UNIT – I : Chapter 1 (Understanding Value Education)
Q1. What is the need for value
education?
Ans. A value is something which we place a high
priority on and represents what is important to us in our life. Some examples of
values we may hold could include making a lot money, getting a govt.job,
gaining power by hook or crook, caring for others, concern for the environment,
etc.
Based on our values we decide whether something is good or bad, or
right or wrong. Our values
have a major influence on our future prospects.
Value
education enables us to understand what is universally
valuable to all of us, what is conducive to our individual and collective
happiness and prosperity in a sustainable way. Value education is necesssary for
the following reasons:
Correct identification of
our aspirations. All of us have
different aspirations or goals in life with regard to our personal life,
family, profession, society etc. However there is always a basic aspiration
underlying all our aspirations. Once we are able to identify this basic
aspiration, framing and achieving all other goals becomes easy.
Understanding universal
human values to fulfil our aspirations in continuity. Once we identify our basic aspiration and
frame all our goals, we need to find the ways to fulfil our goals. Basically
all of us aspire to be happy, and anything that brings us happiness becomes valuable to us. Such values thus
become the source of our happiness, our success and our fulfilment. Values
form the basis for all our thoughts, behaviours and actions. Value education fulfills the need for
identifying whether our chosen actions are desirable
or undesirable, right or wrong.
When we live with the correct
understanding of values, we are happy in continuity. By understanding the
universality of various human values, we can be assured of a happy and
harmonious human society.
Complimentarity of values
and skills. To fulfil our aspirations two things are essential:
Values and Skills. Values and skills are complementary.
Firstly, understanding what is
universally valuable to all of us i.e. what what brings happinees to all of us
at all times, is the ‘value’ domain, the domain of wisdom. Secondly, learning
the methods, practices and techniques to achieve these goals is the domain of
‘skills’.
Thus there is an essential
complementarity between values and skills for the success of any human endeavour.
The values and skills go hand in hand. For example, I want to lead a healthy
life. But simply wishing for good health and not knowing the basic practices
and requirements needed for a physically fit and healthy lifestyle will not help
me keep my body fit and healthy. Hence the aspiration for a healthy life can be
fulfilled only if we know the skills to keep our body fit.
Evaluation
of our beliefs. Each one of us believes in certain things and we base our
values on these beliefs which may or may not be true in reality. A ‘belief’ is not necessarily understood or explained and can either be correct
or incorrect. Our beliefs can influence our behaviours
and thoughts in very powerful ways. These beliefs come to us from what
we read, see, hear, what our parents tells us, our friends talk about, what the
magazines talk of, what we see on the TV etc. Some examples are: “IIT is the
best college to go”, “ A corporate job is the best kind of a job” etc. Some limiting
beliefs such as, “You cannot change your career at the age of 40” makes it
difficult for the person to make his first move itself.
These deeply rooted belief systems
often misguide us towards the wrong path. Such beliefs are often conflicting
and keep changing with time and from person to person. Living our lives based
only on beliefs cannot bring happiness into our lives.Value Education helps us
to evaluate whether our beliefs and assumed values are correct for us or not.
Technology and human
values. The present education system lays its prime emphasis on science and
technology. Technology is only a means to achieve what is valuable to us in an
effective and efficient manner. It cannot decide what is really valuable to us.
On the other hand, with the
understanding of values, we can decide on the appropriateness of a certain kind
of technology and its application for accomplishing our goals. For example, if
we value our environment, then we will try to develop environment-friendly
technologies and also use the technology for the enrichment of our environment.
Unfortunately, Value Education is a
crucial missing link in the present education system. We are more interested in
developing excellent professionals lacking in the knowledge of human values.
Getting trained on technology without deciding what is universally valuable can
be detrimental to the society and our environment at large.
Q2. What is the need for value education in technical
and other professional institutions? (OR)
Explain the need for value education in today’s scenario.
Ans.
Refer to
the Last paragraph of Q1.
Q3. What are the basic guidelines for value education?
Ans.
For the
introduction of value education in the present system, certain effective and
widely acceptable guidelines are required. The following guidelines decide on
what contents qualify as appropriate inputs in value education:
• Universal:
Whatever we study as value
education has to be universally applicable to all the
human beings irrespective of caste, creed, gender, nationality, etc. and it
should be true for all times and all places.
• Rational:
It has to appeal to human reasoning and should not be based on dogmas or
blind beliefs. It should not be like a set of sermons or a list of Do’s and
Don’ts.
• Natural
and verifiable: It should be acceptable to all the human beings in a
natural manner. When we live on the basis of such values it leads to our
happiness. It should not be based on statements in a book or mere assumptions.
It should be verifiable and naturally acceptable.
• All
encompassing: Value education is aimed at transforming our consciousness
and living. Hence, it needs to cover all the dimensions (thought, behaviour,
work and realization) and levels (individual, family, society, nature and
existence) of human living.
• Leading
to harmony: The value education ultimately is targeted to promote harmony
within the individual, with other individuals, with all the human race and with
nature.
Q4.
Values and skill complement each other. Elaborate. (OR)
“For
success in any Human Endeavour both values and skills are required.” Explain.
(OR) What do you mean by
values? How do they differ from skills? How are values
and skills complementary? (OR)
Explain how
production skills and human values are complementary. Give two examples.
Ans. To fulfill our aspirations two things
are essential: Values and Skills. Values and skills are
complementary.
Firstly, understanding what is
universally valuable to all of us i.e. what what brings happiness to all of us
at all times, is the ‘value’ domain, the domain of wisdom. Secondly, learning
the methods, practices and techniques to achieve these goals is the domain of
‘skills’.
Thus there is an essential
complementarity between values and skills for the success of any human endeavour.
The values and skills go hand in hand. For example, I want to lead a healthy
life. But simply wishing for good health and not knowing the basic practices
and requirements needed for a physically fit and healthy lifestyle will not
help me keep my body fit and healthy. Hence the aspiration for a healthy life
can be fulfilled only if we know the skills to keep our body fit.
Q5. What is
the difference between ‘belief’ and ‘understanding’?
Ans: Belief:
Each one of us believes in certain
things and we base our values on these beliefs which may or may not be true in
reality. A ‘belief’ is not
necessarily understood or explained and can either be correct or incorrect. Our beliefs can
influence our behaviours and thoughts in
very powerful ways. These
beliefs come to us from what we read, see, hear, what our parents tells us, our
friends talk about, what the magazines talk of, what we see on the TV etc.
Some examples are: “IIT is the best
college to go”, “ A corporate job is the best kind of a job” etc. Some limiting
beliefs such as, “You cannot change your career at the age of 40” makes it
difficult for the person to make his first move itself.
These deeply rooted belief systems
often misguide us towards the wrong path. Our
beliefs are often conflicting and keep changing with time and from
person to person. Our beliefs may change over time,
as we encounter new evidence or have new experiences that challenge our
previously held views. Sometimes, our beliefs and values can also be
strengthened by some experience or evidence. Living our lives based only on beliefs cannot bring
happiness into our lives.
Understanding: Understanding
something means you have the necessary knowledge about something and you are
not believing in it blindly. Understanding helps to apply the observations we
make from our personal experiences or by seeing someone else’s experiences and
verify whether a particular opinion or belief is correct or incorrect. It helps
us in developing a clear perspective. The clearer we are in what we value and
believe in, the happier and the more effective we will be.
Q6. How do
you presently decide what is valuable to you? How do you ensure that your
decision is right?
Ans. A value is something on which we place a high
priority and it represents what is important to us in our life. Some examples of
values we may hold could include making a lot money, getting a govt.job,
gaining power by hook or crook, caring for others, concern for the environment,
etc. All of us have different aspirations or goals in life with regard to our
personal life, family, profession, society etc. And we consider these things as
valuable to us.
Our values have a major influence on our future
prospects. Hence we need to ensure that we make the right decision by
identifying whether our chosen actions are desirable or undesirable, right or
wrong. Once we are able to identify the basic aspiration underlying all our
aspirations, framing and achieving all other goals becomes easy. Thus we can understand
what is universally valuable to all of us, what is conducive to
our individual and collective happiness and to our prosperity in a sustainable
way.
Q7. Illustrate the content of value education.
Ans: The subject
that enables us to understand ‘what is valuable’ for human happiness is called
value education. The scope of value education includes all dimensions
(thoughts, behaviour, work and realization) and all levels (individual, family,
society and nature – existence) of human living.
Accordingly, the content of value education will be to
understand the role of human being in relationship with each and every unit in
existence. In other words, it involves understanding myself, my aspirations, my
happiness; understanding the goal of human life comprehensively, understanding
the other entities in nature, their innate inter-connectedness and coexistence and finally the role of human
being in this nature/existence entirely.
Hence, it has to encompass understanding of harmony at
various levels and finally, learning to live in accordance with this
understanding by being vigilant to one’s thoughts, behaviour and work.
Q8. Explain
the process of value education.
Ans: The process
for value education begins with self-exploration i.e. looking inside ourself. It
includes two things:
Verification
at the level of natural acceptance i.e. the proposals should be acceptable to
us in a natural manner and not just by imposing externally. Secondly, through Experiential
validation i.e. by living according to these proposals. This process initiates
a transformation in our understanding, in our consciousness and in our living.
Thus, Self-exploration
is the process to find out what is valuable to us by investigating within ourself
what is right for us and true for us. This process of self verification needs
to be applied to all the proposals, one at a time, and verify their truthfulness
in ourselves and in our living.
By adopting this process of value education, we will
be able to become authentic about ourself through self-exploration.
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