Value of Education in Life

Values of Education In Life

Introduction:

“Education should not end with the academic career. It should continue all through life _ All life is education” (Parsad, 1976, p.9). So education should be built upon the principles of inner growth and the development of inner conscious. The real job of education is to widen, heighten, and enlighten the child’s consciousness.
(Parsad, 1976)

Scope of educational Values:
According to Ibne Khaldum any knowledge of man and society is impossible without “ Value judgment” which means, without knowing the true end of man and society, as well as the degrees of their perfection.
One can only measure the actual, know and judge the degree of its imperfection, point out the factors that prevent the actualization of the end of man and the best society, with the help of values.
The main aim of the education is to help a person to live in society, so it must be guided by values, and each society has its own set of values.

What are Values?
The values are defined as our preferences in life, what we consider good in different situations. There are many kind of values as there are many situations of life, for example Economic, Health, Recreation, Social, Aesthetic, Moral and Religious.
Source of Values:
There are four sources from where the values are taken.

1. Local Customs:
In a community or neighbourhood school the values prevailing would be taken from the local customs. These values match the customs so as to prepare a child to go back in the society and be the effective member of it.

2. Law:
The guiding principles of the law, which rule the land, also govern the choice of the values of all schools. Schools strive to make the students responsible citizens and to respect the laws lay down by the government.

3. Public Welfare:

The general culture of the society also plays a great role in the value choices made for education within the society. The students learn to be responsible for the public welfare and the work for the good of the whole community.

4. Religion:
The values derived from Religion are incorporated in education. These values are encouraged and developed especially in an ideological state. The values taught in educational institutions are according to the teaching of the ruling religion.
Kinds of Values:

Health, Bodily, Recreational:
These values include the sports, physical well being, and the satisfaction of bodily needs such as hunger, thirst and rest. The values like co-operation, teamwork, tolerance, responsibility and fair play at all time.

Economic Values:
This is an instrumental to help keep the other values like pleasure and recreation. The money should be used honestly and fairly in all kinds of dealings and businesses. The money in itself has no value or the power but the way and where it is spent.

Social Values:
These values are the result of the social interaction like love, friendship and membership to a group or a family. The students learn to respect the elders and the rights of others.

Moral Values:
These values include the all the virtues to make the right decision. They teach to choose between the good and the bad and right and wrong.



Aesthetic Values:
To be able to see the beauty and the ugliness of an object is the main purpose of these values. Looking and appreciating the beauty within us, in others, around us and in nature is to have an aesthetic taste.

Intellectual Values:
If an act or object helps us find the truth it has intellectual value. It is also that the all the different intellectual capabilities should be used for the common good of a society.

Religious Values:
These are the values, which are much cherished and appreciated. These are objects in relation with the Divine and for that reason are called holy or sacred. All the religion agree on the basic values of life such as Cooperation, Freedom, Happiness, Honesty, Humility, Love, Peace, Respect, Responsibility Simplicity, Tolerance and Unity.
All the above values are not of the same rank. The values like, religious, moral, intellectual and esthetic are considered higher than the recreational and material values.
(Lobo, 1974; Living Values, 2007).




Conclusion:
In our world today the young people around are increasingly affected by violence, social problems, and a lack of respect for each other and the world around them. Parents, educators and concerned citizens in many countries are asking for help to turn around this alarming trend. They think the solution of the problem lies in teaching values to our youth of today. We must not just educate our children and youth “to know” and “to do”, we must also educate them “to be” and “to live together”. Quality education is the all round progress of the whole person and promotes education that involves the affective domain as well as the cognitive.
What children and youth learn in schools or colleges is later reflect in the society and so education must have positive values at its heart if we are to seek to create a better world for all. In our materialistic world today the awareness of value education is crucial. But if they are guided properly they could by the exploration and implication of the values for self, others and at large for the society.
Most of the educators and activists believe that the students should be given the opportunities to explore and experience their own qualities, which are of crucial importance. Students benefit by developing skills to cognitively explore and understand values. To motivated the students to learn and utilize positive and cooperative social skills, there should be a values-based atmosphere in which the students are encouraged, listened to and valued is also essential. (Living Values, 2007)
The purpose of education is to modify the behaviour of the child and form his/her personality in a more desirable way. (Khalid, 2000)
(Prepared by Farzana Elizabeth)
Reference List:
Khalid, T. (2000). Education an introduction to educational philosophy and history.
Karachi: S.M. Printers.

Living Values (2007)
Retrived on April 20, 2008, from
http://www.livingvalues.net/pdf/lvoverview.pdf
Lobo, A.T. (1974). Educational ideas and their impact. Karachi: Rotti Press.

Parsad, N. (1976). Education for a new life. India: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press,
Pondicherry.

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