The moral crisis in our Educational Institutions has demonstrated that traditional methods of teaching values in our Schools and colleges (such as the Lecture Method, Storytelling, Indoctrination, and Sermons)have failed to inculcate desirable attitudes and values in our students.

Introduction

A new approach to teaching values is advocated in this paper. The approach is values clarification, which engages students in practical experiences, making them explore their feelings, ideas, and beliefs before making decisions or making a choice., Such decisions and choices taken after weighing several alternatives are more likely to be internalised than those forced on them authoritatively.

More and more time in people’s lives is being devoted to Education, yet few people ask whether they receive the kind of education that leads to a happy, productive, and successful life. Some people are content with participating in educational programs and completing certification requirements, but care less whether they gain useful knowledge, reasoning ability, skills, and values in their educational programs.

True Education

According to Kroll (1987:3), “True education is the most important commodity we receive in life. Lack of true knowledge or false education can destroy individuals and nations. That is why American President John F. Kennedy said,’ A Child mis-educated is a lost child'(Plain Truth Magazine, October 1987:3).

Kroil Quotes Einstein as having said, ‘The students must acquire an understanding of and a feeling of values…..of the morally good. Otherwise, with specialised knowledge, it more closely resembles a well-trained dog than a harmoniously developed person.

In Tertiary Institutions

A look at what happens in some of our educational institutions reveals the absence of a vital ingredient- a sense of value. Some of the campuses in Nigeria are characterised by messy living conditions, drinking of alcohol, unrestricted sex activities, drug abuse, and heinous secret cults with trails of blood and death. Violence in our tertiary institutions is becoming epidemic, and our schools have been turned into zones, houses of fear and intimidation instead of heavens of enlightenment.

Handwork is no longer cherished; many, most students look for the easiest means of passing examinations. Cheating at examinations and forgery of certificates are common features. Above all, students take to the streets at the slightest provocation.

We are producing more and more students who cannot think critically. Benderson, A.(1990:3)quotes HarveySiegal, a Philosophy Professor of UniversityofMiami who describes a critical thinker as ‘one who is appropriately moved by reasons.

A Disposition

He has a propensity or disposition to believe and act by reasons, and he has the ability properly to assess the force of reasons in the context in which reasons play roles. In other words, a good education received by someone would help him acquire the power to tell the good from the bad, the genuine from the counterfeit, and to prefer the good and the genuine to the bad and the counterfeit.

False Standard

There is an urgent need to help our students approach life from a value point of view. This is because we live in a world in which false standards predominate in human minds. Therefore, students should be made to realise their purpose in life, their obligations to their fellow men, and how to order their lives to find the greatest happiness and success for themselves, their families, and their neighbours.

The Meaning of Value

UNESCO (1986:64) defines value as ‘Standards, criteria or guidelines which determine how men act upon available choice’. It went further to state that values include standards, criteria or rules that give direction in determining how people are reflected in specific judgments or claims people make and the worth they place on different aspects of life. Values are the final goals of our intentions,s iis t concluded.

Shepherds (1981:480) see value as broad cultural principles embodying Ideas about what most people in a society consider desirable. Put simply. Value is a conception of what is desirable that influences the social behaviour of the holder.

All human acts are determined by one set of values. Whenever decisions are made, C choices are ordered preferences expressed, and values come into play. That is why schools and indeed society should re-examine the type of values they inculcate into our youths.

Determinants of Value

Point 1

The development of values is primarily an asocialisation process. The influence of society upon individuals determines the proliferation of values(Cadula,1985:9). Thus, people are patterned to live the type of values approved in the culture to which they belong. Cadulahas recognised some phenomena which are capable of influencing our values in society. They are parents and home environment and teachers, administrators, and school, the religious authorities, peers, government, the work environment, the mass media, literature, and law.

A few of these conveyors of value will be discussed below:

Point 2

According to the United Nations(1992:8), “Parents model behaviour that children identify and emulate”.Parents exercise considerable influence in encouraging or discouraging certain conduct, approving or rewarding them, or conversely disapproving or sanctioning them. Parents are supposed to be painstaking and lovingly help their children to imbibe decent behaviour.

Point 3

Often, as stated by the United Nations (1992:8), “Parents are overwhelmed by their problems, which may include money, work, marital problems and illnesses, so that they have no energy left to pay attention to their children”. In short, some parents lack a model of good parenting. As put succinctly by Santoyana,’

A child educated only at school is an uneducated child. Some homes are fast becoming a wasteland, teaching values, and this responsibility is left to teachers and peers. Yet parents would like all their children to be not only healthy, happy, and successful but decent, strong, and good.

Point 4

Students learn from thepeerseer Most of the undesirable attitudes students exhibit come from their peers.s, It has been noted that most students discard most of the fine virtues they acquired at home when they come to school.

‘In some cases, parents discover that their children are unlearning in schools the lessons they have learned at home. (US Secretary of Education 1985).

Thereforstudents should be taught how to withstand social pressures from peers, relatives, and neighbours who may change their values. Here lies the importance of feedback on the conduct of children from teachers.

Point 5

To reinforce some of the benefits and feelings that parents have towards their children, students should be helped to develop self-esteem. Sikes(1993:38) views self-esteem as an individual’s view of how much he or she is worth or valued as an individual.

People who have low self-esteem demonstrate a feeling of inadequacy or inferiority and make choices that may be detrimental to themselves, whereas individuals with a strong sense of self-esteem are less likely to make choices that may be detrimental to their welfare.

Point 6

Sikes went further to say that self-esteem may be best reflected in what students can envision for themselves in the future. When self-esteem includes a positive vision of oneself in the future, high motivation is possible, and long-term good results are likely.

The challenge to educators is to help students develop a future-oriented self-image. Sadly enough, most educators care less about their self-image, let alone helping students form a good image of themselves.

Point 7

Advocates of religious instruction in schools think that religion is a vital force in character formation. No religion teaches people to steal, tell lies or indulge in some other immoral acts they postulated.

Some have advocated that admission schools taken over by the government should be returned to their owners to help our students redefine their values. However, empirical research has demonstrated that there are other determinants of moral values apart from purely religious considerations, some of which have been highlighted earlier.

The increase in religious organisations and activities in our country has not led to a diminishing rate of crimes and other deviant behaviours in our society.

Educators and Teaching of Values

Method 1

Ezegbe(1988:19) opined that the goals of Social studies include the need to help the child appreciate, evaluate and utilise his experience in life to enable him to see the realities of life and understand the implications of social living. If this goal is achieved, a child should be trained to examine their values and those of the community objectives in the development of attitudes and values. Yet most Social Studies teachers ignore this while delivering Social Studies lessons.

This is that the teacher might lay undue emphasis on his values and get the students to further his course of action. Sometimes what the teacher tells the students may be at variance with the actions of the teachers and the society outside the classroom.

Method 2

The next method widely adopted in teaching values in our classrooms is that of presenting to students some exemplary behaviour through legends, literature and history, with the view that after reading these stories, the students will imbibe the good virtues contained in them. But we have little evidence to show that students always transfer what they read to their daily lives. It is not always practicable for students to draw inspiration that is capable of changing their behaviour in a lesson of thirty or forty minutes.

Method 3

The method used mainly by religious groups and some Social Studies teachers is indoctrination. Students are taught in such a way that they are not free to think for themselves. When a child is indoctrinated, he loses the ability to think for himself. He is not allowed by the teacher to ask questions or express his opinion. The child is subjected to brainwashing, and eventually, he behaves like a classroom robot.

The three methods mentioned in this paper seem intent on using external factors to develop values. The most promising approach would seem to be to help each student build their value and develop the inner discipline of their core to fit into society.ty A technique which helps students to use both rational thinking and emotional awareness to examine their personal and social values is advocated.

Effects of Teachers on Values

A teacher who plans to use this technique should follow the following valuing processes suggested by Rabago (1990:194) and UNESCO 1986.

Section 1

(i) Present a stimulus material to the class. For example, an indigent student picked up a huge sum of money belonging to another student on the college campus. He was not seen by anyone when he picked up the money. He took the money to the security office, and the owner eventually collected the money. Let the students undertake preliminary decision-making when they go through this process.

Section 2

(ii) The students recognise or identify the alternatives. In this case, the student who found the money could have converted the money to his own use. He could ignore picking up the money. The next alternative is the way the student acted.

Section 3

(iii) They consider possible consequences of each alternative, for example, supposing the founder of the money kept the money for his use and was caught, what would be the consequences of his action?

What financial problems would the student who lost the money face? If the person who found the lost money had failed to pick up the money and the money got into the wrong hands, would he(tfinderder) have been blamed?

Section 4

(iv) They choose the best alternative. The students would consider the consequences of several alternatives before making a choice.

(v) Have a group discussion. The essence of group discussion is to allow students to get other students’ views on the issue so that the students may have the opportunity to reaffirm or change their minds on the issue. In each case, the students must justify their choices and be glad and satisfied with the choices they have made.

Section 5

(vi) Students would affirm whether they would act as such in a similar situation and encourage others to do so. That is, if they would never convert anything that does not belong to them for their use and also get other people to behave as such.

(vii) The student who found the money has demonstrated honesty. He should make honesty a way of life. In what other situations may the student’s honesty be reflected?

In summary, value clarification follows the following processes:

1. Choosing freely

2. Choosing from among alternatives

3. Choosing after thoughtful consideration of the consequences of each alternative

4. Prizing and cherishing

5. Affirming

6. Acting upon choice

7. Repeating.

Conclusion

The value clarification technique helps both the teacher and students to share ideas. Students have the opportunity to express themselves. The students are not passing; they do not teach a particular value.

Students are engaged in practical experience, making them aware of their feelings, their ideas, and their own beliefs, so that the choices and decisions they make are conscious and deliberate and are based on their value system.

Such values are more likely to be internalised by students than values forced into their throats through indoctrination, brainwashing, and seronisation. You can read similar posts on our education page of the site.