The crisis of degenerating values

Most people across the world today feel that education in moral and human values is very essential if we wish to have a better society. However, there are some differences among the people with regard to imparting value education to school children. Some argue that values should not be taught as a separate subject, and suggest that almost every subject that the students study, must have a value-orientation. To counter this, there is another group that maintains that education in values need not be given in the form of a book alone.

If education in values is taught as a separate subject through stories, poems, dramas, sayings, songs, etc., then this subject would reach the students better, particularly if it is imparted in the form of visuals or enacted as drama on the stage.

There is another perspective which talks of value-based education, but appears unclear of its objectives or contents. Further, there are those that favour a combination of the two methods. They suggest that, if possible, there should be value-orientation for every subject along with a separate subject, value education.
An argument that runs through all kinds of arguments for value-based education is the belief that societal values are going through a rapid process of degeneration.

The speed at which people are destroying the environment and disrupting the ecological system, the rate at which population is growing, the amounts of money being spent to prepare and store weapons of mass-destruction, these and other signs clearly warn humankind that if it does not act swiftly to restore the values --commonly known as the spirit of world-brotherhood, love, co-operation, non-violence, etc., then our very survival would be endangered.

Hence, the damage, caused by rapid degeneration in values, must be controlled in time. Else, the current civilisation will, like many of its predecessors, be washed away. Time, in this regard, is a crucial factor. We must, therefore, set a period of time within which we should be able to reverse the tide or save whatever we can. Else it will be too late!