Education.
One word, whose presence or absence in one’s life can dramatically alter his/her destiny.
Education.
Widely accepted as the art of elevating its receptors from ignorance to awareness.
Education.
A device meant to teach young students how not to merely exist or survive, but to live.
Alright.Alright.I’ll stop with the definitions.
Assuming then, that we indeed live in a world where everyone knows what education means, why is it that in this same world, education needs to be specifically described as “value based”? Surely the concept of value is so integral to education that one could not possibly dream of an education system without it!
However, discussions on the relative merits of value based education systems abound, leading one to realize the gravity of the situation the world of academia finds itself in.
A value based education system, simply put, is one that aims to inculcate moral and ethical skills in students, besides enriching their knowledge. Values lend purpose and direction to knowledge, much like oars do to a sailing boat, leading to a holistic development of the human mind.
Ah, human. Possibly one of the most abused words in the entire dictionary.Abused, because being human is easily overlooked definitely underrated. To be human, one must learn to recognise the true spirit of humanity. To do so, one must be acquainted with values that instruct one on how to develop oneself so that he could truly be part of a harmonious, progressive liberal, and just society.
This is where value based education systems come in. By combining formal education with virtues like impartiality, compassion, non violence and freedom of thought, and life skills like good leadership, emotional maturity, perceptiveness and independence, a value based education endeavours to create a better society.
In this one little world, many worlds of terrorism, corruption and injustice thrive. Why? Is it because the perpetrators of these problems are unintelligent? No, it is because they failed to understand how to put this precious intelligence to good use. Knowledge is but a double edged sword.
We must act,and act right!
The debates about curriculum can wait,the firm etching of values on these souls must come first.
The surgeries can wait,the medicine must come first.
A pen,a sword,a stethoscope,an axe, a paintbrush,or even a gaming console,take your pick.What you must possess though,is the ability to ensure that your actions uphold the unspoken law of morality,and achieve what we may call,an honest success.
I quote my hero,Dumbledore.In times of darkness, one must simply remember to bring in the light.
Roughly translated to Mugglespeak,this means :
Students must be introduced to both the theory and the practice of leading a value based life. This would translate to learning and imbibing values, and participating in social service, donation camps, character building workshops, self introspection and myriad such activities of the like,for how oft is it said,we are what we do!
In today’s youth ,we must reaffirm values that will help prevent the misuse of technology, that will break any existing barriers of race and faith, that will help encourage fairness of opportunity, that will protect the environment, that will help retain the inherent wisdom of the ancients and paint us a better tomorrow.
So make a change. Embrace your values. Pink Floyd did ask, why be another ‘brick in the wall’?
2 insights:
You speak very rightly of a value based education. It is to an extent the need of the hour. It is sickening to see one dimensional people, boring,monochromatic people come out day after day from our 'education system'. Your Pink Floyd analogy being very apt, why just be another brick in the wall?
PS- thanks for checking out my blog.
Thank you for the vote of confidence :)
Keep visitng!Ta!
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