UNIVERSAL HUMAN VALUES

Module-1
Introduction to Value Education
Dr Binod Kumar Choudhary
Associate Professor
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
School of Engineering and IT
ARKA JAIN University, Jharkhand
EMAIL -ID:- [email protected],
Contact no. +91-9939974038
Value
Value of a unit is its participation in the larger order

e.g. The value of a piece of chalk is its participation in the classroom

What is valuable
The chalk writes on the blackboard in the classroom?
or
The chalk scratches the blackboard in the classroom?

What is valuable = value

The context is always the larger order

Value of a unit is definite

The value of a unit is also referred to as its role

Thus, the role of chalk is to write on the blackboard
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Human Value
Value / role of a human being is its participation in the larger order
E.g. My participation in the family defines my value in the family
What is valuable for you?
feeling of respect or feeling of disrespect?
I feel happy when I have a feeling of respect
The other feels happy when I express respect to him/her

Living in accordance with human values leads to mutual happiness*

 My happiness
 Happiness of the other human being

*i.e. in the case of human-human interaction

In the case of human-rest of nature interaction, living in accordance with human values leads to
mutual prosperity
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 What is value education?

Value education can take place at home, schools, colleges, universities, voluntary youth
organizations. Some see it as a set of values come from societal or religious activities or cultural
ethics. And others see it as a type of Socratic dialogue where people are gradually brought to their
own realization of what is good Behavior for themselves and their community. Value education so
leads to success.

There are two main approaches to value education.

Explicit values education
Explicit values education is methods for programmes that teachers or educator's use in order to
create learning experiences for students.
Implicit values education
Implicit values education on the other hand covers the concept of hidden curriculum.

This discussion on implicit and explicit raises the problem of whether this unintentional action can
be called education.

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concepts of education and values?

Education
Education is the process of learning or the acquisition of knowledge skills, values, beliefs,
and habits.
Educational methods include story telling, discussion, teaching and training. Education
frequently takes place under the guidance of educator's, but learners may also educate
themselves.
Education can take place in formal or informal. Education commonly is divided formally into
stages such as preschool or kindergarten, primary school, secondary school and then
college or University.
A right to education been recognised by some governments, including at the global level
article 13 of since 1966.In many regions education is compulsory up to a certain age
Value
The concept value denotes the importance of something or action with the aim of determining
what actions are best to do. It may be described as treating actions themselves as abstract
objects, putting value to them. What makes an action valuable may in turn depend on the
ethical values of the objects it increases, decreases or alters

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Human Values, Role of Human Being in the Larger Order

Individual
I have a role within myself
(eg. ensuring happiness in the self and
health in the body)

Family
I have a role in my family
(eg. ensuring feeling of relationship and
prosperity)

Society
I have a role in the society
(eg. to participate in social systems for
ensuring justice, peace and harmony)

Nature/Existence
I have a role in nature/existence
(eg. mutual fulfilment with rest of nature)
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Deciding Our Values
Do you want to be able to decide on your own right?
or
Do you want somebody else to decide for you?
(this somebody may be a group of people, it may be the society or the education system, etc.)

If you are not able to decide on your own right then:

1. Someone else is deciding what is valuable and what is not valuable for you
2. Unconsciously you keep accepting those things as values
3. You get busy with how to implement them, how to realize them, materialize them

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Values Decided by the Other
Eg. In a professional college, many first-year students start to use foul language within a very
short time

They are made to assume that this sort of language is one of the indicators of their freedom, of
their own progress to adulthood… and they may adopt it as a new value

Similarly, with sleeping late and getting up late… and so many things

Did they decide it for themselves?

Did it just happen “unconsciously”, without being aware of it?
Is it worth for them? Is it fulfilling for them?
Is it fulfilling for others (like their family members)?

So, if we are unable to decide on our own right, we are programmed by the other; our values are
decided by someone else…

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Deciding Human Values on Our Own Right
Would we decide on the basis of whatever we like, whatever we believe?
If we decide in this manner, human values will be different for different people

Or is there some definite, existential basis, something we can understand, something we can be
assured about, something that ensures mutual fulfilment in living?
If this is the case, then there is a possibility that human values are universal, they are the same
for all of us

Value education is about exploring into this possibility

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Should Education help You to Develop Holistically?
Understanding What to do, Values Value Education
Learning How to do, Skills Skill Development
Doing Skills guided by Values Practice

The problems around you are more due to lack of skills?

or more due to lack of values?

Are both, values and skills, required?

Both are required; Values and skills are complementary to each other

If both are required, then what is the priority?

Values (what to do) first, then skills (how to do), but both are required

What is the state in present-day education?

Education has become skill-biased
(there is a need to make appropriate changes)
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Guidelines for Value Education
- Universal
The content needs to be universal – applicable to all human beings and be true at all times, all
places
It should not depend on sect, creed, nationality, race, gender, etc.

- Rational
It must be amenable to logical reasoning
It should not be based on blind beliefs

- Verifiable
The student should be able to verify the values on one‟s own right
Should not be asked to believe just because it is stated in the course

- Leading to Harmony
Values have to enable us to live in peace and harmony within our own self as well as with
others (human being and rest of nature)
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Content of Value Education
Holistic, All Encompassing

Covers all levels of living:

1. Individual (human being)
2. Family
3. Society
4. Nature/Existence

Eg. As a Family, Society – we want Fearlessness / Trust

NOT fear (due to mistrust / opposition)

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Four Dimensions of a Human Being

1. Understanding

Proposal 2. Thought

3. Behaviour 4. Work/Participation in
the larger order
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Content of Value Education
Holistic, All Encompassing

Covers all levels of living:

1. Individual (human being) Covers all dimensions of being, as an
Individual:
1. Understanding/Realization
2. Thought
3. Behaviour
4. Work/Participation in larger order
Eg. In Thought – we want to have clarity (a
state of resolution, solution)
2. Family NOT confusion (a state of problem)
3. Society
4. Nature/Existence

Eg. As a Family, Society – we want Fearlessness / Trust

NOT fear (mistrust / opposition)

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Process of Value Education
Universal
The content needs to be universal – applicable to all human beings and be true at all times, all
places
It should not depend on sect, creed, nationality, race, gender, etc.

Rational
It must be amenable to logical reasoning… should be able to question
It should not be based on blind beliefs

Verifiable
The student should be able to verify the values on one‟s own right
Should not be asked to believe just because it is stated in the course

Leading to Harmony
Values have to enable us to live in peace and harmony within our own self as well as with
others (human being and rest of nature)
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Process of Value Education
Whatever is said is a Proposal (Do not assume it to be true or false)
Verify it on Your Own Right – on the basis of our Natural Acceptance

It is a process of Dialogue
A dialogue between me and you, to start with
It soon becomes a dialogue within your own self
between what you are and what you really want to be
(your natural acceptance)

The purpose of this course is to initiate this internal dialogue,

to help you to be self-referential, self-confident

Is this process naturally acceptable to you?

Is the purpose of this course valuable for you?
More 21
In this course, we will explore…

What is my
role (value) in
the family? What is my
role (value) in
the society?
What is my Who am I?
role (value) What is my
with my Body? purpose? What
is my role (value)
with myself? What is my role
(value) in
Nature/existence?

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Sum Up
Need for Value Education
To live with fulfilment, happiness, continuous happiness…
it is essential to understand what is valuable for human being (human values)
To understand human values, we need value education

Basic Guidelines for Value Education

Content of Value Education

All encompassing
Holistic

Process of Value Education

Self exploration, becoming Self-referential
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 Need for Value Education
All human beings aspire for a happy, fulfilling life. For a human being, there are two important
questions pertaining to this:

• What is my aspiration? (What to do?)

• How to fulfil my aspiration? (How to do?)

The purpose of education is to facilitate the development of clarity on the aspiration and adequate
competence to actualize it.

For this, it is essential to understand what a happy, fulfilling and successful life is – what is really
valuable for human being; what is our purpose as a human being? Understanding human aspiration,
or what is really valuable for human being, is the value domain.

The subject which enables us to understand this domain is called „Value Education‟ (VE).

It enables us to understand our aspirations and visualise our goals for a fulfilling life and indicates the
direction for their fulfillment.
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• In relation to these issues, it also helps to remove our confusions and contradictions. In that
sense, VE addresses the issues related to „what to do?‟.

• It is also necessary to learn the skills to actualise our aspirations. This is the skill domain. The
subject which enables us to learn the skills is called „Skill Development‟ (SD).

• It enables us to learn the science, technology, management and other skills for fulfilling our
aspiration. In that sense, SD addresses the issues related to „how to do?‟.

• Values and skills go hand in hand. Both values and skills are required. There is an essential
complementarity between the two.

• The priority is values, then skills; i.e. first understanding „what to do‟ and then developing the
skills for „how to do‟. And of course, checking if this results into a fulfilling life!

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• The present education system has largely become skill-biased. For developing
skills, the prime emphasis is on science and technology, without a base of
values.

• Skills can only help to provide the means to achieve what is considered valuable.
It is not within the scope of science and technology to provide a way to decide
what really is valuable.

• The consequence of skill-biased education is clearly visible in the form of serious

crises at the individual, societal and environmental level. Thus, there is a strong
need to rectify this situation. Value education is a crucial missing link in the
present education system.

• But more importantly, the prime need of value education is to understand human
aspirations, to discover what is truly valuable in life; and work out the program for
its fulfillment.

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 Basic Requirements for Fulfillment of Human Aspirations

When we try to find out if we have fulfilled our basic aspiration, it is not always so affirmative. There is
quite a gap between our basic aspiration and our state of being. When we reflect on all the effort we
are making, we can easily see that we are generally working for accumulation of physical facility!

The basic problem is that we have assumed that „happiness and prosperity will automatically come
when we have enough physical facility‟. This is something we need to explore in our own life. Where
are we putting in our effort? If continuity of happiness and prosperity is not achieved by just
accumulating physical facility then what else is essential to do?

Let‟s try to find out by asking this question to ourselves: Is the unhappiness in my family
▪ More due to lack of physical facility or
▪ More due to lack of fulfillment in relationship?

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When you explore into it, you will find that the major reason for the unhappiness in the family is
the lack of fulfilment in relationship and not just the lack of physical facility.

Now to look at the investment of your effort, find out:

▪ How much time and effort you are investing for physical facility, and
▪ How much time and effort you are investing for fulfilment in relationship?

Generally, most of the time and effort is being invested for physical facility, assuming that
everything is going to be fine when there is enough physical facility, and there will be no
unhappiness in the family.

The problems are more due to lack of fulfillment in relationship, and we are investing major part
of our time and effort for physical facility. With this discussion, the conclusion that we want to
draw out of this is a very simple one:

For human being physical facility is necessary, but relationship is also necessary.

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In fact, by seeing this, we can understand the difference between animals and human beings. Physical facility is
necessary for animals as well as for human beings. For animals, it is necessary as well as adequate. But when it comes
to human beings, that is not the case – physical facility is a necessity, but physical facility alone is not going to suffice
for the fulfillment of human being.

When a human being has lack of physical facility, (s)he becomes uncomfortable and unhappy. Once (s)he gets the
physical facility, (s)he forgets about it and starts thinking about many other things.

So, we can conclude that physical facility is necessary for animals; it is necessary for human beings also. However:
• For animals, physical facility is necessary as well as adequate.
• For human beings, physical facility is necessary, but physical facility alone is not adequate.

While we do have a natural acceptance to live in relationship, are we actually able to ensure living in relationship?
Have we understood this or just assumed it?
To explore this further, find out if:
1. You want to live in relationship (harmony) with others or
2. You want to live in opposition with others or
3. You believe, living has to be necessarily in opposition with others, i.e. there is 'struggle for survival', „survival of the
fittest‟ and if you feel happy living this way?

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Human Aspiration – As an Individual and Where are we today?
A. Living (Surviving)?
Physical facility

B. Living with fulfilment?

Physical facility
Getting feelings from other

C. Living with continuous fulfilment?

(called by different names such as bliss, peace, satisfaction, happiness, fulfilment, salvation,
contentment, enlightenment, liberation, independence, self-actualisation, ecstasy, divinity,…)
Having right understanding – in the Self (harmony in the Self,
happiness)
Having right feeling – in the Self (living with fulfilment in relationship with human being,
mutual happiness)
Physical facility – with rest of nature (living with mutual enrichment with rest of nature,
mutual prosperity)

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Human Aspiration – As a Society and Where are we today?
A. Families living together, in a relationship of mutual fulfillment
(common goal)
Society

B. Individuals living together, but not in relationship of mutual fulfillment

(differing goals)
Crowd

C. Individuals living separately, in opposition / struggle

(conflicting goals)
Battlefield

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 Content of Value Education

Various contents of value education

• A friendly classroom environment that is encouraging and

motivating
• Provide opportunities for students to express themselves
• Rewarding creative approaches
• The ethical paradigm
• The perspective of the lesson

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The value of an entity is its participation in the larger order of which it is a
part. The context is always the larger order. Value has to do with the
participation of a unit in the larger order. E.g. a piece of chalk is a unit. The
classroom is the larger order for this unit. The value of chalk is that it can be
used to write on the blackboard for the desired functioning of the classroom.

The value or role of a human being is its participation in the larger order.
E.g. my role in living with the other human being is to ensure the feeling of
respect in the relationship. Interestingly, I feel happy in fulfilling my role; and
it is fulfilling for the other as well! This value is worth understanding, worth
thinking about, worth living.

The value of human being is to ensure mutual fulfillment in the larger order1,
i.e. in the entire nature/existence, but starting from within themselves, then
extending in their family and in the society. Hence, to understand human
values, we need to study the human reality along with all that is there in the
entire nature/existence which constitutes the larger order..

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We need to explore and understand things as they are; so that we are able to recognise and
fulfil our participation with them.

That means the content or scope of study has to be all encompassing, i.e
 It has to cover all dimensions of human being – thought, behaviour, work and realisation.
 It has to cover all levels of human living – individual, family, society, nature and existence

Accordingly, the content of Value Education has to be to understand human being, human
aspirations, happiness; understand the goal of human life comprehensively; understand the
other entities in nature, the innate inter-connectedness, the harmony in the nature/existence
and finally the role of human being in this nature/existence. Continuous Happiness and
Prosperity as Basic Human Aspirations Whatever we think, whatever we do is with some end
state in mind. That end state is our basic aspiration.

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When you ask yourself:

 Do I want to be happy?
 Do I want to be prosperous?
 Do I want the continuity of happiness and prosperity?

The answers are in affirmative yes. We have a natural acceptance for continuity of
happiness and prosperity. These are our basic aspirations.

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Key Points
Understanding Value Education
Need for Value Education
To live with fulfilment, happiness, continuous happiness…

it is essential to understand what is valuable for human being (human values)

To understand human values, we need value education

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Guidelines for Value Education
- Universal
The content needs to be universal – applicable to all human beings and be true at all times, all
places
It should not depend on sect, creed, nationality, race, gender, etc.

- Rational
It must be amenable to logical reasoning
It should not be based on blind beliefs

- Verifiable
The student should be able to verify the values on one‟s own right
Should not be asked to believe just because it is stated in the course

- Leading to Harmony
Values have to enable us to live in peace and harmony within our own self as well as with
others (human being and rest of nature)
38
Content of Value Education
Holistic, All Encompassing

Covers all levels of living:

1. Individual (human being)
Covers all dimensions of being, as an Individual:
1. Understanding/Realization
2. Thought
3. Behaviour
4. Work/Participation in larger order
Eg. In Thought – we want to have clarity (a state of resolution, solution)
NOT confusion (a state of problem)
2. Family
3. Society
4. Nature/Existence

Eg. As a Family, Society – we want Fearlessness / Trust

NOT fear (mistrust / opposition)

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Process of Value Education
Whatever is said is a Proposal (Do not assume it to be true or false)
Verify it on Your Own Right – on the basis of our Natural Acceptance

It is a process of Dialogue
A dialogue between me and you, to start with
It soon becomes a dialogue within your own self
between what you are and what you really want to be
(your natural acceptance)

The purpose of this course is to initiate/strengthen this internal dialogue,

to help you to be self-referential, self-confident

Is this process naturally acceptable to you?

Is the purpose of this course valuable for you?
More 40
FAQs for Lecture 1
Understanding Value Education
Question(s) 1: Need for Value Education Response
Response
• There is a need for value education, but can Is it desirable?
we deliver it in today‟s corrupt environment? If yes, then we have to work for it, however
unfavourable the environment may be; at
• There is no space in the curriculum. Already whatever level there is a possibility (at least at
the students are overburdened. So how do the individual level… at the level of family to
we justify this course? start with)
[What else?]
• What is the different between Value
education and a course in moral science?

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Check: What is generally done in the name of Value Education?
Understanding Value Education
(definite, universal, invariant…) (proposals,
Humane World-vision self-exploration,
knowing,
Self-discipline)
Natural Acceptance

Thinking Morals
(ideas, morals…) Beliefs

Doing Discipline, Instructions

(behaviour, work) (externally enforced
fear, incentive…)

Conduct is Conduct is Human Conduct

Indefinite Indefinite (Definite)
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Question(s) 2: Need for Value Education Response
• Why do we need to teach human values to Responsibility of 1-parents, 2-teachers, 3-policy
students in school / college? Isn‟t it the job of makers
parents to inculcate values in their kids at It is essential, desirable but it is not happening so,
home? where do we start?
Start with the parents…
• We have introduced UHV in higher
education. But should not the UVH start But it should certainly be done in school…
early from childhood. Isn‟t it too late to start
teaching value education from college? Even in industry / MNCs preference is given to
people who can relate to others, can work with
others, are suitable for teamwork… cooperation…
• Due to cut-throat competition and lack of develop a conducive environment (expertise is
human consciousness in society, the focus of easier to get)
the students is on developing skill for a good They anyway want to lead a meaningful life – they
pay package and not on values. How to are not just resources for the job
bring their attention to values? (after some time, they may accumulate some
money, but they feel their life is not v meaningful)
Understanding the purpose and giving a direction
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Question(s) 2: Need for Value Education Response
• Why do we need to teach human values to The parents think that they are paying for
students in school / college? Isn‟t it the job of education and hence it is the job of teachers.
parents to inculcate values in their kids at Teachers think that our task is to cover the
home? syllabus and conduct exams, these things are
the responsibility of parents. But ultimately the
• We have introduced UHV in higher need is not met. And if it is not met in the
education. But should not the UVH start family, it is our responsibility as teachers.
early from childhood. Isn‟t it too late to start
teaching value education from college? Response on next slide

• Due to cut-throat competition and lack of Every student ultimately desires for a happy
human consciousness in society, the focus of and prosperous life. We need to clarify this to
the students is on developing skill for a good the student through a process of dialogue.
pay package and not on values. How to We are not stopping the students from going
bring their attention to values? for a higher package. We are only saying that
it is not the complete program for life.
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If we can start even now, Where to start from?
Where to start from: teachers or parents or policy makers?
At what level to start in education: primary or secondary or higher?

Its good to start value education right from elementary stage – children start learning values right
from childhood in their homes from their parents…
So, its better to start from their parents.

But when you go to educate the parents, ultimately you have to work with grown ups.
Teachers
Society… policy makers

So, why not start with higher education!

Through higher education, you are directly able to address the future teachers, parents and
policy makers.

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Question(s) 3: Teaching of Human Values Response
• Values can only be caught and not taught.
Kindly comment.

• How to make value education part of life

rather than just being taught as a subject in
formal education?

• Implementation of human values in society

holds the key. It is not just sufficient to teach
the students for few semesters in colleges.

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Question(s) 3: Teaching of Human Values Response
• Values can only be caught and not taught. Response on next slide
Kindly comment.

• How to make value education part of life Through self-exploration.

rather than just being taught as a subject in The content doesn‟t have to be delivered as a
formal education? prescription or a moral thing, rather as an
essential requirement for continuity of
happiness in life.

• Implementation of human values in society Agreed. But one needs to be clear what is
holds the key. It is not just sufficient to teach there to be implemented.
the students for few semesters in colleges. Unless there is content to explore, what will
They may become misfits in society like this. one explore? Hence the classroom input is
necessary.

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Can Values be Taught?
One of the misconceptions has been that
“values cannot be taught, they are caught”

Of course, values are inspired and reinforced in institutions by people who are living models of
human values

From the experiments in the last 15 years in mainstream education, it is clear that:

Human values can be taught! √

 Youth, regardless of their background, find it interesting when it is shared as a proposal
(rather than a set of instructions or do‟s and don‟ts).
 They are able to explore into the proposals, discover the values intrinsic in them
 Self-exploration is an effective means of self-evolution. There is significant perceptional transformation in
those exploring seriously.

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Question(s) 4: Teaching of Human Values Response
• Shouldn‟t the course on UHV be taught When a child is self-exploring, it is essential to
through practical exercises or short stories or give them proposals about basic, underlying
case studies of great people, in place of principles
classroom teaching? By classroom teaching, Help them to explore within, find out for
students will only mug up the content and themselves
reproduce in the examination. This will not Answer their questions, clarify
bring any transformation in their life. Provide a conducive environment

We do have practice sessions

Live examples

With that it is certainly a good idea to

introduce stories… particularly when the child
is imitating (as in primary education)

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Question(s) 4: Teaching of Human Values Response
• Shouldn‟t the course on UHV be taught • There are two parts to this process:
through practical exercises or short stories or One, to grasp the proposal which states the
case studies of great people, in place of basic principle about life.
classroom teaching? By classroom teaching, Secondly, to verify and validate in one‟s living.
students will only mug up the content and
reproduce in the examination. This will not And both are necessary.
bring any transformation in their life. So, we need to enable our teaching
methodology to include both, and not leave
the second part.
Practical exercises are already included.
We can of course include short stories or case
studies of great people too. But we have to
ensure that the content is grasped clearly.
There is always a probability that the stories or
memoirs of great men give some otherwise
conclusions too.

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Question(s) 5: Teaching of Human Values Response
• Students already are not interested in That‟s why we need to include such subjects
studies. Many of them are sent forcibly for which can help them relate better to
studies. And now we are adding one more education. Students lose interest in studies
course. Is it justifiable? when they are not able to relate the studies to
their life and happiness.

• Are young students mature enough to sit Yes. Students are very much in a position to
through lectures like this and grasp these explore if the content is proposed through a
values? process of dialogue.

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Question(s) 6: Teaching of Human Values Response
• There is a vast generation gap between the The generation gap may be there in terms of
teachers and students. How to teach this living, but there is no gap in Natural
course creatively given this generation gap? Acceptance. We have to help the students
reflect on their natural acceptance.

• Today people only look for skills and not Even in industries today, they are giving higher
human values. Students have a feeling that if priority to teamwork. Further, we need to make
they care about such courses, they will be it clear to the students that their basic
lagging professionally behind. Is it really aspiration is continuity of happiness and
possible to teach values in such a scenario? prosperity and not just the physical facility.

• How to manage the contradiction between To begin with they may feel that there is
focus on marks (for admission/placement) contradiction but, when they start working on
and importance of human values for life? human values, it is found that they become
sincere towards their academics

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Question(s) 7: Basic Guidelines and Content of Value Education Response
• What do we mean by universal here? Does it It includes the essence of all that has been
include all that has been said across the said across the world for a happy and
world? prosperous life, a happy and prosperous
society.
Universal means applicable to every human
being in all time and all place.

• We are saying that we do not have to Essentially, we do need to verify what is the
assume anything as true or false, rather relationship of any activity (reality) with me, my
verify on one‟s own right. Now how do we life and happiness.
verify on our own right whether the earth Having verified this, then in the process of of
revolves around the sun or the sun around fulfillment of this relationship, we can get the
the earth? necessary information through observation or
from others, (e.g. about earth, sun and their
rotation).

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Additional Question Response
What is the difference between value and There are four aspects:
meaning 1-words  2-meaning  3-seeing the reality
 4-seeing the reality in completeness

Meaning – description of certain aspect of a

reality…

Value – the role of a reality at different levels

Value is relative to the context, the larger order

Value of human being as an individual
Value of human being in family
Value of human being in society, etc.
Value of human being in its completeness

Value is one of the aspects of the reality, so a

meaning may indicate one of these value
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All participants requested to respond to the
poll

So far only 50% have responded

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