youth. Value education has a particular role to play in all educational schemes and strategies. Networking arrangements must be created between educational institutions and university departments of education for instilling ethical values in students, teachers and society.
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