Value-Oriented Education

Value may be conceived as an object, subjective or objective, the possession of which imparts to us a sense of fulfilment and therefore something we prize and cherish.

Philosophy and Science of Value Education in the Context of Modern India

NATIONAL SEMINAR

Philosophy And Science of Value Education

In the Context of Modern India

(21^st to 22^nd JANUARY 2005)

Organised

The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture

INAUGURAL SESSION

CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS

KIREET JOSHI

PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE OF VALUE EDUCATION

IN THE CONTEXT OF MODERN INDIA

VIVEKANANDA HALL

GOL PARK

KOLKATA

Philosophy and Science of Value Education in the Context of Modern India

There are at least three fundamental assumptions of the educational process:

There is, first, the pursuit of man to know himself and the Universe and to relate himself with the Universe as harmoniously as possible. This pursuit constitutes the very theme of human culture. And education derives its fundamental thrust from the cultural setting at a given point of time.
Secondly, there is a process of transmission of the accumulated results of the past to the growing generation so as to enable it to carry forward the cultural heritage and to build the gates and the paths of the future.
And thirdly, there is in the process of transmission, a deliberate attempt to accelerate as far as possible the process of human progress.

In its very nature, education is a normative endeavour. Being at once a product and instrument of culture, education tends to promote the highest aims of culture. Hence, education tends to be a process of training whereby individuals in the society are enabled to embody progressively those values, which we in our highest thought and aspiration come to regard as something most desirable. It is in this context that education encourages and fosters the arts and sciences as well as technologies whereby man and the Universe can be ideally interrelated. At the same time, the idea of human progress is built up, and education endeavours to discover and apply efficient means of the right rhythm of acceleration of individual and social progress as also of human progress in general.

Against these basic assumptions of education, we have to take into account contemporary situation through which the world in general and India in particular are passing:

An increasing number of people of thought and action feel that humanity has been gripped by serious maladies and that these maladies are the result of our disequilibrium between the ideals that mankind is labouring to realise during the recent centuries and the disconcerting actualities which refuse obstinately to change. With the passing of every decade, humanity seems to feel more and more acutely that the realisation of its ideals has become imperative, while at the same time, it seems almost impossible to accomplish this realisation. It is, therefore, felt that humanity is passing through an acute crisis.
A huge structure is being built up with an increasing insistence on efficiency needed for industrialised society, leaving practically no room for the growth of profounder wisdom which can rightly guide human progress in the critical times through which we are passing today.
As never before, humanity is able to envisage several alternative possibilities of the imminent future. As never before, it is felt that human volition can play a decisive role in selecting, planning, designing and actualising these possibilities. As never before, humanity is convinced that the most desirable course for the human race is to strive with fixed determination for human unity, global peace and for the advancing of the three great ideals of progress, namely, liberty, equality and fraternity. As never before, there has been an increasing perception that the most effective means for achieving these desirable objectives is value-oriented education.
This feeling is reinforced by the fact that while under the pressure of technological development, the world is shrinking and we are dreaming of the possibility of a planetary civilisation, we have not yet secured a corresponding psychological development, which could enable human consciousness to sustain such a planetary civilisation. On the contrary, there is a growing preponderance of those impulses, which can thrive only in ignorance, fragmentation, discord and violence.
In India, there is a feeling that the country is sinking under the weight of problems such as those of terrorism, corruption, and plutocracy, and it is realised that solutions need to be sought at a level that is far deeper than the level at which we are now thinking and acting and that special attention has to be paid to the promotion of values that can counteract the increasing deterioration of the country and its culture. Against this background, both from the global point of view and from the Indian point of view, we need to develop and practise value-oriented education.

There are four domains in respect of which educational processes need to be determined. These four domains are: (i) natural science and technology; (ii) arts and crafts; (iii) human sciences; (iv) philosophy, culture and value. As far as the processes of the education in regard to natural science and technology is concerned, there is no great or serious debate, except that there is an increasing feeling that science education should become more and more integrated with other domains in the interest of education for integral development of personality and also in the interest of the contemporary need to blend science with values. As far as the other three domains are concerned, there is as yet no definite or sound pedagogy, and philosophy and science of education in these three domains are ridden with powerful debates.

In particular, the debate is most acute as far as education for values is concerned. This debate is not only centred on the determination of the meaning of values but also on the following four issues:

There is a view that values are relative and subjective in character. It is, therefore, argued that individuals should be left to themselves to determine their own value systems and that educational institutions should confine themselves only to those domains where objective knowledge is discernible or determinable.
There is also a view that value systems stem from religious beliefs, and since these beliefs are dogmatic in character, they conflict with the demand of reason, and hence, they have no place in education, where one of the chief objectives is to cultivate among students the pursuit of rational and scientific temper.
According to some educationists, values, even if they are determinable, cannot be taught and for this reason also, it is argued that there is no rationale to bring value-oriented education within the purview of schools and universities.
On the other hand, there is a view that value systems have determined the orientation of civilisations, and these value systems should be emphasised in the educational system. It is also argued that there should be a rigorous inquiry into those values, which transcend relativity and subjectivity. It is also argued that many religions and moral systems advocate certain common values and that these common values, when identified, could be recommended for any education system in its value-oriented programme. It is also argued that there is a common agreement in the world in respect of rights and responsibilities, and many of them are even incorporated in constitutions and legal systems. All these are value-oriented and these values should constitute the core of value-oriented education.

The most serious question is related to the contention that values are relative and subjective, and this contention needs to be examined in depth for which there is no space here. But this subject can briefly be examined in the context of history of value-system. We find that in the course of history, there have developed several standards of conduct, and each one of them claims to be imperative or advocates that it is preferable to the others. But if we take a synoptic view of the history of value systems, we may be able to arrange various major standards of conduct in an ascending ladder of scale.

The first is personal need, preference and desire. There is no doubt that the standards of conduct based on what the individual feels to be his own needs, whether these are constrictive or derived from desire or instinct or egoistic pressure, it is bound to be relative and subjective. The individual would then be the measure of all things, and what is good for one individual is good for him and what is good for another is good for that other. Might would be right; and there could be no place for any impartial or universal law of action. When man is primitive, historically or psychologically, he tends to be individualistic and egoistic and tends to create standards of action or conflict, which result in self-seeking and self-aggrandisement.
But no individual can live in isolation, and no individual can be allowed by the very fact of his social existence, to impose upon others what an individual considers to be his good, based upon his personal need, preference or desire. Every social group tends to create its own standards of conduct and impose it upon its individual members.
In erecting the group’s standards, there are several strands of consideration. At the highest level of these strands is what may be called objective utilitarianism. According to it, an action is to be judged by the consequences it produces, and if the consequences are pleasant for the largest number in the society, then that action is judged to be better than any other action.
There is also another form of objective utilitarianism, according to which an action is judged to be good not merely by reference to the pleasure that it produces but also by the degree to which it promotes both knowledge and character. According to this view, there is a hierarchy, and the value to be attached to knowledge is greater than the value to be attached to pleasure, and the value to be attached to character is greater than the value to be attached to knowledge. It maintains that an objective calculus can be created in every social group on the basis of these criteria and social law can be framed on the basis of this calculus.
It is argued that objective utilitarianism forms a higher step in the ladder of evolution of value-systems, and that the standards and prescriptions it proposes cannot be termed to be as relative or subjective as those created merely by personal need, preference or desire.
However, it is still subject to criticism in that it is not able to resolve the conflict between the social good and the individual good.
A higher law of morality seems to prescribe what may be called intrinsic good or intrinsic right without reference to consequences. Indeed, at a higher level of development of civilisation and culture, we find a law of conduct emerging from the moral intention and will, and moral will is considered good because it is goodwill. Here goodwill is recognised to be goodwill intrinsically, merely by reference to intention and motive and not by reference to what issues in the form of actual action and its consequences.
In one of the forms of this view, which can be termed as rationalistic and objective intuitionism, an objective criterion is attempted to be laid down by which the intrinsic rightness can be adjudged. It points out that an action can be adjudged to be right if it can be willed universally without self-contradiction.
It is at this level of a value-system that we attain to the concept of absoluteness and objectivity of the good and the right, and we have the concept of love, justice, right reason, or of the categorical imperative.
From a certain point of view, the answers given by rationalistic intuitionism, may meet the criticism that morality is relative and subjective. Shastras of Dharmas have often been erected at higher levels of culture, and they have been thought to be objective and universally justified on the grounds of right reason.
But we find that even in arriving at the standards of absolute love, absolute justice, absolute right reason, we are not able to resolve the state of dis-equilibrium. Right reason dispassionately considering facts of nature and human relations in search of satisfying norm or rule is unable to rest without modification either in the reign of absolute justice or in the reign of absolute love.

Man’s absolute justice easily turns out in practice to be a sovereign injustice. Again, justice often demands what love abhors. It is, therefore, difficult to find an absolute and objective agreement where a given particular action can really be adjudged to be right, where love and justice can meet together in harmony and where absolute right reason can unalterably indicate in actual situations of life what is conceived to be absolute justice or absolute love. 2. A distinction needs to be made between the human thrust towards the values of the right reason, absolute love and absolute justice, on the one hand, and various manifestations of this thrust in the form of certain specific and particular actions, on the other. While it is true that there can be differences of opinion as to whether certain specific actions are absolutely good – or not – and here relativity and subjectivity do enter – there is still no doubt that good will is independent of personal need, desire or preference; the judgement of goodness of goodwill is free from relativity or subjectivity. In other words, there is in the human consciousness the possibility of the development of goodwill that can be considered to be objectively good.

We may also add that human psychology is incontrovertibly threefold: it is cognitive, conative and affective; at the same time it is incontrovertible that each of these three aspects tends towards three normative standards, − namely, truth, beauty and goodness. These three standards are legitimately conceived to be incontrovertible values, if by the word values we mean those desirable ideals and goals which are intrinsic in themselves and which, when achieved or attempted, evoke a deep sense of fulfilment to one or many or all parts of what we consider to be highest elements of our nature. Truth, beauty and goodness are intrinsic in character and they are ends-in-themselves. Even if there are wide differences as to what is meant by these three terms, there is an agreement that they are the most desirable ideals and mere orientation towards them inspires development of those states of our being and becoming in which we can hope to find some kind of ultimate fulfilment.
Sociological, economic and political progress of humanity, it is generally agreed, has arrived at a conclusion that whatever be the contents of liberty, equality and fraternity, these are the three values which should be pursued for arriving at a state of social, economic and political fulfilment.

III

The above discussion has important consequences for value-education. These can be summarised as follows:

In view of the above analysis, it appears that there is no need to labour unduly on preparing lists of values and to enter into controversies as to which values should be advocated, whether they should belong to one specific religion or the other, or of one particular moral system or the other, or of one particular culture or another. Value-oriented education is to be a process of development of goodwill, truth, beauty and goodness as also liberty, equality and fraternity, and the method would be that of an exploration of the realm of values, and, again, what is to be emphasised is to orient the students to the dimensions of values rather than to the prescription of do’s and don’ts of any set of values. If properly explored, this would lead to the exploration of various other sets of values, so that each student would then be free to determine for himself or herself what values one should adopt as a result of a sincere exploration of the realm of values.
Under the guidance of this general and overarching spirit of value-oriented education, we may take the Socratic view that Virtue is Unity and that no virtue can be fully practised unless in the course of practice, all virtues are embraced. There is no harm in preparing lists of virtues, in this context, and we may even contemplate hierarchy or relationships among virtues. But all this can be encouraged as a part of exploration, allowing every student to arrive at his or her own conclusions.
Indeed, it is very useful to explore and compare one set of realms with other sets of values.
In the process of exploration, it is certainly salutary to emphasise those values, which foster unity and harmony, integration and integrity of the nation and human unity and peace. Inevitably, those values, which have been laid down as binding under constitutional law as rights or duties will also come to be emphasised and cultivated as a part of citizenship. Also, in our own times, there are universal declarations of rights and responsibilities and these also have to be underlined and cultivated amongst students. In the process of education, however, examination of these values and even a critical examination has to be fostered and has to be considered as a part of the pursuit of value dimension.

A very important concept that has become pre-dominant in recent educational thought is that of integral education. At the international level, this concept came to be centrally highlighted by UNESCO through its famous report “Learning to Be”, which laid down “that the aim of development is complete fulfilment of the human being, in all the richness of personality, complexity of form of expression and various commitments.”

It is increasingly realised that in the contemporary world, the humanist and the technologist are finding themselves in greater and greater need of each other and the scientist and the mystic are getting ready to embrace each other.

It is being acknowledged that human personality is complex and that each major element of the personality needs to be integrated with the totality in a harmonious manner. In other words, the physical, the vital, the mental, the psychic and spiritual do not stand in juxtaposition, but they have among them a constitutional relationship. The physical and the vital can, to a great extent, be controlled and guided by the mental, and to a certain stage of development the mind can act as a leader. But the leadership of the mind is rather restricted and often fails and fails disastrously in controlling or leading the vital and the physical. Reason is opposed by Unreason, and conflict between the two, as seen today, is extremely grave. Moreover, as the rational, ethical, and aesthetic powers of the mind begin to develop, they begin to collide among themselves. It is, therefore, being recognised that the psychic and the spiritual powers of the human personality need to be brought forward so as to establish the true integration of all the powers of the being.

In our present system of education, we are too occupied with mental development, and we give preponderant importance to those qualities, which are relevant to subject-oriented and examination-oriented systems. In contrast, the concept of integral education implies a simultaneous integrated process of the development of the qualities and values relevant to physical education, vital education, mental education, psychic and spiritual education.

In any sound philosophy of value-oriented education, an effort should be made to arrive at clear conceptions of morality and spirituality, since both are distinct and yet related, and since both need to be distinguished from religion. Again, this matter is very important in the context of the Indian system of education, since the Indian Constitution clearly states that “No religious instruction shall be provided in educational institutions wholly maintained out of the State Funds”, and that “No person attending any educational institution recognised by the State and receiving aid out of State Funds shall be required to take part in any religious instruction that may be imparted in such institutions or to attend any religious worship that may be conducted in such institutions or in premises attached thereto unless such person or, if such a person is a minor, his guardian has given his consent thereto.”

As far as the distinction between morality and spirituality is concerned, it may be said that much depends upon what we intend to include in our definition of the word “morality” or in the word “spirituality”. In Indian thought, a distinction between morality and spirituality has been clearly made and we have two definite terms, naitik and adhyatmik each having its own specific and distinguishing connotation.

The word “morality” connotes a pursuit of the control and mastery over impulses and desires under the guidance and supervening inspiration of a standard of conduct formulated by thought in consideration of man’s station and duties in the society or in consideration of any discovered or prescribed intrinsic law of an idea. Morality is often conceived as a preparation of spirituality. Spirituality, on the other hand, begins when one seeks whatever one conceives to be the ultimate and the absolute for its own sake unconditionally and without any reservation whatsoever. Moreover, while morality is often limited to the domain of duties, spirituality is fundamentally a search of the knowledge that liberates (sā vidyā yā vimuktaye). As it is declared, true knowledge is not intellectual knowledge but spiritual knowledge.

Both the moral and the spiritual are to be distinguished from what is called “religious” when we speak of religious instruction. Religion has the following distinguishing features:

Specific religious dogma regarding the nature of Reality, laid down in scripture or by traditional founder, prophet or incarnation;
Every specific religion has, as its essential ingredients, certain prescribed acts, rituals and ceremonies;
A religious authority to which religious matters are referred and the decision of which is final.

Both moral and spiritual values can be practised irrespective of whether one believes in one religion or another or whether one believes in no religion. Both morality and spirituality can be independent of the rituals or ceremonies and of any acts specifically prescribed by any particular religion. Furthermore, both of them are independent of any authority expect that of one’s own free judgement and direct spiritual experience.

It is also useful to distinguish religion from what in India is called dharma. Dharma is not any religious creed or dogma nor a system of rituals, but a deeper law of the harmonious and interdependent growth of the deepest aspirations of the collectivity and of the individuals that constitute the collectivity. Dharma can be regarded as an ordered system of moral and spiritual values.

Spirituality proceeds directly by change of consciousness, change from the ordinary consciousness to a greater consciousness in which one finds one’s true unegoistic being and comes first into direct and living contact and then into union with the Spirit. In spirituality, this change of consciousness is the one thing that matters, nothing else. Spirituality not only aims at the total change of consciousness, but its method is that of a gradual and increasing change of consciousness. In other words, spirituality is an exploration of consciousness through a progressive change of consciousness.

In spiritual consciousness, and in the knowledge that it delivers, there is the fulfilment of the highest that morality and religion in their deepest core seek and succeed only when they cease to be limited within their specific boundaries. It replaces the moral law by a progressive law of self-perfection spontaneously expressing itself through the individual nature. In this operation, no more is the imposition of a rule or an imperative on the nature of an individual. The spiritual law respects the individual nature, modifies it and perfects it, and in this sense, it is unique for each individual and can be known and made operative only during the course of the change of consciousness. In its progressive movement, it may, if necessary, provide a short or long period of governance by a moral law, but always as a provisional device and always looking for going beyond into a plane of spontaneous expression of the Right and the Good. To spiritual consciousness, moral virtue is not valuable in itself, but only as an expression of a complex of certain qualities, which are, for the time being, for the given individual, necessary and useful in an upward journey. For the spiritual consciousness, what is commonly called vice has, too, behind it a complex of certain qualities, which have a certain utility in the economy of Nature, and can, therefore, be converted by placing them in their right place, as a complement to what lies in consciousness behind what are commonly called virtues.

Spirituality is not confined merely to the aspect of conduct; it includes all works and strives by the method of a progressive change of consciousness for the perfect harmonisation of all the aspects of works; and through this striving it realises also the unity of works with the highest Knowledge and the deepest Love.

For spiritual consciousness, that which is commonly called agnosticism, scepticism, atheism, positivism or free thinking has behind it a concern and a demand for a direct knowledge, which, when rightly understood, recognised, respected and fulfilled, becomes a powerful element of spirituality.

For spirituality always looks behind the form to the essence and to the living consciousness; and in doing so, it brings to the surface that which lies behind, and its action is therefore of a new creation. Spirituality transcends the forms and methods of morality and religion and recreates its own living and progressive forms.

In the words of Sri Aurobindo:

Spirituality is in its essence an awakening to the inner reality of our being, to a spirit, self, soul, which is other than our mind, life and body, an inner aspiration to know, to feel, to be that, to enter into contact with the greater Reality beyond and pervading the universe which inhabits also our own being, to be in communion with It and union with It and a turning, a conversion, a transformation of our whole being as a result of the aspiration, the contact, the union, a growth or waking into a new becoming or new being, a new self, a new nature.

It is natural that Indian education underlines the importance of what can be called Indian values.

In Indian thought, a distinction has been made between the ego and the self. According to Indian thought, egoistic personality is ridden with self-contradiction and conflicts and true self is the integrating centre in which physical, vital, mental and other personalities are harmonised. Pursuit of self-realisation is held out in Indian educational thought as one of the supreme spiritual values.

There are, indeed, certain other values which are uniquely Indian, in the sense that even though these values may be commonly shared by India and other countries, they are pursued in India either with a certain special zeal and dedication or pursued with a certain speciality or completeness. For example, the value that we attach to the ideal of tolerance is something special in India. In fact, the word tolerance itself is not adequate to convey the intended meaning. In the ordinary idea of tolerance, there is still a feeling that our own preferred idea is somewhat superior to the other contending ideas. On the other hand, what is peculiarly Indian is the sentiment and the recognition that various principal contending ideas are all legitimate ideas in varying degrees and that superiority lies not in holding one idea as some preferred idea but in trying to find such a synthesis that each idea finds its own highest fulfilment in it. What is uniquely Indian is that the value and ideal of synthesis has been pursued throughout the long history of Indian culture as the most desirable goal – and that too repeatedly and with very special insistence.

Along with the basic idea of synthesis, there is also the accompanying idea of unity, mutuality and oneness in diversity.

Similarly, what is meant by secularism in the Indian context is uniquely Indian. According to the Western idea, secularism means a tendency or a system of beliefs, which rejects all forms of religious faith or worship. It means something that pertains to the present world or to things, which are not spiritual or sacred. In the Indian context, however, secularism means comprehensiveness in which all religions receive equal protection, treatment and respect, and in which there is place for every one whether he belongs to one religion or another or to no religion. Again, Indian secularism encourages us to approach everything, whether material or spiritual, with a sense of sacredness. In Indian secularism, there is freedom for the propagation of each religion without hindrance or bar and there is also the freedom to promote and propagate synthesis of religions. At the same time, Indian secularism insists on the promotion of moral and spiritual values, which are common to all religions and to no religion as also on the pro-motion of a synthesis of science and spirituality. Secularism so defined and understood is, thus, a very special value that is uniquely Indian.

There are several other Indian values, which require a special mention and which should find their right place in our educational system. The sense of joy that is behind various festivals in India, which are shared by the people of the country is something, which can be understood only when one enters into the heart and soul of Indian culture. The Indian idea of the rhythm of life and the law of harmony, expressed by the word Dharma is also uniquely Indian. Again, the value that we attach to pursuit of knowledge, to the pursuit of purity, to the pursuit of wisdom is something unique, in the sense that these things are valued most and they are cherished most, and on the call of which we are inspired to renounce everything. We feel that all this and many other values, which are uniquely Indian should be encouraged and fostered.

VII

We may now come to what may be called the science of value-oriented education.

This is an extremely difficult domain, since a great deal of experimentation needs to be conducted before value education can truly be promoted to that level of definiteness which should normally be expected at the level of scientific rigour. There is, indeed, a view that both in the context of the long tradition of pursuit of values in our country as also in view of the latest experiments which have been conducted during the last two hundred years in different parts of the world as also in India, we have accumulated a large measure of insight and knowledge in the light of which we can formulate what can strictly can be called science of value-oriented education. In India, there is a further view that values which are philosophically conceived can actually be known scientifically through the methods of yoga. These views are extremely important and deserve to be seriously studied. It is my personal view that yoga is a valid means of attainment of knowledge of values and experience or realisation of values. In this light, the concept of what is called the science of living and therefore of the concept of science of value-oriented education can be sustained. However, at the present stage of pluralism in India and in the world at large, educational system needs to debate the contentions regarding yogic knowledge and its validation so as to arrive at some more generalised acceptance. In the meantime, therefore, the contention regarding yogic knowledge should be taken as an issue in the field of value-education, and encourage more and more sincerely and thoroughly philosophical pursuit of values and adopt philosophical methods for value-oriented education. It may also be added that as a matter of policy, the view that yogic knowledge provides sound basis of science of value-education should be fostered in the same way in which all proposals of scientific research are encouraged and supported. It may also be added that a great deal of experimentation is required in the field of methodology of application of yogic pursuit of values. For this purpose also, those who are qualified to conduct scientific research in yogic knowledge and application of yogic knowledge to the methodology of value-oriented education should also be supported. Finally, corresponding to pluralism in society, education should develop pluralistic methods of teaching and learning. Experimentation in developing pluralistic methods should receive high priority. Only through these pluralistic methods, value-oriented education can flourish, since only then philosophical methods and scientific methods can both be experimented upon adequately and more and more fruitfully.

What are the constituent ingredients of Value?

22 January 2004

Value may be conceived as an object, subjective or objective, the possession of which imparts to us a sense of fulfilment and therefore something we prize and cherish.

A value, understood, in the above sense, may be already possessed by us and which is maintained by us and what is naturally pursued by us for continuous maintenance or for a greater maximisation. In that context, value is an object that is desired and which is also pursued as something desirable on the ground that it is desired. Value is thus both positive and normative. The hedonist maintains that pleasure is desired, and thus he underlines psychological hedonism. But on that very ground, he argues that pleasure is desirable and should be normatively pursued.

But when the desirable is sought to be derived from what is desired, there is a possibility of committing what is called “naturalistic fallacy”, since there are a number of things which are desired but are not considered to be desirable. And this introduces in the concept of value several considerations which are not naturalistic but normative in character, and in the light of which value is conceived to be a normative concept.

These normative considerations emerge from two important facts. There is, first, the fact that no individual exists or can exist all by himself independent of the collectivity. And this calls upon every individual to relate with the collectivity in a way that is not positively natural but which is normative, requiring efforts that are not experienced to be necessarily spontaneous or pleasant.

At the minimum level, the individual is seen to be demanding from the others what they expect and demand from him. And this demand is the starting point of what can properly be called “ethical”, which may be pleasant but can, and often is, unpleasant or neutral in respect of pleasant and painful, or else something quite other than what can fall under the category of “pleasure”. And this is where hedonism, psychological or ethical, is required to expand the notion of value and include in it some new ingredients.

The second fact is that pleasure which is at the rudimentary level felt to be identical with sensational in character begins to be perceived as having varied gradations both in degree and in kind, depending upon what objects other than pleasure are sought to be pursued, cultivated and experienced. Even the word pleasure comes to be seen to be a restriction, and the notion of happiness comes to be conceived so as to admit the pursuit of objects which begin to demand our attention as worthyof attainment, even though they do not belong to the category of pleasure or even of happiness.

These two facts impose a process of ascent towards values that are intrinsically objects of worth and where can be called good in themselves or a law, a normative law, − a law other than the law of the processes − that we find operating in our present ordinary existence.

Value, properly speaking, is what ought to be seen, practised and attained, and it is what is necessitated by the process of ascent from our naturalistic situation towards what comes to be conceived a higher stage where the individual and the collectivity find some attainable but not yet attained equilibrium or harmony, and which involves the pursuit of objects that fall outside the category of pleasure or happiness, even though these objects may include happiness or sense of fulfilment.

Education In Human Values Programme

Suggested List of Topics

I. Stories, fairy tales, legends, myths, plays, poems, anecdotes, biographical or autobiographical episodes to illustrate:

The ideal of Truth: to speak the truth whatever the consequences; Truth in Thought; Truth in feeling; Truth in Action; Truth alone succeeds;
Aspiration for Perfection: Whatever you do, do it as perfectly as you can;
Dream of the New World: Where truth alone prevails, where beauty and goodness pervade;
Healthy mind in a healthy body;
To see the invisible and to hear the inaudible;
The body as a temple of the Spirit;
To work with the body is indispensable for the true knowledge and experiences;
Concentration is the key to all progress;
Quest of self-knowledge: stories of Shevataketu, Nachiketas, etc.
Goodwill at any cost;
Fearlessness;
Friendship;
Distinction between appearance and reality;
Intelligence in animals and birds;
Consciousness in matter;
Sincerity;
Introspection;
Story of Arjuna at the beginning of the Mahabharata war to illustrate distinction between thought, will, emotion, impulse, sensation, perception, and functions of the body;
Pursuit of beauty;
Pursuit of goodness;
Meaning of Perfection;
Harmony of thought, word, feeling, and action;
Joy of company of Nature;
Joy of poetry;
Joy of music;
Joy of clarity of thought;
Power of will;
Joy of Mathematics;
Learning from History;
Yogic mastery over body, life and mind;
Work, not to come first but to do one’s very best;
Do not criticise anybody unless you can do better than the one you want to criticise;
Cultivate in yourself those qualities which you want others to cultivate;
Perception of one’s defects with a sense of humour and without depression;
To learn to speak only what is necessary;
Perils of laziness;
Changing and transformation of human nature;
Human limitations;
Human helplessness;
Dedicated community service;
Perseverance;
Equality (samatvam) in success and failure.

II. Lists of noble aspirations and thoughts:

Subhasitani;
Important proverbs and sayings;
Thought for today: A list;
Memorable quotations;
Memorable lines of poetry;

III. Great Biographies:

Rama;
Sri Krishna;
Vasishtha;
Vishvamitra;
Valmiki;
Vyasa;
Buddha;
Mahavira;
Moses;
Jesus Christ;
Thiruvalluvar;
Prophet Mohammed;
Guru Nanak;
Sri Chaitanya;
Mira;
Ramakrishna;
Swami Vivekananda;
Sri Aurobindo.

IV. Exercises for the Development of Sense of Wonder:

Examples from Astronomy: distance, vastness, galaxies, expanding universe;
Examples from Physics: What is matter behind what we see and touch?
Examples from Chemistry: What is water? Is it mere oxygen or hydrogen or something more?
Caterpillar and its mutation into butterfly;
Magic of words;
Process of understanding;
Mystery of the human body;
Mystery of consciousness;
Wonder of mental silence;
Wonder of rhythm;
Wonder of Nature’s beauty;
Architectural wonders of the world;
Wonder and power of smile;
Wonder of flowers;
Wonder of twinkling stars;
Wonder of time;
Wonder of space;
Wonder that is God.

Exercises for observation and accurate descriptions: Leaves, plants, flowers, minerals, scenes, animals, figures, human body, artistic pictures, musical pieces, buildings, objects, events;
Exercises for the Development of memory;
Exercises for the development of five senses of knowledge and five senses of action;
Exercises of concentration;
Art of Relaxation;
Art of Sleeping;
Exercises of self-control;
Exercises of subtlety of thought and imagination;
Exercises of meditation;
Exercises of Contemplation;
Exercises of witnessing consciousness;
Exercises of introspection;
Exercises of recitation and dramatic oratory;
Exercises of scientific thought;
Exercises of philosophical thought;
Exercises of moral judgement;
Exercises of aesthetic judgement;
Sustained exercises of clear thought;
Exercises of sustained enthusiasm.

XXV.

Art of bathing, art of cleaning the teeth;
Art of dressing;
Art of sitting and writing in right posture;
Art of story telling;
Art of appreciation of poetry;
Art of appreciation of music;
Art of appreciation of painting;
Art and science of living;
Art of creative expression.

XXVI. Learning by practising:

Art and science of practicing concentration in every activity; concentration is key to all progress;
Art and Science of practising quietude and silence;
Practising truthfulness;
Practising fulfilment of promises;
Practising dedication: dedication in works of labour and community service;
Practising sincerity in thought, will, and action;
Practising regularity and punctuality;
Practising perseverance;
Practice of reviewing daily before retiring one’s actions, thoughts, feelings in relation to aim of life;
Practising exercises of synthesis and conflict resolution;
Practising endurance;
Practising wideness of awareness: awareness of the body, thought movement, awareness of other psychological states of impulses, emotions, inclinations, propensities of action and awareness of surroundings, and presence of universe;
Practising right attitude towards time: to do everything as quickly and as perfectly as possible;
Practising equanimity in order to transcend likes, dislikes, preferences, success, failure, praise, blame;

XXVII. Learning by doing:

Learning to swim;
Learning to sing;
Learning to be rhythmic;
Learning to express;
Learning the art of cleanliness, including sweeping, washing, dusting;
Learning to cook;
Learning the art of first aid and self-defence;
Learning to paint;
Learning of crafts;
Learning to do gardening;
Learning to travel: including cycling, safe driving and rules and regulations of traffic;
Learning to write clearly and beautifully including calligraphy;
Learning to participate harmoniously;
Learning the art of self-control, purification of emotions, and mastery over impulses;
Learning art of poetry.

XXVIII. Learning to know:

Learning to learn: use of alphabets, use of mental calculation, use of books, use of television, use of computers, use of libraries;
Art of storing and retrieval;
Art of classification;

Learning to Discriminate:

Distinction of colours; sounds, fragrances, tastes and tactile sensations;
Distinction between health and strength and agility;
Distinction between instinct, desire, ambition, preferences, thought, will, imagination, and perception of beauty;
Distinction between appearance and reality (examples from science, history, literature and philosophy);
Distinction between insensitivity, intelligence, sensitivity and conception, emotion and volition;
Distinction between meditation, contemplation and concentration;
Distinction between lower and higher in thought, feeling and action;
Distinction between the inorganic and the organic, between plants and animals, between beasts and human beings;
Distinction between barbarism, civilisation and culture;
Distinction between science and art;
Distinction between scientific thought and philosophical thought;
Distinction between art and technology;
Relationship between knowledge and action;
Relationship between ideal and practice;
Relationship between dedication and heroism;
Distinction between instinct and intuition;
Distinction between intuition and inspiration;
Distinction between intuition and revelation;
Distinction between desire and aspiration;
Distinction between rationality and morality;
Distinction between morality and religion;
Distinction between religion and spirituality;
Distinction between religion and yoga;
Distinction between the physical, the vital, the mental, the psychic, the spiritual and the supramental;
Degrees and varieties of illumination, wisdom, heroism, and harmony;
Distinction between fact and value; Distinction between truth, beauty and goodness.

Main domains of knowledge:

Humanities;
Sciences;
Fine Arts and Crafts; and
Technologies

Interdisciplinary knowledge:

Interrelationship between history and geography;
Interrelationship between astronomy, astrophysics and earth sciences;
Relationship between biology and biochemistry;
Relationship between biology and psychology;
Science of evolution;
Science of environment and ecology;
History as an interdisciplinary study;
Philosophy as an interdisciplinary study;
Study of human being and the question of human progress.
Bridging Matter, Life, mind and Supermind;
Experiments of J.C. Bose;
Recent findings of physicists like Louise de Broglie, Erwin Schrodinger, David Bohm;
Findings of Quantum Mechanics;
Michael Talbot’s concept of sub-atomic: particle as “Omniobjective”;
Philosophical thought of Bergson: Élan Vitale;
Alexander’s concept of Space, Time and Deity;
Whitehead’s concept of Ingression and Ideal Order;
Chardin’s concept of Omega Summits of Consciousness;
Sri Aurobindo’s concept of Supermind.

Knowledge of Values:

The meaning of an Ideal;
Ideals of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness;
Ideals of Perfection;
Ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity;
Concept of the aim of life: supra-cosmic, supra-terrestrial, cosmic-terrestrial and integral;
Self-knowledge, world-knowledge and God-knowledge;
Proofs of existence of God;
Deism, Pantheism, Theism, Monism;

Affirmations of spiritual experiences: varieties of spiritual experience;

Yogic Knowledge:

Standards of conduct: Hedonism, Utilitarianism, Intuitionism;
Idea of the categorical imperative;
The idea of Dharma, beyond Dharma and Spiritual Freedom;
Yoga as Science par excellence: Materialism, Science and Yoga;
Integral Yoga and synthesis of yogic systems and synthesis of science and spirituality;
Yogic experiences of the witness self; experience of psychic being,
Experience of second birth;
Experience of silence and of Nirvana;
Experience of the Cosmic consciousness;
Integral experience of divine status of immobility and status of divine dynamism;
Nature of the Supermind;
Supermind and transformation of human nature.

Works of Knowledge:

Works of love;
Works of life-force;
Works of transforming earth life into divine life.

Knowledge of the process of Self-Education:

Aspiration on the part of the pupil and helping hand of the teacher;
Secret of learning and secret of teaching;

Learning To Be:

Art and science of introspection;
Inquiry into the question: “What am I?” Story of Shevataketu and Nachiketas;
Adventures in the quest of truth, and in the quest of heroism;
Adventures of excellence of the human body;
Adventures of self-exceeding: to work at one’s limitations in order to cross them;
Constant observations and questioning: “Where have I reached in my progress?” “What are my defects?” “How to face defects with depression?” “What should I do to overcome my defects?”
Preparation of programme of self-discipline: “Am I lazy?” “How to remove idleness?” “How to organise my life and activities?”

Development of Personality:

Discovery of the real person behind and above one’s physical personality, vital personality, intellectual personality, ethical personality and aesthetic personality;
Harmonising conflict of inner personalities by the power of wisdom, courage, harmony, and skills.

Concept and development of Integral Personality: To be is to be integrally.

Miscellaneous Aids:

Development of sense of mystery and wonder;
Development of sense of sacredness;
Development of the sense of reverence;
Study of personalities: Vasishtha, Vishwamitra, Rama, Sri Krishna, Buddha, Mahavira, Moses, Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammed, Guru Nanak, Sri Chaitanya, Mirabai, Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo.
Stories of Illumination, Heroism, and Harmony;
Singing of music: selected Ragas (Indian) and Harmonies (Western);
Examples of poetic excellence: regional poetry, Sanskrit poetry, English poetry;
Stories of Bodhisattva from the Jatakas;
Parables (Indian and Western);
“Powers of the mind” – from Swami Vivekananda;
Account of Rabindranath Tagore’s experience of his opening of poetic expression;
Description of sthitapragya as given in the Gita;
The Sermon on the Mount from the New Testament;
Study of passages from Plato: Apology and simile of the Cave in The Republic;
Study of Ishopanishad;
Contemplation and the concept of “universals”;
The vow of the Buddha on the threshold of Nirvana;
Selected psalms;
Islamic prayers;
Selected portion from Tulasidasa;
Songs of Mirabai, Surdas, Tukaram, Ramprasad and Alwars;

Prayer of Swami Vivekananda.

Values Western Philosophy

VALUES — WESTERN PHILOSOPHY

27 January 2004

Utilitarianism as expounded by Mill departs from unmixed hedonism in two respects. First of all, Mill’s Utilitarianism admits the importance of the relationship between the individual and the collectivity introduces altruism, and prescribes value in such a manner that maximum number of people can share maximum pleasure. This concern for collectivity may, in practice, collide with individual pleasure and may oblige the individual to sacrifice his own personal pleasure. Secondly, Mill recognises different kinds of pleasures and that one ought to cultivate higher pleasures. This admission on the part of Mill dilutes the hedonistic position that the only thing that is desirable is pleasure. For if pleasures constitute a hierarchy, the difference between the lower and the higher pleasures implies that there is something else than pleasure which makes a superior quality superior. In other words, it would appear impossible to hold that pleasure is the only thing which is desirable, and yet to maintain that pleasures can differ in quality.

RASHDALL

The formulation of Rashdall, who has called his ethical theory “Ideal Utilitarianism”, combines the utilitarian principle that ethics must be teleological with a non-hedonistic view of the ethical end. According to this view, “actions are right or wrong according to whether they tend to produce for all mankind an ideal end or good, which includes, but is not limited to pleasure.”¹

In fact, Rashdall speaks of three axioms of Prudence, Benevolence, and Equity, which are assumed in moral judgments. According to him, it is self-evident that that one ought to promote one’s own greatest good when it does not collide with the greater good of another, that one ought to prefer a greater good on the whole to a lesser, and that one ought to regard the good of one man as of equal intrinsic value with the like good of another one else. It will be seen that although in this theory pleasure is a value, it is explicitly recognised that it is not the only value and that there are other values where the relationship between the individual and the collectivity come to play a decisive role, and the resultant value system recognises the principle of justice.

Rashdall also recognises that a great value should be attached to what he calls Rational Benevolence or Love. He maintains that all virtues could be explained as ultimately resolvable into the virtue of Benevolence. He even goes farther to point out that it is rational to encourage the cultivation of an exercise of such values as loyalty, courage and others even in the ways which cannot always be shown to produce a net gain in pleasures on the whole. In a farther development of his theory, Rashdall acknowledges a general principle that a higher value should be attributed to the exercise and cultivation of the higher faculties than to the indulgence of the merely animal and sensual part of our nature. He points out that knowledge, culture, enjoyment of beauty, intellectual activity of all kinds, and the emotions connected with these things have a higher value than the pleasures arising from the gratifications of the mere animal propensities.

BERTRAND RUSSELL

Perhaps the most reputed work in a relatively recent period in hedonism is that of Bertrand Russell entitled “The Conquest of Happiness”. Russell does not speak merely of pleasure as a value; he prefers the word happiness, and he includes in his analysis of happiness most of what professional moralists declare to be ethical virtues.

Russell has analysed in detail the causes of unhappiness, which include not only pessimistic view of life but also such factors as excessive emphasis upon competitive success, boredom and excitement, fatigue, envy, sense of sin, persecution mania, and fear of public opinion. On the positive side, he acknowledges that the pleasure that does no harm to other people is to be valued, but he adds, however, that fundamental happiness depends upon what may be called a friendly interest in persons and things. Among other factors that lead to happiness, he includes zest, health, super-abundant energy, and work that one finds interesting on its own account. In regard to the happiness that comes form the Family, he counsels parents to have respect for the personality of the child that arises from a kind of mystical conviction to such a degree that possessiveness and oppression become utterly impossible. To quote his own words:

“The love that has been purged by gentleness of all tendency towards tyranny can give a joy more exquisite, more tender, more capable of transmuting the base metal of daily life into the pure gold of mystic ecstasy, than in emotion that is possible to man still fighting and struggling to maintain his ascendancy in this slippery world.”²

One of the most important elements in the conquest of happiness, according to Bertrand Russell, is the habit of viewing life as a whole, as an essential part of both wisdom and true morality, and he recommends that it is one of the things which ought to be encouraged in education.

One of his best counsels is that one should realise that one is not an isolated individual but one of the great army of those who have led the mankind towards a civilised existence. He points out that if one happens to attain to this outlook, a certain deep happiness will never leave him or her, whatever his or her personal fate may be.

In a statement, which could have been written by any stoic or non-hedonist philosopher, Russell declares:

“The happy man is the man whose personality is neither divided against itself nor pitted against the world. Such a man feels himself as the citizen of the universe enjoying freely the spectacle that it offers and the joy that it affords, untroubled by the thought of death because he feels himself not really separate from those who will come after him. It is in such a profound instinctive union with the stream of life that the greatest joy is to be found.”³

It will be seen that Russell’s account of the conquest of happiness advises actions and attitudes that we find advocated by stoicism and ethical systems that prescribe duty for duty’s sake and other ethical and spiritual values. Hedonism, utilitarianism and disinterested ethicism join here together in his thought which, consequently leads us nearer to the clearer perception of the meaning and practice of value.

IMMANUEL KANT

But in spite of such noble and disinterested view of happiness that is prescribed by Russell, the moralists like Immanuel Kant may still feel dissatisfied, for there is, as we see in the moral philosophy of Kant, a discovery of a dimension that is felt to be missing in the hedonist or

Utilitarian philosophy. It true that utilitarianism makes a distinction between the lower and higher pleasures, and that it also prescribes the control of animal passions or impulses in an effort to enter into a higher dimension of life. But Kant, in his analysis of the epistemological apparatus of human consciousness, points out that our entire experience, which remains confined to Space and Time and to other categories of consciousness, is circumscribed within the limits of empirical laws. A man’s everyday personality is, therefore, a member of the world of things as they appear and is, therefore, to that extent not entirely real. There is, Kant held, another self, which can be called the “Transcendent Self” by virtue of which man participates in the world of things as they are. And it is the transcendental self which is the source of moral experience. According to Kant, there in us an imperative, which is distinguishable from wishes and desires, and that imperative is not hypothetical but categorical. The true moral will enables us to escape from the world of appearances and establish contact with the reality. Kant also points out that the moral will is a source of the conception of “ought”.

According to Kant, the consciousness of “ought” is a unique fact, a fact of a kind which is not to be found anywhere in the world of things as they appear. This sense of “ought” is indifferent to circumstances and takes no account of likes and dislikes, and the perception of the dimension of “ought” is the perception of value, which is an end in itself. Value, according to Kant, is a categorical imperative which gives us the possibility of liberating ourselves from what we are empirically and we feel ourselves free to belong to the real world, which is the world of ends in themselves. The Will that is involved in the categorical imperative is free will.

We are, according to Kant, free to follow the categorical imperative, not desiring any consequences, not desiring pleasures or happiness, but the experience of freedom to rise to the real reality of our true self.

Kant has given three formulations by applying which one can recognise the categorical imperative: First, is a famous precept “Act only according to the maxim which you can at the same time will to be universal law”; the second formulation declares, “Act so that you treat humanity, in your own person and in the person of everyone else, always as an end as well a means, never merely as a means”; and the third maxim is: “Act as a member of the world of ends”. It is, however, pointed out these formulations give us only the form and no content, and that that the application of these formulations of the categorical imperative oblige us to judge an action not as an end itself but in terms of its consequences. For, it is asked, how does on know if an act is universalisable? Can it be known directly or intuitively, without the consideration of the consequences? Thus it is argued that although Kant is anti-utilitarian, his criterion as to whether an action is an end itself imposes upon us the necessity to employ the method of utilitarianism. In any case, it is urged that Kant fails to provide real guide to the determination of the right action or of duty. Moreover, it is argued that in actual practice, categorical imperatives regarding duty, love, justice and others often collide among themselves, leaving us in a state of disequilibrium, − a sign that the categorical imperative presented by Kant needs to be transcended to a still higher level of consciousness where conflicts of love and duty, of duty and justice, of justice and love can be resolved.

Nevertheless, what is most valuable in Kant is the recognition of deeper dimensions in human personality and the perception of a categorical imperative that is not motivated by impulses and desires. In our search for the meaning of value, this discovery of Kant is of crucial importance. In fact, it explains why stoicism emphasises the virtue of endurance, which transcends the seeking of pleasure. It explains why heroism lies in self-sacrifice, which brings no pleasure or happiness in ordinary terms, although, by stretching the meaning of happiness, one would say that self-sacrifice provides a ground for inner fulfilment and therefore of a higher kind of happiness. But admittedly, that kind of fulfilment cannot be judged entirely in terms of hedonism or utilitarianism.

REFLECTIONS

After the survey of the main ethical theories, we are in a better position to answer the question: “What is value?

Are value and pleasure interchangeable? Is value purely an individualistic notion? Is it purely a notion connected with collectivity? Is value what the utilitarian thinks it to be? Or is it what intuitionism holds it to be? Is value to be identical with an act, having nothing to do with motive or consequences? Is value merely a matter of motive? Is value to be judged in terms of character? Is value to be judged in terms of knowledge? Is value essentially related to freedom?” As we have seen, there are different answers to these questions, and one might almost feel frustrated and declare that values are always relative and even subjective, that the question of value should be left to each individual to decide for oneself, and that one cannot feel confident in holding out any theory of education that aims at providing the knowledge of values and in providing conditions in which values can be cultivated.

But if we examine the situation more closely, we shall find that, although it is complex, it does provide us certain incontrovertible insights and clues for a purposive and effective pursuit of values and guidance for value-education.

It will be observed that our brief study did not aim at determining lists or sets of values, but at determining quintessential conditions, features and meaning of value. For the same reason, our approach to various theories of value has been to underline their main contentions, and our critical remarks have been kept to bare minimum.

It seems that there is a general agreement that:

There is in the human psychology a normative dimension and that this dimension impels everyone to exceed what is natural, and that it is only when one succeeds in exceeding one’s present status of being and consciousness that “value” is contacted or experienced or embodied.
It is only when “value” is experienced or realised that there is the sense of pleasure, happiness, or fulfilment.
“Value” can be perceived as that which is or ought to be prized or cherished, and that “value” is the good, an end in itself.
“Value” is the source of the concept of “ought”, and the study of the concept of “ought” is itself a valuable subject worthy of pursuit in the quest of knowledge.
There are a number of virtues and values that can be listed, either as instrumental values or intrinsical values, but all of them are values because they are seen as objects or processes worthy of normative pursuits.
The perception of value arises in the context of our awareness of the existing state of imperfection or inadequacy or disharmony, and in that of the perception that these are imperfections and inadequacies or disharmonies ought to be and can be remedied or transcended.

The contention that ethical theories are in sharp conflict with each other is not borne out by a close study of these theories. The distinction made by Mill in his theory of utilitarianism between lower and higher pleasures introduces an element that is so important in theories of intuitionism. In Rashdall and Russell, there is a clear acknowledgement of moral elements in their theories and they come quite close to the stoic attitude and to the theory of conscience and virtue and of the categorical imperative. Bertrand Russell states at the end of his book, “The Conquest of Happiness”:

“I have written in this book as a hedonist, that is to say, as one who regards happiness as the good, but the acts to be recommended from the point of view of the hedonist are on the whole the same as those to be recommended by the sane moralist.”⁴

On the other hand, although intutionist or virtue theories do not prescribe pleasure as a value, the concept of happiness or fulfilment as a value is inherently present in them. Kant’s postulation of God, Freedom and Immortality is a testimony to his acknowledgement that Justice demands that the acts of the categorical imperative should be rewarded with happiness, even when they are not motivated by the desire for happiness.

It may also be suggested that the different theories regarding value can be arranged in an ascending scale or ladder. At the lowest level, values are determined in terms of personal need, preference or desire; in the middle of the ladder, greater importance is given to collective needs and collective imperatives; and at the summit, there is a perception of a higher law of morality arising from the categorical imperative which expresses itself in goodwill. It is, however, found that even at this level of the summit there remains a disequilibrium. It is found that even when the categorical imperative prescribes absolute justice, absolute love, absolute right, and other values in terms of absoluteness, we have not yet reached that state of equilibrium where love and justice can meet together in harmony and where absolute right reason can unalterably indicate in actual situations of life what is conceived to be absolute justice or absolute love.

And yet, despite this limitation at the summit level, which still points to a higher level, we can legitimately make a distinction between the human thrusttowards the value of right reason, absolute love and absolute justice, on the one hand, and various manifestationsof this thrust in the form of certain specific and particular actions, on the other. Based on this distinction, we would be led to suggest that the essentiality of the pursuit of value lies in our thrust, and only subordinately in its manifestations, − although there, too, progressive effort should be made to harmonise the conflicting deliverances of the categorical imperative.

It may be useful to bring out the fact that normative considerations that involve the pursuits of value emerge from two important facts. There is, first, the fact that no individual exists or can exist all by himself independent of the collectivity. And this fact calls upon every individual to relate himself or herself with the collectivity in a way that is not positively natural but normative, requiring efforts that are not experienced to be necessarily spontaneous or pleasant. At the minimum level, the individual is seen to be demanding from the others what they expect and demand from him. The maxim that asks one to do unto others what one demands from others to do unto oneself is an expression of this starting-point of what can properly be called “ethical”. At the highest level of the growing relationship between the individual and the collectivity three interdependent values seem to emerge, namely, liberty, equality and fraternity which have come to be acknowledged in the contemporary world as the ideals of civilisation.

The second fact is that every human being has an inherent urge to attain greater, and greater freedom from the necessities of impulses and suffocating circumstances, and this implies a journey of normative life that discloses higher and higher values, culminating into the quest of three values, which have been clearly underlined in the ethical and spiritual philosophy of Socrates and Plato, viz., Truth, Beauty and Goodness, a quest of which demands the increasing in synthesis of knowledge, goodwill and harmony. Increasing freedom and self-discipline are found to be the special features of this quest.

It may be suggested that the thrust towards truth, beauty and goodness as also towards liberty, equality and fraternity can be increasingly refined and freed from selfishness by pointing them constantly towards what can progressively be perceived to be free from subjectivity and relativity. The result would be that one can affirm that there is in human consciousness the possibility of the development of goodwill, impartial quest for knowledge, and pursuit of value that demands nothing in return. All these things are possible as we can testify from moral and spiritual experience of humankind, because there is, as Socrates and Plato pointed out, an objective world of the truth, beauty and goodness, harmonised in the supreme Good.

III

THE CONCEPT OF VALUE AND VALUE-ORIENTED EDUCATION

In the light of the above discussion, certain important consequences follow for what may be called value-education. If value-education proposes to prescribe any particular specific action or particular value system by any specific or preferred criteria, then the criticism against such a proposal would stand with considerable force. But if the proposal is to promote thrust and aspiration towards the value or combination of highest values of truth, beauty and goodness, and of liberty, equality and fraternity, then, the case for value-education can be said to be on a sound and strong footing.

This would mean that it is preferable to propose value-oriented education rather than value-education. For value-education is likely to end up with the prescription of do’s and don’ts, and this prescription will have a weak ground. But if our aim is to provide any educational conditions for the promotion of the growth of aspiration towards truth, beauty and goodness, towards cultivation of goodwill, towards liberty, equality and fraternity, and if an attempt is to provide to each individual the inspiration and means to transcend his own limited needs and preferences and egoism, so that his own personality and subjectivity are progressively attempted to be transcended, then such an education can be defended both philosophically and pedagogically.

Value-oriented education may then be defined as a progressive and exploratory process of development, which permits continuous pursuit towards the dimension of value, and towards those specific values which have been identified above in broad general terms. This education leaves each individual free to determine the contents of the good and the right, on the basis of his or her exploration and sustained support received in the educational process directed towards the nourishment of the normative thrust.

Not value-education but value-oriented education, not prescription but exploration – this is the conclusion to which we seem to arrive while considering the domain of value and its study and practice through the process of education.

THE CONCEPT OF VALUE AND CONTEMPORARY CIVILISATION

Our analysis of the concept of value discloses also those sets of values, which if pursued in the context of the contemporary systems of culture, would contribute to the solution of the crisis through which humanity is passing today. For as, we have seen earlier, there are pulls of downward gravitation to the life and system of sensational and vital satisfaction and counter-pulls that strive to lift humanity upward to the goal of higher fulfilment. The result is, on account of enormous development of externalities of life and hugeness of structures of organisation, upward movement has become extremely difficult. The world is drawing towards globality and unity on the planetary level, and yet human consciousness has remained circumscribed within the narrow boundaries of egoism and competitive envy and mistrust. Unprecedented development of science and technology, despite its salutary boons, stands in need of supplementation of pursuit of higher values, values of higher levels of utilitarianism or intuitionism or stoicism or of all of them which can easily be blended and explored.

Against this background, it is rightly recognised that the present crisis is the crisis of the conflict between values and development, and that it can be resolved only if we adopt the path of value-oriented development. Once again, what is true of value-oriented education is also true of development that has to be guided by the thrust towards these perennial values that Socrates and Plato discovered, viz., Truth, Beauty and Goodness, and those equally perennial values that were, however, relatively recently formulated with striking force by the French Revolution, viz., Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.

The subject of value is today directly relevant to the imperative needs of the contemporary human civilisation.

Hence, also, the importance of the theme of the discovery of the meaning of value that we have dealt with in the essay, although briefly and in some large and broad terms.

Value-Oriented Education

Value-Oriented Education. (Ncert) 20.8.02

Introduction

Permit me to begin with the recent survey that is being conducted by the International Forum for Indian Heritage, which has issued a questionnaire to a number of Indian schools so as to elicit responses from students in regard to their experience of our current educational system. I had recently an occasion to study a few illustrative samples of answers that have been received from students from different parts of the country. Three general remarks are common: (i) the present system of education is not at all inspiring; (ii) it does not contribute to the all-round development of personality; (iii) there is keenness to study Indian heritage. I am sure that when this survey will be completed and results are brought out, educationists in our country and NCERT in particular, will have valuable material for reflection and action.

Cry of the National Soul

There is, unmistakably, a cry among our students to bring about a radical change in our system of education, so as to make it more meaningful, more purposive, more value-oriented, more skill-oriented, more interesting and less burdensome. There is a cry of the soul of India, it appears, which wants to communicate itself with the coming generations so that its wisdom and its value-system can be nourished, strengthened and developed further in the light of the needs of the critical conditions through which humanity as a whole is passing today. This is not a new cry; this cry was reflected throughout the freedom struggle, when the greatest educationists of India proposed and inspired experiments in education so as to combat the Macaulayan system of education which had come to be imposed under assumptions which were entirely antagonistic to the national system of values and national system of education. What is, however, new at present is the cry of the students, and we need to discern in it a deep call to educationists to undertake a fresh journey of research, − research in objectives of education, research in contents of education and research in methods of education.

It is against this background that the programme of the NCERT for a national consultation of value-education in Indian schools needs to be welcomed. It gives us a very important opportunity to pool together experiences that have been gained by a number of institutions through their efforts of implementing value-education and to derive from them practical strategies of moving forward in the right direction through a well-planned programme of action and implementation.

NCERT’s Approach to Value-Education

NCERT has looked upon the programme of value-education, not as an exercise in adding an extra subject in the curriculum but as an important innovation that can be woven into the entire curriculum, so that the process of teaching and learning acquires a new meaning and purpose and imparts to the educational process a force of inspiration and a new quest.

It must, however, be admitted that although the concept of value education came to be advocated in explicit terms since the last two decades, it is only recently that we find the beginning of serious action so as to provide centrality to value-education. And as we reflect upon the present stage, we find that we need today much profounder research and develop much more effective strategies. And it seems inevitable that if we are allowed to go up to the logical conclusion of this effort, we shall be obliged to arrive at a radical formulation of the entire school curriculum, which will be in consonance with what students of our country are demanding implicitly or explicitly.

Value-Oriented education: Process of Exploration, not of Prescription

For philosophical reasons, I prefer the phrase Value-oriented Education instead of value-education. For the term value-education seems to imply as though we have a list of do’s and don’ts which have to be prescribed and which have to be obeyed. Indeed, there is no doubt that there are values which can be listed and regarding which there could be a national consensus. Our own Constitution, in its very Preamble, speaks of liberty, equality, and fraternity; Article 51-A speaks of Fundamental Duties, which have been sufficiently enumerated; UNESCO has also underlined the values of international understanding and world peace; it has also recently spoken of pillars of learning so as to emphasise the values of knowledge, of action, of living together, and attaining integral selfhood. There has been also throughout the ages acknowledgement of three values of Truth, Beauty and Goodness. Nonetheless, the argument that values are relative and subjective and that they are not founded in any ascertainable stuff of knowledge has a good deal of force and needs to be taken into account while formulating a sound pedagogy of education. Many of us, who have been gaining experiences in school education in India, feel the need to propose value-education as a process of exploration rather than as a process of prescription; they admit that even though a number of values can be enumerated, value-judgements require a profounder analysis so as to arrive at some kind of objectivity. We find that what is most important in education is to draw the attention of our students to what may be called the dimension of value, which is universally present in all human beings, despite varied formulations of that dimension and varied expressions of that dimension. And this task can best be performed if the dimension of values is presented as a subject of exploration, a subject of discovery, a subject in regard to which one has to arrive at one’s own conclusion and one’s own satisfaction in regard to the criteria of objectivity and veracity. In this context, therefore, it would be much more sound if we are to employ the expression value-oriented education instead of value-education.

This is only a preliminary remark.

III

Let us now turn to some of the most serious concerns.

Three Foundations of Value-oriented Education: Strategies to Foster Them

There are, it seems, three important grounds on which a sound process of value-oriented education can be established. There is, first, the process of widening of consciousness; secondly, there is a process of deepening of consciousness; and, thirdly, there is a process of heightening of consciousness. Pedagogically, we have to find out by what physical or subtle environment and by what facilities and equipment, we can foster these three processes. All the three processes are rooted in the development of what is called concentration. As we all know, Swami Vivekananda laid such a stress on concentration that he made a remark that if he knew earlier in his life the value of concentration he would have devoted his time to concentration rather than to reading a number of subjects. He pointed out that concentration is the real key to knowledge, and that one who is capable of concentration can command any knowledge through the process of concentration. Swami Vivekananda’s remarks are based on pure psychology and applied psychology, and it is independent of any ideological bias. We can, therefore, safely propose that a proper environment should be created in schools in which concentration can properly be fostered.

Again, Swami Vivekananda suggested that one of the best aids could be to keep one place apart, where silence can constantly be preserved and maintained. Proper environment is thus created in that place where as soon as one enters into it, one is invaded by silence and one is enabled to attain the state of concentration with much ease and facility. Drawing a clue from this suggestion, which can be corroborated by numerous other leaders of the practices of prayer and meditation, it may be recommended that every school should have a Room of Silence, where any student can freely go for practising concentration and for experiencing states of quietude, calm, tranquillity, silence and peace. A facility of such a Room of Silence has been found in practice to be very useful, and students have greatly been benefited, not only in gaining the experience of silence but also in receiving sense of freshness, inspiration, discipline and internal and external harmony.

Widening of Consciousness: Values through Astronomy, Geography and Mathematics

On the basis of the process of silence and concentration, it is easier to develop the process of widening, deepening and heightening of consciousness. But still some other facilities, too, can be recommended.

First is related to the development of what may be called an elementary laboratory of astronomy. There is no greater method of widening our consciousness, at least at the elementary stages, than the observation of the sky and the horizon beyond the horizon. Astronomy has brought to us astonishing sense of wideness of the universe and even of the expanding universe. The idea of galaxies, and galaxies beyond galaxies, of distances and light years, and of amazing phenomena of planets, and stars. We may also recall that one of the greatest secrets of ancient Indian education was its stress on the study of astronomy right from early stages of the curriculum. Study of jyotisha was considered to be an important ingredient in the process of widening of the consciousness as also of imparting to children direct experiences of the scientific processes of observation, experimentation and verification. Perception of wideness was itself regarded as a value, since it is in wideness that human consciousness finds one of value-satisfactions in terms of vision, understanding, and locating one’s own place in the totality and vastness of the universe.

Incidentally, it may also be recalled that the study of mathematics in our ancient Indian system was rooted in the study of astronomy. And mathematics was thus understood more easily in its rationale and utility by students. In the present Scheme, in contrast, astronomy has hardly any place in our school curriculum. As a result, we know how much difficulty we encounter when we are required to explain the rationale of the study of mathematics. Similarly, in the system of ancient India, geography was taught as a part of astronomy, and a great emphasis was laid, at the elementary stages, on earth’s geography in relation to the vastness of the universe. This is, again, in contrast to the kind of geography that is being taught in our schools under our present scheme; our emphasis on geography in the curriculum is marginal; it is largely taught as a dispensable appendix to history or at best as a subject of minor importance. That astronomy, mathematics and geography have intimate connections among themselves is greatly lost in our present scheme of education. That these three sciences can be a direct help in widening of our consciousness has been lost sight of, and if we want to liberate ourselves from the present limitations, we should recommend that in every school we should have a combined laboratory of astronomy, mathematics and geography, through which lessons of widening of consciousness can be taught and mastered.

Deepening of Consciousness: Values through Languages, Poetry and Art

Next is the process of deepening of consciousness. The most important method of this process is that of introspection, which can lead us to the depth of ourselves. To know oneself and to control oneself is the surest basis of science of living and of the profoundest studies to which we can be led in our exploration of values. This nourishes states of consciousness and virtues which are in themselves stabilised states of values.

Again, in our ancient pedagogy, the central emphasis of education was laid on introspection. This emphasis was completely knocked off the scheme that we have at present, for that scheme has no access to the profundities of the studies of consciousness which were so greatly valued in our culture. We may recall Kathopanishad, where Naciketas is told that shreyas, the good, is to be preferred to preyas, pleasure, and that we have to turn our senses inward, even when by impulsion they normally turn outward. Shreyas, the process of value-oriented education, was thus founded on introspection and on the discovery of that which lies in the depths of our being, − depths that Kathopanishad describes poetically as the depths of the cave of the heart.

We have seen that the Room of Silence can be a powerful instrument of fostering the process of concentration, but it can also be used as a facility for students to develop introspection and enter into the depths of the inner being.

There is also another dimension of the process of deepening of consciousness, and that is the dimension of poetic or artistic experience and its corresponding values. In all poetry and art, our consciousness plunges into the depth of the experience of the object, and by dwelling in the depth there is gained the aesthetic experience in which the object vibrates in the form of an image which has in its wings the power of expression through which is manifested a rhythmic word or a significant form which symbolises inner meaning and value.

There is a great need to combine the scientific pursuit of the value of truth and aesthetic pursuit of the value of beauty, and one of the best means of doing so would be to provide facilities in which language, art of recitation, art of singing and art of painting are synchronised. Again, it is to be noted that in the ancient pedagogy, children were taught language at a deep level through poetry and recitation in which tone and pitch were given particular attention, and clarity of pronunciation was specially emphasised. Chanting and singing were employed in the learning of language, and while on the one hand, the scientific study of language reached its climax in mastery of the science of grammar, the artistic study of language through poetry that could be chanted and sung had its climax in higher realms of aesthetic experience. Science and art when fused into each other, the values of truth and beauty are experienced in their harmony. In our present scheme of education, teaching and learning of languages is highly artificial, and they are so perfunctory that our knowledge in this domain remains practically barren. In our experience of school education, we find a number of children who show interest in writing poetry, but our curriculum has little room for nourishing budding poets. On the other hand, science of grammar is taught in such an unscientific manner that one rarely arrives at the roots of the secrets of grammar. These are the problems that we have to confront, if we want to integrate the processes of learning languages and the processes of value-oriented education. We must provide facilities for learning languages where grammar and poetry can be harmonised and where poetry and song can be harmonised and where poetry, song and drama can be harmonised and where deepening of consciousness can be so nourished that poetry and art can flourish harmoniously in the development of the personality of the student.

Heightening of Consciousness: Values through Methods of Demonstration, Dramas & Exhibitions

Next is the question of heightening of the consciousness. At the lowest level, consciousness is heightened through imagination and through multiple experiences of mystery and wonder. Facilities by which this task can be facilitated pertain to the realm of demonstrations, dramas and exhibitions. Unfortunately, we have not yet developed mature pedagogy through which quest of science is excited through demonstration, in which the quest of heroism is excited through drama, and in which quest for illumination is excited through exhibitions. That there are peaks and peaks of achievements, and that there are heights beyond heights is to be presented to the students through methods and instruments which our pedagogy must furnish to our schools. This is the great and difficult task, but if we are in search of strategies by which value education can be properly implemented, then this pedagogy must be developed.

In this context, we may recall the profound depth of Natyashastra, the purpose of which was to impart to students imaginative experiences of heightened imaginations and higher vistas of experience through dramas, which were not merely a play of dialogues, but which were a powerful portrayal of the growth of personality and its power of action and its resultant effect in life’s destiny. These profound ideas of pedagogical instruments which were available in our indigenous system of education do not exist in our system. As a result, in our educational system there is great poverty, poverty of a quest to reach higher heights. We must remedy this great deficiency.

We may now come to another major concern in the field of value-oriented education.

Values of Indian Culture: Question of National System of Education

This is related to the exploration and study of the values of Indian culture. The first question here is as to what are these values, and our second question is as to how we can deal with them in our programmes of value-oriented education. These questions are also related to the development of what may properly be called the national system of education. For the system of education that we can properly call national should aim at imparting to the coming generations the arts and sciences and values that relate to the accumulated experience in national history of the relationship between the human beings and the universe and the normative harmony attained in building up this relationship. A national system not only has its eyes on deriving lessons of the past but also on determining the paths of the future. A national system, even while underlying its past glory, must prepare the younger generations to arrive at greater glories in the future. It is a mistaken view that national education in science should teach only what was known to Bhaskara, Aryabhatta and Varahamihira and reject modern truth of modern science because they come from Europe. National system should keep us abreast of the march of the truth and knowledge, fit ourselves for existence under actual circumstances, and our education must, therefore, be in form and substance as advanced as it can be, even when it is well founded on the lessons of the past and our national history. As Sri Aurobindo has pointed out, “We do not belong to the dawns of the past but to the noons of the future.”

But having clarified this point, we should affirm that the major question for the national system of education is not merely of what we should learn, but what we should do with our past fund of knowledge and how we shall relate powers of the human mind and the peculiar cast of the Indian mind, its psychological tradition, its ancestral capacity, and deal with our culture and values which are of supreme importance. And it is these elements that we should explore and study and ensure that our system of education underlines those elements.

Four Central Values of Indian Culture: Need for Research

There are, we might say, four important realms of values which are central to Indian culture. These are values of spiritual quest, values of robust and critical intellectuality, values of ethical and aesthetic expression of life-force, and values of physical strength, health and perfection.

Our educational system must provide for an exploration and recovery of these values, even though they are greatly blunted in many ways today. They should be brought forward, chiselled to their finest possibilities and harmonised in the manner that is proper to the genius of India.

May I suggest that this work has only recently started, but we need to develop this task much more earnestly and with an overarching importance.

Values of Physical Culture

Shariram adhyam khalu dharma sādhanam – such is the Sanskrit adage, which declares that healthy body is the instrument of dharma, and dharma does not mean religion but the law of the growth and development of life towards its normative ideals. In the light of this statement, it is not enough to give some place to physical education, but we have to go farther and relate the values of physical excellence with the ideals of life.

Ethical, Aesthetic and Scientific Values: Their Synthesis

Indian temperament is highly ethical and aesthetic; it is highly scientific, too. The history of Indian culture shows us that it had attained a fine blending of the aesthetic, ethical and scientific values, and this synthesis was over-topped by values inherent in philosophical inquiry. Unfortunately, this entire realm of harmonising ethical, aesthetic, scientific and philosophical values is totally absent in our present scheme. Dharma is not a subject in our curriculum; aesthetics is not a subject in our curriculum; philosophy is not a subject of our school curriculum. How are we then to deal with the dimensions of values in respect of these subjects? And how are we to raise the question of synthesising the relevant values to the values of scientific inquiry? And we may note that in the field of science, our curriculum is limited within narrow bounds, and we are not able to bring into our curriculum the grandeur of astronomy, the intimate knowledge of ecology, and meticulous system of health and cure. Following the system that we have inherited from the British, we continue to rotate within the narrow boundaries of an ill-conceived scheme of education. We need larger canvas, and less burdensome approach so that value-oriented education can become a gate of national resurgence.

Spiritual Values

And lastly, we may ask where is the place here in this curriculum for the quest of values that are inherent in spirituality? In which subject of our curriculum shall we integrate the quest of spiritual values? In this field, we have, in fact, perplexing questions and controversies. And these keep us in a bondage simply because we are not able to state clearly that spirituality is quite different from religion and that spiritual education is independent of religious education. The one theme of supreme importance in the spiritual quest of India has been the quest of spiritual immortality, and this quest has been effected, not by means of dogmas, ceremonies, rituals, or any religious infrastructure or super-structure. This quest has been effected in India through exploration of consciousness, by sounding the potentialities and profundities of consciousness, by developing and practising psychological methods of self-control and self-mastery and self-knowledge that transcends the narrow bounds of egoism and egoistic consciousness. But Science of Consciousness or Yoga is not a subject of curriculum, except that in a perfunctory manner we have begun to give lip service to some yogic asanas. In order that we are able to foster in our country the quest of spiritual values, we need to make a conscious and central effort, an effort which takes into account the long history of Yoga in India. This is the task which confronts NCERT and of institutions of research that are related to school education and university education. This is a great task, but if value-oriented education is to succeed in fullness, this task should be undertaken and fulfilled.

Problem of Teaching-Learning Material: Suggestions

One of the most important problems that we have to solve as rapidly as possible and also on a continuing basis is related to the dearth of teaching-learning material that can aid us in our programmes of value-oriented education. None of our textbooks are written with a view to promote value-oriented education. What is being done at present is to insert a few pages that may highlight a few relevant ideas that may be relevant to the values that are inherent in the subject in question. Apart from this, very few supplementary books are available. Unfortunately, pedagogy of value-oriented education is still at a very elementary level. And yet, this subject is so important that if it is not developed adequately, we shall run the risk of damaging the very cause of value-oriented education.

It has been argued that values cannot be taught. This is, however, not entirely valid. But it is true that values are best fostered, not merely by listening to discourses or lectures, but mainly by example and influence as also by disciplined practice. Example of a living teacher has the greatest power, when the teacher himself is value-oriented. But examples can also be imparted through biographies, stories, and inspiring passages of literature. It is this kind of literature that we need to develop by planning a well-conceived programme of production of monographs, booklets, slides and other audio-visual material, which would be suited for various stages of school education and for teachers. To begin with, two series can be initiated, a series of biographies and a series of good and inspiring stories. In addition, NCERT may also think of bringing out albums of reproductions of famous paintings that bring out values inherent in our tradition of art; similar albums can be related to examples of Indian sculpture and Indian architecture. Albums relating to Indian music which can explain to our students the essential motive of Indian tradition of music should also be brought out. Selected pieces of music should also help students in harmonising their emotions and in sublimating them into higher states of consciousness. These albums should be made available to teachers, students and schools in the country, and since we have different languages in different parts of the country, the linguistic dimension should also be kept in view.

It may also be suggested that the NCERT convenes at regular periods consultation meetings with authors, story-writers, and experts in the fields of literature, art, music, dance, drama, architecture, in order to elicit from them suggestions as to what materials are available in the country and elsewhere which can be useful for various aspects of value-oriented education. Those who are willing can be commissioned to produce new relevant materials in their own fields, and selected material can be brought out under the auspices of the NCERT. Similar consultation meetings with scientists should be organised for purposes of publishing relevant materials that relate to science and values.

NCERT may also think of playing leadership role in suggesting to schools in the country what kind of dramas should be staged in their annual day programmes, and NCERT may also provide specific suggestions as to which particular dramas could be recommended. For this purpose, NCERT may establish special relationship with institutions like Sahitya Akademi.

Similar programmes can be undertaken by NCERT also in respect of providing suggestions to schools in respect of good exhibitions that could be organised annually or more often in the schools in the country. NCERT may also think of bringing out materials which can be used in exhibitions in schools. For this purpose, a list of appropriate subjects be prepared, and ideas be given to schools which may stimulate them to organise exhibitions on certain subjects which are directly relevant to the promotion of exploration of values.

Teachers’ Training Programme: Suggestions

It is needless to emphasise that none of programmes of value-oriented education can succeed without enthusiastic support and participation of teachers. And this is impossible without an appropriate programme of training teachers. In the first place this implies that teachers’ training programmes should have such an integrated course that in each aspect value-orientation receives proper attention and treatment. Secondly, considering the fact that value-oriented education is necessarily concerned with the total personality of the student, teachers’ training programme should develop a course of integral education which underlines the science and art of education in values related to different aspects of human personality – physical, vital, mental, ethical, aesthetic, scientific, philosophical and spiritual.

Obviously, the present programme of teachers’ training is far too inadequate to fulfil the demands that we need to place on our teachers. Considering all aspects of the problem, there does not seem to be an alternative to the proposal to develop a programme of training extending over a period of three years for all those who want to opt for a career in teaching after they have completed class twelve. This is what we should require for teachers of elementary education. For teachers at the higher levels, we should propose an integrated course of five years of training after the completion of class twelve. Justification for this proposal lies in the fact that value-orientation of teachers requires sufficient time not only to understand philosophy of value-orientated education, but also to practise it through physical culture, dynamic activities, practices of syntheses of science, aesthetics, philosophy, as also the understanding and practice of spiritual values of unity, mutuality and oneness and universality. Teachers will also have to be trained in the science and art of integral education which is a very difficult task of integratingdifferent parts of the being through their proper development, refinement, and harmonisation arrived at by a process of freedom that can generate self-discipline.

It is a matter of satisfaction that the Ministry of Human Resource Development has recently set up a Higher Powered Committee to look into the problems of teachers’ training programme, and one may expect radical propositions and recommendations from this Committee.

We seem to be on the right road, and we can expect that one of the most important strategies that we need for implementation of value-oriented education will soon be developed and implemented through new programmes of teachers’ training.

One of the important things that we should ensure is that teachers should have good proficiency in recounting inspiring stories and biographies, and they should have the possibility of illustrating various virtues and values, so that at the appropriate moment right illustration or story is given to students. At the minimum, they should have a stock of at least hundred stories and sufficient teaching-learning material that can kindle illuminative understanding among students and inspire heroism and impart to students skills of living together and harmony among all sections of people as well as in their internal being.

VII

Concluding Note

To sum up, the suggestions that been made here include the following:

Education that is oriented towards dimension of values should employ the methods of exploration and discovery of the value-dimension and its expression through internal and external activities of life. It is better to use the expression value-oriented educationrather than value-education.
There are three foundations of value-oriented education, and they need to be supported by the development of capacities for concentration.

Widening of consciousness can be promoted through the help of a joint laboratory for astronomy, geography and mathematics;
Deepening of consciousness as also the process of concentration can be aided through introspection and through the aid of Room of Silence which should be set up in schools in the country.

Exercises in poetry, art and music can be promoted through study of languages and language laboratories in the schools should provide facilities for an integrated development of values that can be imparted through language, music, art and poetry.

Heightening of consciousness can be aided through demonstrations, dramas and exhibitions. Quest for the higher heights should be emphasised in programmes of value-oriented education.
Need to underline the values of Indian culture. Exploration should be conducted in Indian system of values and the same should be fostered through a true national system of education.
Four fundamentals of Indian values are:
1. Physical health as an instrument for the development and realisation of ideals of perfection;
2. Robust intellectuality and critical inquiry: values of scientific thought and philosophical thought;
3. Restraint and refinement of life-force through ethics and aesthetics; and
4. Synthesis of values of scientific thought, philosophical thought, ethical practice and aesthetic creative expression,−all guided by values of spiritual quest for immortality through the scientific process of exploration of the highest levels of consciousness.
Need to enlarge the canvas of the present value-oriented education so as to integrate the value-orientation not only through language, mathematics, history, geography and natural sciences but also through astronomy, poetry, art, music, dance, drama, study of dharma (as distinguished from religion), philosophy and yoga.
Need to reframe the curriculum in such a way that the canvas is wider but approach is less burdensome so that the load of teaching-learning material is drastically reduced.
Value-oriented education should promote development of skills of various kinds,−those of art and craft as also of harmonious relationship with nature and among all creation.
Need to undertake a large programme of production of teaching-learning material for value-oriented education. In particular a programme should be undertaken to produce monographs, booklets, and other audio-visual materials as also albums related to:
1. Biographies;
2. Good and inspiring stories;
3. Fine Arts.

Institution of programmes of consultation with experts in the field of literature, fine arts, crafts, scientists and others on a regular basis.

Institution of programmes to suggest to schools dramas to be staged for their annual day celebrations and also suggestions for holding important exhibitions.

Development of new programmes of training of teachers so as to generate enthusiasm amongst teachers for value-oriented integral education.

As can be seen, much work awaits us, and this work should not be confined only to NCERT. This is the task to be shared by many institutions and also by individuals who can make their own contributions. This is a national task, and has to be shouldered on a national scale. In due course, many new ideas will emerge and increasing number of participants will have to come forward. I feel confident that, considering the initiatives that have been taken during the last few years by NCERT, the work that we envisage will receive due attention and effective steps will be taken for implementation.

Value Judgment

(Interview)

If India wants to be strong in future, it must know the strength and weaknesses of the past, says Professor Kireet Joshi, director of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR), which is to host the first national seminar on ‘philosophy of value-oriented education’ Talking to Mahendra Ved, he says it’s time to remedy the damage done by Macaulay:

Q: How did the concept of philosophy of value-based education come up?

The late Indira Gandhi was the first to moot the idea in the early 1980s. She drew a distinction between religion, which cannot be propagated in a secular state, and spiritual values. "Teachers should be imparted value-based education first", she would say. Training programmes for teachers were started following the recommendations of the D P Chattopadhyaya Commission. A National Council for Teachers’ Education was also set up. Things moved further when P V Narasimha Rao headed the education ministry in Rajiv Gandhi’s government. The national policy on education was announced and debated. There is a close link between what Indira Gandhi then perceived and what Murli Manohar Joshi is now trying to implement. Value-based education is more relevant today than it ever was, with liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation – LPG ‒ taking place rapidly. If we have to join it meaningfully and still hold our own, then as the first step, our teachers need to be oriented.

Q: What role does the ICPR play in this regard?

We are engaged in studying the philosophies that go into the values, to relate them to axiology, which is the study of values ‒ of truth, duty and goodness. Logic, aesthetics, ethics, all form part of this inter-disciplinary exercise. A series of seminars are being planned and the first one will begin on January 18. Philosophy has no boundaries and at ICPR, we study all of them. The focus now is on Indian philosophy − how to make it relevant to society. Here, India can lead the global debate. Unless you provide a philosophical foundation, education can never flourish. It remains a passport to employment and nothing more. Now, if a society is to follow some values, they have to be identified and transmitted. They have to be debated. If you arrive at some conclusion, we must provide impetus and guidelines for further debate, both for its theory and practice.

At the seminar, we shall discuss the contribution of literature to value oriented education. This has never been discussed before. Professors of language and literature are being invited. We shall take up the five greatest leaders of renaissance India: Gandhi ji, Tagore, Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo and Dayanand Saraswati. A paper on each of them is being readied. We want to probe how Macaulay’s education destroyed Indian values. After independence, we multiplied Macaulay manifold. It is time to pause and think of the extent of the damage it has done. It produced the largest English-knowing workforce in the world, but it prevented India from flowering.

Q: How do you teach values in a society so full of corruption, both spiritual and material?

The only way is through education. Educationists must raise questions and look for answers. There is no other way. Macaulay’s system of education hounded out poetry, music and art from our society. These three have not returned after independence. A study of poetry ‒ as different from a poem ‒ has no place in our system of education. Is anybody studying Valmiki, Kalidas and Vyasa? We have compartmentalised education, and divested it of its cultural values. The result is we have no education system, only an examination system. We have imbibed only the negative values from the West. Unlike in the West, we have rarely debated what we teach our students.

Q: You are advocating a review of not only education and its philosophy but our history as well.

Every great leader, irrespective of party or philosophy, has felt the need to rework history and education. We need to do it because both were given to us by the British. I have not read what my forefathers wrote. The Upanishads are the peak of Indian literature. Can any writer or thinker prove this point without it being diluted by what was handed down to us by the British and the West? Sri Aurobindo was a rare exception. Tagore was another. His Geetanjali is really modern-day Upanishad. We talk loosely about ’Indianness’. What is its concept? We talk of ’Indian temperament’, but have we really probed what it really means?

We have yet to go deep into how we have dealt with sociological complexities. Our children need to know our philosophy, our mythology.

Q: Are we not trying to be exclusivist and isolationist, going for everything that is Hindu, without judging its relevance to the present times?

You are mistaken. Indian philosophy has been constantly debated. Buddhism provided a radical departure from Vedic thought. Jainism a little less so. Ancient India witnessed constant churning, between the orthodox order − wrongly dubbed as ’Brahmanical order’ ‒ and the Buddhist order. Indian thought has been highly analytical, highly synthetic, going to extremes and then returning to assimilate the new thoughts and ideas. Indian thought includes both ’theism’ and ’spiritual atheism’ of which Buddhism and Jainism are the best examples. And then at the other end is the material atheism of Charvaka.

It is not that Islam and Christianity posed any problem of assimilation. When other cultures, their thoughts and philosophies have come in, we have assimilated them. We are richer by that. This basic point needs to be understood and explained to understand the Indian temperament. The synthesis that Akbar and Nanak advocated, the ideas of Ramakrishna and Sri Aurobindo, are part of a constant process that took place in the past. This process has to be continued vigorously and taken to the masses. What is being emphasised is that religion is an individual choice. You should not quarrel with it. In a debate between conviction and knowledge, the first is not to be questioned, the second can be and should be. I believe you should always be heroic and question everything. You should fight ignorance. The problem arises when you confuse one for the other.

Q: How do you make all this relevant to the 21st century?

In a series of seminars, we shall debate the values that we should inculcate in modern times. It both a subjective and objective process. The question we will take up is how to transmit them to society at large. The medium could be poems, plays, dramas. This will be the main hypothesis. We need new stories in this century. We are harking back to the past to dig out what is relevant today. It is a big challenge for the educators. A search without bringing in gods and goddesses. We need to bring out symbolisms from the past and the present. Some 300 stories have already been gleaned. We hope to make them part of the curriculum. Through them, we want to give children a true account of India.

Citizenship Values and Development of Value-Oriented Education

There can be no doubt that at a time when forces of unity and harmony can have a possibility to triumph and when science and technology can be used to abolish poverty and deprivation, precisely at that time, the forces of violence and gravitational pulls of impulses of the lower human nature are pressing forward on a global scale. Thus we are passing through a critical stage of a battle between the best possibilities and the worst possibilities. It is in this context that the theme of citizenship values has rightly come to occupy in our country a central focus.

It is true that the theme of values and development of value-oriented education throws up sharp debates in regard to objectivity and subjectivity of value-systems, and this debate can result in some kind of paralysis, imperilling any sound positive action. In India, however, our Constitution has been wisely prefaced with the ideals of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity in its very Preamble; it has guaranteed certain basic fundamental rights and it has given a chapter on Directive Principles of the State Policy, which although not legally enforceable, embodies ideals and values, which are salutary for the progress of India on the lines which had come to be articulated and cherished during the Freedom Struggle.

In 1976, realising that apart from Rights, there is a need to emphasise responsibilities, obligations and duties of the citizens, Article 51 A was inserted to lay down certain fundamental duties. It is to that Article that we have recently turned our focal attention, particularly on account of the J.S. Verma Report with the hope that its operationalisation in the field of education would bring about a new climate of recovery of forces that can regenerate national ethos, national unity and integrity.

The Fundamental Duties include, first and foremost, the obligation on the part of the citizens to abide by the Constitution and to respect its ideals and institutions. In large terms, this would mean obligation to secure justice, liberty, equality and fraternity as also the values that are embedded in the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of the State Policy. In declaring that these duties will include the obligation to cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for freedom, we have a wide spectrum of values, spiritual, moral, economic, social and political. Again, in laying down the obligations to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture, the Constitution has stressed the wide range of values that have come to be cherished right from the times of the Veda to the present day, which have played a role towards assimilation and synthesis. Again, in laying down the duties to develop scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform, the emphasis has been laid on the value of truth, knowledge and freedom from dogmatism and obscurantism, — all that is valuable in modernism. In requiring everyone to protect and improve the natural environment and in renouncing practices that are derogatory to the dignity of women and in developing compassion for living creatures, some of the most pressing problems of contemporary times in the fields of environment and empowerment of women has been taken into account. Finally, by insisting on striving towards excellence in all the spheres of individual and collective activity, a great ideal has been stressed in respect of the perfectibility of the individual and the society and their harmonious relationships.

There is, however, a dimension of values, which transcends the dimension of duties. That dimension is the spontaneous perception and commitment to ends-in-themselves. If I love a friend only as a matter of duty, it is, in a sense, not as valuable as I do so out of my spontaneous appreciation and admiration for him and for his achievements and qualities. Love for my own country as a duty is inferior to the love of a patriot that arises spontaneously in his heart and soul, as he looks upon his country as the very source of his breath and life. Search for truth is an end in itself, search for goodness is an end itself, search for beauty is an end in itself, and they have to be encouraged not as duties but as irresistible demands of our being as we begin to uncover deeper and higher depths of ourselves, which transcend the limitations of egoism.

Development of citizenship values cannot be secured unless citizens of our country feel inspired to insist on the theme of value-oriented education for students and teachers in our country. And in this connection, we need to underline two important points. Firstly, value-oriented education should not become a matter of prescriptions of do’s and don’ts; it should become a process of exploration, and should cross the borders of constraints that are felt in performance of duties and leads us to a realm of freedom of which discipline for performance of duty is a happy product. Secondly, value-oriented education should open before us the gates of the harmony between truth, beauty and goodness, which impart to us the sources of true humanism and even our true godliness.

The role of the teacher in education is irreplaceable, and unless the teachers’ programmes or training are conceived in the light of the full implications of value-education, we shall not be able to equip the teachers with the right inspiration and with the required tools. If value-education has suffered so far, it is because teachers’ training programmes fall short in many ways of an ideal system. We require to redesign programmes of teachers’ education, both pre-service and in-service; in a certain sense, we need to overhaul our entire system of teacher education, keeping in view that value-education is absolutely imperative and that unless a good teacher is himself value-oriented, we cannot fulfil the objectives of value-education.

We have to realise that methods of value-education have to be different from those which are required in respect of many other subjects. The reason is that in value-education what we need is not merely the cultivation of cognitive faculties but also affective and conative faculties. One cannot merely give lectures on value-education and expect to fulfil the objectives. Just as swimming cannot be taught merely by lecturing, but by leading the learner to jump into the water and help him in the practical art of swimming in the midst of water, similarly, value-education requires of the teacher the ability to inspire the student to enter into the waters of life-situations and give him practical abilities and art of practising values in concrete situations of life. In a sense, it may be said that value-education is perhaps the most difficult domain among all domains of education.

Without going into details, it may be said that we need to undertake a three-pronged exercise in the teacher education programmes:

Firstly, our programmes must be so inspiring that teachers come to look upon the task of teaching as sacred;

Secondly, the curriculum of teachers’ training programme should have the component of the theory of value-education, both in terms of the foundations of Fundamental Duties and of the values which lie beyond the domain of duties; and it should have also a component of practical art of the practice of exploration of values in life-situations; And thirdly, the duration that is normally assigned to teacher education programmes should be sufficiently enlarged. A most salutary combination would be to propose an integrated programme of teacher education of the duration of five years on the completion of class XII, leading to a qualification equivalent to post-graduation. That has also consequences for career development and other aspects relevant to the structure and framework of teaching profession. But this is an aspect, which needs to be looked into separately.

In any programme of education for character development, we need to ask three important questions. Firstly, we have to determine with greater precision what we mean by character and how the development of character can be stimulated and nourished through the processes of communication and information, cultivation of faculties, and the methods by which the states of consciousness which express themselves in virtues can be stabilised. For character development is concerned with what may be called being or the central core of the individuality which tends to grow into universality and sovereignty of transcendence. Indeed, the concepts of individuality, universality and transcendence can be communicated to some extent in the form of information which relates to the history of these concepts and how these concepts have been interpreted by different thinkers, scholars and practitioners and how they have been applied in life and in the development of civilisations and cultures. Indeed, this information can kindle the inner urge of the individual to grow inwardly and to fashion the processes of learning which can properly be called the processes of learning to be. But still, the part played by communication of information in the development of character is only peripheral or of primary importance and not of chief importance.

A greater part is played in the character development by the development or cultivation of faculties, and if we study numerous faculties that human personality comes to possess, we shall find that they relate to four main groups, namely, (1) those which pertain to understanding, comprehension, synthesis, universality, knowledge and wisdom; (2) those that relate to will-power, fearlessness, courage, heroism, control, mastery, power and strength;

(3) those that relate to imagination, sensibility, emotional refinement, harmony in relationships, friendship, cooperation, and loyalty, allegiance, unfailing love; and (4) those that pertain to skills of expression, patience, perseverance, endurance, love for precision, and detailed execution of command, order, system and search for perfection. Unfortunately, in our curricular framework, preponderant emphasis is laid upon communication of information, but no deliberate attempt is made to the task of stimulating the cultivation of faculties; and yet, if faculties develop among our students, they do so because faculties have an inborn stress in themselves to push forward their developments. But a more rational and careful curriculum should provide guidelines, occasions and exercises by which faculties can be cultivated consciously and systematically.

But of even greater importance in character development is the role played by development of attitudes and states of consciousness. The depth of seriousness which accompanies the process of search or quest will determine the quality of search of quest and its eventual success. And the states of seriousness result from the cultivation of attitudes and of sincerity. If we examine closely, we shall find that what we call virtues are basically manifestations of certain states of consciousness; it is virtues that constitute character; and the stability of character depends upon the stabilisation of those states of consciousness which constitute virtues. How to develop, therefore, virtuous states of consciousness and how to stabilise them should constitute a major constituent of education for character development.

Closely connected with this first set of questions is the second set of questions which relate to the aim of life. The moment we raise the question of aim of life, we begin to address ourselves to something that is central in our being, in our potentialities and in what we can become and can be fulfilled. No great character can be built where the aim of life remains a matter of doubt or tends to be neglected or retained for consideration or amusement in our hours of idleness or superficial leisure. Indeed, the theme of the aim of life should become a theme of exploration, and during the process of exploration, one has to pass through periods of doubts, periods of long reflection, periods of experimentation and even of uncertainty. Educational process should provide both time and scope for this kind of exploration and every student should be provided with enough material in respect of this theme. Indeed, no prefixed aim of life should be proposed and no indoctrination or dogmatic assertions should be thrust upon the mind and heart of the student. But the educational process should allow each student a process of exploration, experimentation and reflection as a result of which a mature decision is arrived at as to what aim of life one should pursue. It will then be seen that the quality of life and the quality of character reflect the quality of aim of life that one determines to realise.

Finally, there is a third set of questions which are also relevant to the development of character. These questions relate to the ways and means by which students become conscious of the methods of learning and methods by which character can be developed. In other words, character development has to become a conscious process, a deliberate process, voluntary process. Students have to become conscious of the psychological complexities and how the tangles of instincts, desires, emotions, will-force, powers of thoughts and imagination and the power of aesthetic, ethical and spiritual consciousness can be understood, disentangled and yet controlled, mastered and harmonised. This is perhaps the most important part of education for character development. Here we have to focus upon the processes by which students can gradually become conscious of their inner being, of their potentialities, of their own character so that students can take upon themselves the task of fashioning and perfecting what is best in them.

It is to be hoped that a great movement will be initiated by citizens in our country which would aim at the development of the needed curriculum for value-education in our country, and for that purpose teachers in our country will be encouraged to develop amongst themselves the equipment which is indispensable if they are to be carriers of value-oriented education in our country.

Value-Oriented Education: A Project Proposal

INTRODUCTION

This introduction aims at summarizing the relevance of value-oriented education.

We are passing through a critical stage of a battle between the best possibilities and the worst possibilities. At a time when forces of unity and harmony can triumph and science and technology can be used to abolish poverty and depravation, precisely at this time, the forces of violence and gravitational pulls of the impulses of the lower human nature are pressing forward on a global scale. Rationality, in which humanity has placed great trust for arriving at fulfillment of its ideals of true knowledge and comprehensive knowledge, appears to be overtaken by the forces of Unreason. It has, therefore, become imperative to explore deeper and higher dimensions of human resources by means of which we can successfully work for the victory of the ideal dreams which have inspired the onward march of civilizations.

We need to draw up a balanced evaluation of the contribution of science, particularly when scientific progress has a great role to play in determining the directions of today and tomorrow. Let us, first, underline that science itself has affirmed the virtues of impartiality, of ever widening quest of knowledge. It has fought against ignorance and superstition, and it has enhanced the cause of education. Science has enlarged for good the intellectual horizons of the human race, and raised, sharpened and intensified powerfully the general intellectual capacity of mankind. In its dispassionate movement, science pursues truth for the sake of truth and knowledge for the sake of knowledge. This is the highest right of the intellectual faculty of humanity and in this dispassionate functioning, there is perfect purity and satisfaction.

On the other hand, when science tries to apply its discoveries and functions to life, it becomes the plaything of forces over which it has little control. This is the reason why the balanced sheet of science is a mixed one. While, on the other hand, science has made discoveries which have promoted practical humanitarianism, it has, on the other hand, supplied monstrous weapons to egoism and mutual destruction; while, on the one hand, it has made a gigantic efficiency of organization utilizable for economic and social amelioration of nations, it has, on the other hand, placed the same efficiency of organization in the hands of national rivalries for mutual aggression, ruin and slaughter; while; on the one hand, it has given rise to a large rationalistic altruism, it has on the other hand, justified monstrous egoism, vitalism, vulgar will to power and success; while on the one hand, it has drawn mankind together and given it a new hope, it has on the other hand, crushed it with the burden of commercialism.

Science does not have within itself any inherent leverage by which it can prevent its exploitation by human impulses and passions, and since it can produce great results, its exploitation for evil can also be great. Modern civilization, which is science based, has to deal with an extremely difficult issue that it has created, namely, that of emergence of dominant economic barbarism. This barbarism impels humanity to sink in the mud of desire and hunger on a massive scale. It makes satisfaction of wants and desires and accumulation of possessions its standard and aim. It has conceived of the ideal individual in the image not of the cultured or noble or thoughtful or moral or spiritual person, but of the successful person. It puts forward the opulent plutocrat and the successful mammoth capitalist as images of achievement and fulfilment. It is this barbarism which assigns to them the actual power to rule society. It prescribes pursuit of vital success, comfort, enjoyment for their own sake. It subordinates all other pursuits; it looks upon beauty as nuisance, art and poetry as a frivolity or means of advertisement. Social respectability is its idea of morality; it uses politics as a door for markets and exploitation.

It is now increasingly recognized that the development of science should be supplemented by enormous development of human goodness. Bertrand Russell has pointed out that there are two ancient evils that science, unwisely used, may intensify: they are tyranny and war. In an important study of the theme of science values, Bertrand Russell declared: “There are certain things that our age needs, and certain things that it should avoid. It needs compassion and a wish that mankind should be happy; it needs the desire for knowledge and the determination to eschew present myths; it needs above all courageous hope and impulse to creativeness. The things that it must avoid, and that has brought it to the brink of catastrophe, are cruelty, envy, greed, competitiveness, search for irrational subjective certainty, and what Freudians called the death wish... The root of the matter is very simple and old fashioned thing... The thing I mean — please forgive me for mentioning it — is love, Christian love, or compassion. If you feel this, you have a motive for existence, a guide in action, a reason for courage, an imperative necessity for intellectual honesty."

It is in this context that the theme of value-oriented education has emerged with some imperative force. And our eyes have turned to the dimensions of values, the dimensions of will power and to the dimensions of cultural, ethical and spiritual potentialities. These dimensions have not yet been sufficiently explored, but we have begun to uncover what lies in our present framework that would meet our urgent need to uplift ourselves and the coming generations.

In India, the constitution has been wisely prefaced with the ideals of Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity in its very preamble; it has guaranteed certain basic fundamental rights and it has given a chapter on Directive Principles of the State Policy, while although not legally enforceable, embodies ideals and values, which are salutary for the progress of India on the lines which had come to be articulated and cherished during the Freedom Struggle.

In 1976, realizing that apart from Rights, there is a need to emphasise responsibilities, obligations and duties of the citizens, article 51A was inserted to lay down certain fundamental duties. It is to that article that we have recently turned our focal attention, with the hope that its operationalisation in the field of education would bring about a new climate of recovery of forces that can regenerate national ethos, national unity and integrity. Recently the Verma Committee which has presented its report on the subject of operationalisation of teaching fundamental values to the citizens of country has done well also to highlight the work which has been done by the International Interaction Council in drafting a Declaration of Human Responsibilities. This declaration has pointed out that the concept of human obligations serves to balance the notions of freedom and responsibilities.Without a proper balance, unrestricted freedom is as dangerous as imposed social responsibilities. It declares, in effect, that if you have a right to life then we have the obligation to respect life; and if you have a right to liberty then we have the obligation to respect other people’s liberty too. In other words, the golden rule of responsibilities is that we do not do to others what we do not wish to be done to us; or that we should do unto others as we would have them to do unto us.

This draft of declaration has brought out very clearly the relevance of value-oriented education at the international level. It is thus important that the international dimensions of value-oriented education also need to be taken into account while emphasizing the need to introduce value-oriented education in India. This draft declaration shows that our concern for value-oriented education is timely and that while we have talked for decades on value-oriented education, we have now to take decisive action in implementing the programmes on value-oriented education.

Unfortunately, in spite of recommendations of various commissions and committees set up by the government of India during the last fifty years, our curricula, by and large, have changed little or only marginally. The main difficulty has been that for a long time a debate has been going on as to what values should be promoted and what place should be given to the study of religions, which are closely connected with value systems. The second difficulty has been that value systems have themselves declared to be relative and therefore there is a great uncertainty as to how that which is relative in character can be proposed as a part of educational system. The third difficulty has been to discuss whether value-oriented education should be interwoven with the curricula of different subjects or whether it should have its own autonomous curriculum. On this subject there has been long debate but no conclusion has been arrived at, although in general, there seems to be a consensus that value-oriented education should be interwoven into the curricula of the different subjects. On the other hand, it is felt that this task is extremely difficult and it could be successfully accomplished only if we had first a curriculum where value-oriented education is in the focus and it were related to the various curricula of various subjects.

It is also felt that insistence upon education for duties, although it could be salutary in many ways, there is a dimension which would be left out, if we limited ourselves only to education of duties. When Swami Vivekananda spoke of the higher goals of man he emphasized that the higher dimension tends to be left out of education and so implied that we should not lose sight of that higher goal and that there is need for still greater efforts in the education of man.

There is a dimension of values, which transcends the dimension of duties. That dimension is the spontaneous perception and commitment to ends in themselves. If I love a friend only as a matter of duty, it is, in a sense, not as valuable as if I do so out of my spontaneous appreciation and admiration for him and for his achievements and qualities. Love for my own country as a duty is inferior to the love of a patriot that arises spontaneously in his heart and soul, as he looks upon his country as a very source of his breath and life. Search for truth is an end in itself, search for goodness is an end in itself, search for beauty is an end in itself; and they have to be encouraged not as duties but as irresistible demands of our being as we begin to uncover deeper and higher depths of ourselves, which transcends the limitations of egoism.

These questions where we need to transcend mere ideas of duties, which have been laid down in the constitution or declarations of various kinds or even in the shastras, imply the necessity of a new effort at developing what may be called philosophy of value-oriented education. This is because only at the philosophical level that questions can be considered both dispassionately and comprehensively. It is therefore necessary to consider presenting to the country a well-considered exploration of the theme of values, of value education and of value-oriented education. It is in this context that we can appreciate the determination of the Government of India to have the question of philosophy of value-oriented education examined by the Indian Council of Philosophical Research.

One can center on the Indian situation, but considering that the theme of value-oriented education has relevance to the entire education situation of the world as found today, it will be inevitable that the work that will be produced by the Indian Council of Philosophical Research will receive welcome from a large number of educationists, teachers, philosophers and all those who are concerned with the domain of education all over the world. This dimension has also to be taken into account while preparing the teaching-learning materials so that our materials would find a greater relevance to the traditions of civilizations both of East and West.

In this context a special care will have to be taken by those who will be in charge of producing teaching-learning materials that example of values will be taken not merely from the West as it has been the practice since the last century or two, but will also cover examples from the history of the East with a special reference to India as well as many other traditions, which had a great value orientation and which have remained neglected in accounts, which deal with matters of this kind.

A programme to explore the theme of philosophy of value-oriented education may require the following:

A series of seminars, workshops, conferences where eminent philosophers, philosophers of education, scientists, and others who are concerned with critical knowledge should assemble and arrive at conclusions, which can stand as the backbone of a programme of value-oriented education;
There would be a need to examine the total curriculum of students at various levels of education and consider ways and means by which a programme or a curriculum for value-oriented education could be introduced in the totality of the programme of education;
There should be at the same time need to consider the methodologies by which value-oriented education could be implemented;
One has also to consider the question of training teachers who would be the carriers and transmitters of value-oriented education;
Finally, there will also be the question of preparing learning materials which can be given to teachers and which can be given to students, and for that purpose to institute a programme of assembling thinkers, writers, and editors who could produce, first, the basic materials relevant to this purpose, and secondly, to bring out suitable books, monographs, and other teaching-learning material in print or through some other media.

In order that all these needs can be systematically set out and put forth for execution, there is a need to undertake a full-fledged project of the philosophy of value-oriented education.

CHAPTER I

AIMS AND SCOPE OF THE PROJECT PROPOSAL

Aims and scope of the project proposal can be stated as follows:

A. To present an argument for instituting a systematic enquiry into the philosophy of value-oriented education in order to arrive at a formulation of various issues that lie at the theoretical and practical levels, and in this connection to suggest, in particular, enquiry into the following:

The nature and meaning of values;
Important values and value systems that have determined the orientation of civilisations, especially that of Indian civilisation;
Relativity of values, subjectivity and objectivity of values and search for values, if any, which transcend relativity and subjectivity;
Examination of values which are being advocated by different religions and other moral systems which are connected with religions or are independent of religions;
Examination of values or value systems which are being advocated m India and the world in the light of constitutional and legal systems of rights, duties and responsibilities;
Examination of values relevant to physical education, vital education, aesthetical education, psychic education and spiritual education;
Analysis of the concept of value-oriented education and applied philosophy;
Exploration and determination of a sound philosophy of value-oriented education.

B. To present issues relating to the question whether values can be taught, and in that connection, to propose to the concerned agencies the need to introduce new methodologies of value-oriented education at different levels of studies, so that appropriate recommendations can be suggested as a result of this enquiry;

C. To suggest collection of materials that would provide accounts of experiments in value-oriented education that have been conducted in India and the world;

D. To suggest detailed proposals in respect of teaching-learning materials that would need to be used at different levels of education, formal and non-formal;

E. To suggest how the teaching-learning materials need to be presented in the form of books, monographs, booklets, and through such media which will yield to the utilisation of the latest forms of information technology;

F. To suggest a programme of teacher training that will be necessary in the country in view of the need to provide value-orientation to the entire system of education;

G. To spell out suggestions in respect of the theme of applied philosophy, which has been proposed to be introduced in universities in India;

H. To work out approximate costs of conducting the entire project over the next five years, including the cost of appointing a steering committee of the project; cost of holding seminars, workshops and required dialogues among experts; cost of appointing experts to produce, at the minimum level, what may be called resource material or resource books, which will be useful for the entire system of education, cost of appointing editors who will examine the material produced by experts along with the cost of assistance, which should be given to the editors for editing work, revision and finalisation of the material concerned; cost of consulting internet resources; cost of various kinds, including facilities of transport and administrative tasks and miscellaneous items that will be necessary to be met from time to time, etc.;

I. To present in concise form suggestions for value-oriented education and applied philosophy m the form of a curriculum for classes one to twelve and for undergraduate programmes;

J. To indicate suitable allotment of work relating to the project to various agencies, such as the Auroville Foundation, NCERT, NCTE, UGC and specific departments of universities particularly departments of education, under the overall coordination of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research; and

K. To formulate a statement of the help that the proposed project will render to the development of education in the country and thus enhance the capabilities of India.

CHAPTER II

NEED FOR PHILOSOPHY OF VALUE-ORIENTED EDUCATION

In this chapter, suggestions are made or relevant issues have been identified which philosophers and educationists might like to consider and discuss in order to arrive at a sound formulation of philosophy of value-oriented education.

At the outset, the need for value-oriented education requires clarification.

Value-oriented education inherent in the concept of education

There are at least three fundamental assumptions of the educational process: a. There is, first, the pursuit of man to know himself and the Universe and to relate himself with the Universe as harmoniously as possible. This pursuit constitutes the very theme of human culture. And education derives its fundamental thrust from the cultural setting at a given point of time. b. Secondly, there is a process of transmission of the accumulated results of the past to the growing generation so as to enable it to carry forward the cultural heritage and to build the gates and the paths of the future. c. And thirdly, there is in the process of transmission, a deliberate attempt to accelerate as far as possible the process of human progress.

In its very nature, education is a normative endeavour. Being at once a product or instrument of culture, education tends to promote the highest aims of culture.

Hence, education tends to be a process of training whereby individuals in the society are enabled to embody progressively those values, which we in our highest thought and aspiration come to regard as something most desirable. It is in this context that education encourages and fosters the arts and sciences as well as technologies whereby man and the Universe can be ideally interrelated. At the same time, the ideas of human progress is built up, and education endeavours to discover and apply efficient means of the right rhythms of acceleration of individual and social progress as also of human progress in general.

Education is thus in its nature value-oriented.

Today’s conditions necessitating value-oriented education. The conditions through which human culture is passing today provide additional reasons for value-oriented education:

a. An increasing number of people of thought and action feel that humanity has been gripped by serious maladies and that these maladies are the result of our disequilibrium between the ideals that mankind is labouring to realise during the recent centuries and the disconcerting actualities which refuse obstinately to change. With the passing of every decade, humanity seems to feel more and more acutely that the realisation of its ideals has become imperative, while at the same time, it seems impossible to accomplish this realisation. It is, therefore, felt that humanity is passing through an acute crisis.

b. A huge structure is being built up with an increasing insistence on efficiency needed for industrialised society, leaving practically no room for the growth of profounder wisdom which can rightly guide human progress in the critical times through which we are passing today.

c. As never before, humanity is able to envisage several alternative possibilities of the imminent future. As never before, it is felt that human volition can play a decisive role in selecting, planning, designing and actualising these possibilities. As never before, humanity is convinced that the most desirable course for the human race is to strive with fixed determination for human unity, global peace and for the advancing of the three great ideals of progress, namely, liberty, equality, and fraternity. As never before, there has been an increasing perception that the most effective means for achieving these desirable objectives is value-oriented education.

d. This feeling is reinforced by the fact that while under the pressure of technological development, the world is shrinking, and we are dreaming of the possibility of a planetary civilisation, for which we have not yet secured a corresponding psychological development, which could enable human consciousness to sustain such a planetary civilisation. On the contrary, there is a growing preponderance of those impulses which can thrive only in ignorance, fragmentation, discord and violence.

e In India, there is a feeling that the country is sinking under the weight of problems such as those of terrorism, corruption, and plutocracy, and it is realised that solutions need to be sought at a level that is far deeper than the level at which we are now thinking and acting and that special attention has to be paid to the promotion of values that can counteract the increasing destruction of the country and its culture.

Against this background, both from the global point of view and from the Indian point of view, we need to develop and practice value-oriented education.

But what is the meaning of values?

a. As understood in the context of educational philosophy, values refer to those desirable ideals and goals which are intrinsic in themselves and which, when achieved or attempted, evoke a deep sense of fulfillment to one or many or all parts of what we consider to be the highest elements of our nature.

b. In a sense, the word "value” is basically indefinable, since it denotes a fundamental category and it is itself the highest genus of that category.

c. There is a common understanding that truth, beauty and goodness (satyam shivam, sundaram) can be conceived as the supreme values of life. They are intrinsic in character and they are ends-in-themselves. Even if there are wide differences as to what is meant by these three terms, there is an agreement that they are the most desirable ideals and mere orientation towards them inspires development of those states of our being and becoming in which we can hope to find some kind of ultimate fulfillment.

III

Basic issues

a. There is a view that values are relative and subjective in character. It is, therefore, argued that individuals should be left to themselves to determine their own value systems and that educational institutions should confine themselves only to those domains where objective knowledge is discernible or determinable.

b. There is also a view that value systems stem from religious, beliefs, and since these beliefs are dogmatic in character, they conflict with the demand of reason, and hence, they have no place in education, where one of the chief objectives is to cultivate among students pursuit of rational and scientific temper.

c. According to some educationists, values, even if they are determinable, cannot be taught and for this reason also, it is argued that there is no rationale to bring value-oriented education within the purview of schools and universities.

d. On the other hand, there is a view that value systems have, determined the orientation of civilisations, and these value systems should be emphasised in the educational system. It is also argued that there should be a rigorous enquiry into those values which transcend relativity and subjectivity. It is also argued that many religions and moral systems advocate certain common values and that these common values, when identified, could be recommended for education system in its value-oriented programme. It is also argued that there is a common agreement in the world in respect of rights and responsibilities, and many of them are even incorporated in constitutions and legal systems. All these are value-oriented and these values should constitute the core of value-oriented education.

e. A recent and disturbing increase in the trend of drug addiction among youth tends to reiterate the necessity of education that promotes the values of self-control, discipline and right habits of thought and conduct among youth.

The question of the relativity and subjectivity of values

If we examine the history of value systems, we find that there have developed several standards of conduct, which can be arranged in an ascending scale or ladder.

a. The first is personal need, preference and desire. There is no doubt that the standards, of conduct based on what the individual feels to be his own needs, whether these are constrictive or derived from, desire or instinct or egoistic pressure, it is bound to be relative and subjective. The individual would then be the measure of all things, and what is good for one individual is good for him and what is good for another is good for that other. Might would be right; and there could be no place for any impartial or universal law of action. When man is primitive, historically or psychologically, he tends to be individualistic and egoistic and tends to create standards of action or conduct which result in self-seeking and self-aggrandisement.

b. But no individual can live in isolation, and no individual can be allowed by the very fact of his social existence, to impose upon others what an individual considers to be his good, based upon his personal need, preference or desire. Every social group tends to create its own standards of conduct and to impose it upon its individual members.

c. In erecting the group’s standards, there are several strands of consideration. At the highest level of these strands is what may be called objective utilitarianism. According to it, an action is to be judged by the consequences it produces, and if the consequences are pleasant for the largest number in the society, then that action is judged to be better than any other action.

d. There is also another form of objective utilitarianism, according to which an action is judged to be good not merely by reference to the pleasure that it produces but also by the degree to which it promotes both knowledge and character. According to this view, there is a hierarchy, and the value to be attached to knowledge is greater than the value to be attached to pleasure, and the value to be attached to character is greater than the value to be attached to knowledge. It maintains that an objective calculus can be created in every social group on the basis of these criteria end social law can be framed on the basis of this calculus

e. It is argued that objective utilitarianism forms a higher step in the ladder of evolution of value-systems, and that the standards and prescriptions it proposes cannot be termed to be as relative or subjective as those created merely by personal need, preference or desire.

f. However, it is still subject to criticism in that it is not able to resolve the conflict between the social good and the individual good.

g. A higher law of morality seems to prescribe what may be called intrinsic good or intrinsic right without reference to consequences. Indeed, at a higher level of development of civilisation and culture, we find a law of conduct emerging from the moral intention and will, and moral will is considered good because it is goodwill . Here goodwill is recognised to be goodwill intrinsically, merely by reference to intention and motive and not by reference to what issues in the form of actual action and its consequences.

h. In one of the forms of this view, which can be termed as rationalistic and objective intuitionism, an objective criterion is attempted to be laid down by which the intrinsic rightness can be adjudged. It points out that an action can be adjudged to be right if it can be willed universally without self-contradiction.

i. It is at this level of a value-system that we attain to the concept of absoluteness and objectivity of the good and the right, and we have the concept of love, justice, right reason, or of the categorical imperative.

j. From a certain point of view, the answers given by rationalistic intuitionism, may meet the criticism that morality is relative and subjective. Shastras of Dharmas have often been erected at higher levels of culture, and they have been thought to be objective and universally justified on the grounds of right reason.

k. But we find that even in arriving at the standards of absolute love, absolute justice, absolute right reason, we are not able to resolve the state of disequilibrium. Right reason dispassionately considering facts of nature and human relations in search of a satisfying norm or rule is unable to rest without modification either in the reign of absolute justice or in the reign of absolute love.

l. A distinction needs to be made between the human thrust towards the values of the right reason, absolute love and absolute justice, on the one hand, and various manifestations of this thrust in the form of certain specific and particular actions, on the other. While it is true that there can be differences of opinion as to whether certain specific actions are absolutely good or not —and here relativity and subjectivity do enter — there is still no doubt that goodwill is independent of personal need, desire or preference; the judgement of goodness of goodwill is free from relativity or subjectivity. In other words, there is in the human consciousness the possibility of the development of goodwill that can be considered to be objectively good.

m. This discussion has important consequences for value-education. If value-education proposes to prescribe any particular specific action or any particular value-system, by applying any specific and preferred criteria, then the criticism against subjectivity and relativity in regard to the same would stand with considerable force. But if the proposal is to promote thrust and aspiration towards goodwill, then the case for value-education can be set on a sound and strong footing.

n. This would mean that it is preferable to propose value-oriented education rather than value-education. For value-education is likely to end up with the prescription of do’s and don’ts, and this prescription will have a weak ground. But if our aim is to provide in education conditions for the promotion of the growth of aspiration towards goodwill and cultivation of goodwill, and if an attempt is to provide to each individual the inspiration and means to transcend his own limited needs and preferences and egoism, so that in his own personality, subjectivity is progressively attempted to be transcended, then such education can be defended both philosophically and pedagogically. Such education can be properly called value-oriented education.

o. Value-oriented education should then be defined as a progressive and exploratory process of development, which promotes unconditional pursuit towards goodwill. This education leaves each individual free to determine the contents of the good and the right, provided they are motivated by goodwill.

p. Not value-education but value-oriented education, not prescription but exploration, this is the conclusion to which we seem to arrive, when we consider the domain of values and its study and practice through processes of education.

Values prescribed by religions and moral systems

a. In view of the above analysis, it appears that there is no need to labour unduly on preparing lists of values and to enter into controversies as to which values should be advocated, whether they should belong to one specific religion or the other, or of one particular moral system or the other, or of one particular culture or another. Since value-oriented education is to be a process of development of goodwill, and since its method would be that of an exploration of the realm of values, and, again, since what is to be emphasised is to orient the students to the dimension of values rather than to the prescription of do’s and don’ts of any set of values. If properly explored, this would lead to the exploration of various other sets of values, so that each student would then be free to determine for himself or herself what values one should adopt as a result of a sincere exploration of the realm of values.

b. Under the guidance of this general and overarching spirit of value-oriented education, we may take the Socratic view that Virtue is Unity and that no virtue can be fully practised unless in the course of practice, all virtues are embraced. There is no harm in preparing lists of virtues, and we may even contemplate hierarchy or relationships among virtues. But all this can be encouraged as a part of exploration, allowing every student to arrive at his or her own conclusions.

c. Indeed, it is very useful to explore and compare one set of realms with other sets of values.

d. In the process of exploration, it is certainly salutary to emphasise those values which foster unity and harmony, integration and integrity of the nation and human unity and peace. Inevitably, those values, which have been laid down as binding under constitutional law as rights or duties will also come to be emphasised and cultivated as a part of citizenship. Also, in our own times, there are universal declarations of rights and responsibilities, and these also have to be underlined and cultivated amongst students. In the process of education, however, examination of these values and even a critical examination has to be fostered and has to be considered as a part of the pursuit of value dimension.

Integral value-oriented education

a. A very important concept that has become predominant in recent educational thought is that of integral education. At the international level, this concept came to be centrally highlighted by UNESCO through its famous report "Learning to Be" which laid down “that the aim of development is complete fulfillment of the human being, in all the richness of personality, complexity of form of expression and various commitments."

b. It is increasingly realised that in the contemporary world, the humanist and the technologist are finding themselves in greater and greater need of each other and the scientist and the mystic are getting ready to embrace each other.

c. It is being acknowledged that human personality is complex and that each major element of the personality needs to be integrated with the totality in a harmonious manner. In other words, the physical, the vital, the mental, the psychic and spiritual do not stand in juxtaposition, but they have among them a constitutional relationship.

The physical and the vital can, to a great extent, be controlled and guided by the mental, and to a certain stage of development the mind can act as a leader. But the leadership of the mind is rather restricted and often fails and fails disastrously in controlling or leading the vital and the physical. Reason is opposed by Unreason, and conflict between the two, as seen today, is extremely grave. Moreover, as the rational, ethical, and aesthetic powers of the mind begin to develop, they begin to collide among themselves. It is, therefore, being recognised that the psychic and the spiritual powers of the human, personality need to be brought forward so as to establish, the true integration of all the powers of the being.

d. In our present system of education, we are too occupied with mental development, and we give preponderant importance to those qualities which are relevant to subject-oriented, book-oriented and examination-oriented systems. In contrast, the concept of integral education implies a simultaneous integrated process of the development of the qualities and values relevant to physical education, vital education, mental education, psychic and spiritual education.

e. In the domain of physical education, the values that are implied are those of health, strength, plasticity, grace and beauty. In the domain of emotional education or vital education, the values that are pursued are those of illumination, heroism, and harmony. In the domain of the rational development, the values that are to be sought after are those of utmost impartiality, dispassionate search after truth, calm and silence and widest possible synthesis. The values pertaining to aesthetic development would be those of vision of beauty and creative joy of the deepest possible aesthetic experience and expression. Values that the moral being ought to seek are those of sincere goodwill and obedience to whatever one conceives to be the highest. In psychic education, the values to be sought after are those of the aim of life, the highest development of the individuality free from egoism and knowledge that guides the inmost and harmonious relationship between the individual and the cosmic, and fulfillment in the light of the supreme discoveries of the ultimate reality, whatever it may be. The values of the spiritual domain are those of highest unity and oneness and pursuit of perfection of all parts of the being and of instruments of personality.

f. Integral value-oriented education is a matter of research, and the results of this research indicate the need to simultaneously develop knowledge, will, harmony and skill, and that this development should be for each individual a system of natural organisation of the highest processes and movements of which he or she is capable.

g. It may be observed that integral value-oriented education could be pursued g independently of any particular moral or religious doctrine or any particular spiritual discipline. Whether one belongs to one religion or the other or to no religion, one can pursue this integral process through a process of exploration, even experimentally and experientially.

VII

Morality and spirituality

a. In any sound philosophy of value-oriented education, an effort should be made to arrive at clear conceptions of morality and spirituality, since both are distinct and yet related, and since both need to be distinguished from religion. Again, this matter is very important in the context of the Indian system of education, since the Indian Constitution clearly states that "No religious instruction shall be provided in educational institutions wholly maintained out of the State Funds", and that "No person attending any educational institution recognised by the State and receiving aid out of State Funds shall be required to take part in any religious instruction that may be imparted in such institutions or to attend any religious worship that may be conducted in such institutions or in premises attached thereto unless such person or, if such a person is a minor, his guardian has given his consent thereto.”

b. As far as the distinction between morality and spirituality is concerned, it may be said that much depends upon what we intend to include in our definition of the word “morality" or in the word "spirituality". In Indian thought, a distinction between morality and spirituality has been clearly made and we have two definite terms, naitik and adhyatmik each having its own specific and distinguishing connotation.

c. The word "morality" connotes a pursuit of the control and mastery over impulses and desires under the guidance and supervening inspiration of a standard of conduct formulated by thought in consideration of man’s station and duties in the society or in consideration of any discovered or prescribed intrinsic law of an ideal. morality is often conceived as a preparation for spirituality. Spirituality, on the other hand, begins when one seeks whatever one conceives to be the ultimate and the absolute for its own sake unconditionally and without any reservation whatsoever. Moreover, while morality is often limited to the domain of duties, spirituality is fundamentally a search of the knowledge that liberates (sa vidya ya vimuktaye). As it is declared, the true knowledge is not intellectual knowledge but spiritual knowledge.

d. Both the moral and the spiritual are to be distinguished from what is called "religious" when we speak of religious instruction. Religion, which can be called sarmpradaya has the following distinguishing features:

Specific religious dogma on the nature of Reality, scripture and traditional founder, prophet or incarnation;
Every specific religion has, as its essential ingredient, certain prescribed acts, rituals and ceremonies;
A religious authority to which religious matters are referred and the decision of which is final.

e. Both moral and spiritual values can be practised irrespective of whether one believes in one religion or another or whether one believes in no religion. Both morality and spirituality can be independent of the rituals or ceremonies and of any acts specifically prescribed by any particular religion. Furthermore, both of them are independent of any authority except that of one’s own free judgement and direct spiritual experience.

f. It is also useful to distinguish religion from what in India is called "dharma". Dharma is not any religious creed or dogma nor system of rituals, but a deeper law of the harmonious and interdependent growth of the deepest aspirations of the collectivity and of the individuals that constitute the collectivity. Dharma can be regarded as an ordered system of moral and spiritual values.

g. Spirituality proceeds directly by change of consciousness, change from the ordinary consciousness to a greater consciousness in which one finds one’s true unegoistic being and comes first into direct and living contact and then into union with the Spirit. In spirituality, this change of consciousness is the one thing that matters, nothing else. Spirituality not only aims at the total change of consciousness, but its method is that of a gradual and increasing change of consciousness. In other words, spirituality is an exploration of consciousness through progressive change of consciousness.

h. In spiritual consciousness, and in the knowledge that it delivers, there is the fulfillment of the highest that morality and religion in the their deepest core seek and succeed only when they cease to be limited within their specific boundaries. It replaces the moral law by a progressive law of self-perfection spontaneously expressing itself through the individual nature. In this operation, no more is the imposition of a rule or an imperative on the nature of an individual. The spiritual law respects the individual nature, modifies it and perfects it, and in this sense, it is unique for each individual and can be known and made operative only during the course of the change of consciousness. In its progressive movement, it may, if necessary, provide a short or long period of governance by a moral law, but always as a provisional device and always looking for going beyond into a plane of spontaneous expression of the Right and the Good. To spiritual consciousness, moral virtue is not valuable in itself, but only as an expression of a complex of certain qualities, which are, for the time being, for the given individual necessary and useful in an upward journey. For the spiritual consciousness, what is commonly called vice has, too, behind it a complex of certain qualities which have a certain utility m the economy of Nature, and can, therefore, be converted by placing them in their right place, as a complement to what lies in consciousness behind what are commonly called virtues.

i. Spirituality is not confined merely to the aspect of conduct; it includes all works and strives by the method of a progressive change of consciousness for the perfect harmonisation of all the aspects of works; and through this striving it realises also the unity of works with the highest knowledge and the deepest Love j. For spiritual consciousness, that which is commonly called agnosticism, scepticism, atheism, positivism or free thinking has behind it a concern and a demand for a direct knowledge, which, when rightly understood, recognised, respected and fulfilled, becomes a powerful element of spirituality.

k. For spirituality always looks behind the form to essence and to the living consciousness; and in doing so, it brings to the surface that which lies behind, and its action is therefore of a new creation. Spirituality transcends the forms and methods of morality and religion and recreates its own living and progressive forms.

l. In the words of Sri Aurobindo, "Spirituality is in its essence an awakening to the inner reality of our being, to a spirit, self, soul, which is other than our mind, life and body, an inner aspiration to know, to feel, to be that, to enter into contact with the greater Reality beyond and pervading the universe which inhabits also our own being, to be in communion with It and union with It and a turning, a conversion, à transformation of our whole being as a result of the aspiration, the contact, the union, a growth or waking into a new becoming or new being, a new self a new nature."

VIII

Values of Indian culture

a. It is natural that Indian education underlines the importance of what can be called Indian. b. In Indian thought, a distinction has been made between the ego and the self. According to Indian thought, whereas egoistic personality is ridden with self-contradiction and internal conflicts, a true selfhood is free from this contradiction and conflicts. And true self is the integrating centre in which physical, vital, mental and other personalities are harmonised. Pursuit of self-realisation is held out in Indian educational thought as one of the supreme spiritual values. c. There are, indeed, certain other values which are uniquely Indian, in the sense that even though these values may be shared by India in common with other countries, they are pursued in India either with a certain special zeal and dedication or pursued with a certain speciality or completeness. For example, the value that we attach to the ideal of tolerance is something special in India. In fact, the word tolerance itself is not adequate to convey the intended meaning. In the ordinary idea of tolerance, there is still a feeling that our own preferred idea is somewhat superior to the other contending ideas. On the other hand, what is peculiarly Indian is the sentiment and the recognition that various principal contending ideas are all equally legitimate ideas and that superiority lies not in holding one idea as some preferred idea but in trying to find such a synthesis that each idea finds its own highest fulfillment in it. What is uniquely Indian is that the value and ideal of synthesis has been pursued throughout the long history of Indian culture as the most desirable goal — and that too repeatedly and with very special insistence.

d. Along with the basic idea of synthesis, there is also the accompanying idea of unity, mutuality and oneness in diversity.

e. Similarly, what is meant by secularism in the Indian context is uniquely Indian. According to the Western idea, secularism means a tendency or a system of beliefs which rejects all forms of religious faith or worship. It means something that pertains to the present world or to things which are not spiritual or sacred. In the Indian context however, secularism means comprehensiveness in which all religions receive equal protection, treatment and respect, and in which there is place for every one whether he belongs to one religion or another or to no religion. Again Indian secularism encourages us to approach everything, whether material or spiritual, with a sense of sacredness. In Indian secularism, there is freedom for the propagation of each religion without hindrance or bar and there is also the freedom to promote and propagate synthesis of religions. At the same time, Indian secularism insists on the promotion of moral and spiritual values which are common to all religions and to no religion as also on the promotion of a synthesis of science and spirituality. Secularism so defined and understood is, thus, a very special value that is uniquely Indian.

f. There are several other Indian values which require a special mention and which should find their right place in our educational system. The sense of joy that is behind various festivals in India which are shared by people of the country is something which can be understood only when one enters into the heart and soul of Indian culture. The Indian idea of the rhythm of life and the law of harmony, expressed by the word "Dharma" is also uniquely Indian. Again, the value that we attach to the pursuit of knowledge, to the pursuit of purity, to the pursuit of wisdom is something unique, in the sense that these things are valued most and they are cherished most, and on the call of which we are inspired to renounce everything. We feel that all this and many other values which are uniquely Indian should be encouraged and fostered.

g. It is noteworthy that the great Indian values, some of which we have mentioned above, became dynamically vibrant during the period of India’s struggle for freedom, In fact, this period was marked by the rise of great men and women who embodied these values and enriched them. Again, it was during this period that these values guided and shaped great movements and events. Thus a study of our nationalist movement provides a perennial source of inspiration, and it should be a part of a programme of value-oriented education.

CHAPTER III

CAN VALUES BE TAUGHT?

It has been argued that values cannot be taught but caught. This is, of course, true; but this can be said about everything that has been taught in the world; it may be that this is particularly more relevant in the field of value-oriented education. Basically, what is to be underlined is that in value-oriented education methods of teaching are very important; methods should be such that the learner is enabled to discover by means of his own growth and development all that is intended to be learnt. It points out, in other words, that the role of the teacher should be more of a helper and a guide rather than that of an instructor. This will also mean that the teacher should not impose his views on the learner, but he should evoke within the learner the aspiration to learn and to find out the truth by his own free exercise of faculties.

Against the view that values cannot be taught, there is a view, advocated mainly by behaviourists that the learner has no hidden potentialities except some rudimentary capacities of reflex responses and that anything and everything can be taught to the learner by suitable processes of conditioning which can be designed according to the goals in view. Thus Waston claimed that learners can be trained to become whatever you design them to become. According to this view, everything can be taught, all virtues and values can be taught and cultivated by suitable methods of conditioning.

It is true that the claims of behaviourism have been questioned by several rival theories of psychology. The school of mathematical logic, for example, rejects behaviourism and prescribes that the aim in teaching should be more limited and that the claims as to what can be taught should be more modest. It maintains that the aim of teaching should be to teach procedures and not solutions and that the methods should be so employed that the mental processes are taken in the direction of mathematical logic. The Gestalt school of psychology maintains that there are in the learner basic perceptual structures and schemes of behaviour that constitute some kind of basic unity. It underlines, therefore, the presence of an innate intuition in the learner and it prescribes intuitive methods based on perception that are found largely in audio-visual pedagogy. Psychoanalysis has discovered an unimaginable large field of innate drives of which our active consciousness is normally unconscious. But Freudian form of psychoanalysis, which posited Eros and Thanatos as the two ultimate but conflicting innate drives in man, has been largely overpassed by Adler, Jung and others. Modern psychic research is discovering in the sub-conscious a deeper layer which can properly be termed as subliminal, since it is found to be the seat of innate capacities of telepathy, clairvoyance, etc. As psychology is advancing, we seem to be discovering more and more of what is innate in the learner. At the same time, we are becoming more and more conscious of the necessity to be increasingly vigilant about the methods which we should employ in dealing with the learner.

It is, however, sometimes argued that there is a valid distinction between knowledge and values and that while knowledge can be taught, values cannot be taught. But when we examine this view more closely, we find that what is meant is that the methods which are valid and appropriate in the field of learning in regard to knowledge are not applicable to the field of learning in regard to values. We may readily accept this contention and may insist on the necessity of recognizing the fact that corresponding to each domain of learning there are valid and appropriate methods, and that the effectivity of learning will depend upon an ever-vigilant discovery of more and more appropriate methods in each domain of learning. It is clear, for example, that while philosophy can be learnt by a process of discussion, swimming cannot be learnt by discussion. In order to learn to swim one has to plunge into water and swim. Similarly, the methods of learning music or painting have to be quite different from those by which we learn mathematics or physics. And indeed, when we come to the realm of values, we must recognise the necessity of a greater scruple in prescribing the methods which can be considered to be distinctively appropriate to this field.

One speciality of the domain of values is that it is more centrally related to volition and affection, rather than to cognition. This point needs to be underlined because of two reasons. Firstly, it is sometimes assumed that value-oriented education should be exclusively or more or less exclusively limited to certain prescribed acts of volition and that the value-oriented learning should be judged by what a learner does rather than what he knows. It can be said that this is too simplistic and exclusive, and we should avoid the rigidity that flows from this kind of gross exclusivism. Secondly, and this is an opposite view, — it is sometimes argued that learning is primarily a cognitive process and, therefore, value-oriented learning should largely or preponderantly be limited to those methods which are appropriate to cognition. This view also can be regarded as a kind of a gross exclusivism which should be avoided.

It may, therefore, be recommended that while methods appropriate to volition and affection should be more preponderant, methods appropriate to cognition also should have a legitimate and even indispensable place. In other words, a cognitive exploration of values can be regarded as a powerful method of value-oriented education, provided this is supplemented by other methods which are appropriate to volition and affection. This is reinforced by the fact that the striving towards values stirs up the totality of the being. As a result, cognition, volition, and affection all need to be stimulated to their maximum degree. This would occur when the value-oriented learning is allowed its natural fullness.

Having said this, it can be emphasised that instruction, example and influence are the three instruments of teaching. This is true of all domains of teaching and learning, but when we come to value-oriented education, the role that has to be played by example and influence has to be stressed. At the same time, the role that instruction can play has also to be recognized.

In a system of education, where teaching is restricted almost exclusively to instruction, there is little room where example and influence can play their legitimate role. Moreover, our present system is a continuous series of instruction punctuated by homework and tests which accentuate the rigidity of procedure and mechanical adherence to schedules, syllabi and examinations. In this rigid and mechanical structure, the centre of attention is not the child but the book, the teacher and the syllabus. The methods which are most conducive to the development of the personality of the child such as methods of self-learning, exercise of free will, individualised pace of progress, etc., do not have even elbow room. Indeed, if we were to remain content with such a rigid system of education, the most important elements of learning would forever remain outside the system, and we couldn’t confidently recommend any effective system of learning, much less any effective programme of value-oriented education.

It is sometimes argued that values can best be taught through the instrumentality of a number of subjects rather than through any specific or special subject, whether we may call it by the name of "moral education” or “ethics", or "value-oriented education”. There is indeed a great force behind this contention, and it can be recommended that a well-conceived programme of studies of various subjects should naturally provide, both in their content and thrust, the requisite materials for value-oriented education.

The question, however, is whether our current programmes of study have been so carefully devised as to emphasise those aspects which can readily provide to teachers and students the required opportunities, conditions and materials for value-oriented education. Much work remains to be done before a confident answer can be given in the affirmative. The work which has been done in this regard by NCERT and other boards of education has been rather marginal, and although intentions have been expressed at every important occasion, we do not as yet know how to integrate value-oriented education into a number of subjects.

But even if our programmes of studies were to be revised in the desired direction, there would still remain the specific area of value-oriented education which should receive a special, although not exclusive, attention and treatment. In other words, there is a need in the totality of educational programmes of a core programme of value-oriented education. This core programme should be so carefully devised that various threads of this programme would be woven into the complex totality of all the other programmes of studies. And here the central theme of value-oriented education would not form a mere appendage of all other subjects, but would stand out as the over-arching and the supervening subject of basic importance.

It appears that the right methodologies of value-oriented education would include the following:

a. Narration or presentation of biographical stories which would inspire the readers or listeners or viewers to pursue values which are emphasised in the biographies;

b. The atmosphere in which children develop has a great effect upon the process of value-orientation. It is felt that if the atmosphere is kept surcharged with the values of Truth, Beauty and Goodness children respond positively to these values and they feel inspired to imbibe and internalise these values. Here the methodology would be for the teacher to create such surroundings for the children where these values become vibrant.

c. The way in which the children are treated by the teacher is also an important factor in promoting value-orientation. The right type of encouragement given by the teacher at the right suitable moment would go a long way in conveying a message to the student and would encourage the student to aspire for values.

d. Providing activities in which children are invited to participate is also important. There are activities in which team work is encouraged; there are activities in which endurance is developed; there are activities in which heroism is encouraged; and there are many other activities which could be conceived by the teacher and these activities could be made a part of the programme of education.

e. There are also certain kinds of exercises of introspection, of repeated activities, of dealing with friends, neighbors and others through which values are expressed. Such activities should be conceived, proposed and children should be inspired to participate in them. In addition to these special methods, it is also necessary to expound to the students the theory of values and the psychology of values, and the significance of values; but this should be done not in the form of prescriptions but as programmes of exploration. Explorations encourage freedom of choice in students’ consciousness, and this freedom of choice cultivates in students what may be called power of volition, of will. Finally, in a full programme of value-orientation, development of free will and will power is an indispensable element.

PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS FOR METHODOLOGIES OF VALUE-ORIENTED EDUCATION

The secret of value-oriented education is to inspire and kindle the quest among the students by means of one’s own example of character and mastery of knowledge. It is by embodying values within ourselves that we can really radiate them to our students.

Value-oriented education should not be conceived as an enunciation of a series of Do’s and Dont’s. The idea of a series of Do’s and Dont’s implies a belief that there are certain actions which are absolutely good, and there are others which are absolutely bad. An inner process, however, shows that outer actions derive their value only in relation to the inner motive and the inner consciousness from which those actions emerge. It is not actions in themselves but the inner qualities behind actions which are important. The given right qualities may express themselves in different forms of actions. And each of these actions would be right, since behind each one of them there would be a living vibration of the right quality. On the other hand, an action which may apparently seem to be good and right in its outer form, and yet, if it is not a spontaneous expression of the right quality, it ceases to have any moral or spiritual value.

A good teacher should, therefore, have a sound psychological knowledge of the different aspects of the being, of the different qualities that come into play in various actions and of the right laws of the development of personality in relation to the development of capacities and values of an integrated personality.

As we have noted elsewhere, values cannot be taught in the same way as lessons of information. Instruction should have a minor role, and a major role should be assigned to intimate contact and individual guidance. The role of the teacher is to put the child on the right road to his perfection and to encourage him in his growth by watching, suggesting and helping, but not by imposing or interfering.

All occasions of daily life should be utilised by the teacher to bring his students nearer to the realisation of the ideals. There are occasions when children express wild impulses and passions, and often are in revolt. Children have their own daily battles of loyalties and friendship, and there are moments of desperate depression and violent enthusiasm. There are occasions when children get vexed, become sulky and go on strike. All these occasions are occasions for value-oriented education.

With patience and perseverance, the teacher can utilise all these occasions to show the truth and light and to awaken among children the right sense and the right directions of true progress.

We may now venture to suggest some further guidelines which may be helpful to teachers to guide and help the children at different levels: a. It may first be noted that a good many children are under the influence of their inner psychic and spiritual being, which shows itself very distinctly at times in their spontaneous turning toward truth beauty and goodness. To recognize this turning and to encourage it wisely and with a deep sympathy would be the first indispensable step. b. The most important quality to develop among the children is sincerity. c. This quality and several others are taught infinitely better by example than by beautiful speeches.

d. Undesirable impulses and habits should not be treated harshly. The child should not be scolded. Particularly, care should be taken not to rebuke a child for a fault which one commits oneself. Children are very keen and clear-sighted observers: they soon find out the educator’s weaknesses and note them without pity.

e. When a child commits a mistake, one must see that he confesses it to the teacher spontaneously and frankly; and when he has confessed it, he should be made to understand with kindness and affection what was wrong in the movement and that he should not repeat it. A fault confessed must be forgiven.

f. A child should be encouraged to think of wrong impulses not as sins or offences but as symptoms of a curable disease which could be remedied by a steady and sustained effort of the will — falsehood being rejected and replaced by truth, fear by courage, selfishness by sacrifice, malice by love.

g. Great care should be taken to see that unformed virtues are not rejected as faults. The wildness and recklessness of many young natures are only an overflowing of an excessive strength, greatness and nobility. These should be purified, not discouraged.

h. Affection, that is firm yet gentle, sees clearly, and manifests a sufficiently practical knowledge will create bonds of trust that are indispensable for the educator to make the education of a child effective and value-oriented.

i. When a child asks a question he should not be answered by saying that it is stupid or foolish, or that the answer will not be understood by him. Neither should curiosity be postponed. An effort must be made to answer questions truthfully and in such a way as to make the answer comprehensible to the student’s capacity.

j. The teacher should ensure that the student gradually begins to become aware of his deeper self and that with this growing awareness, the student is able to harmonise and resolve his inner conflicts.

k. It should be emphasised that if one has a sincere and steady aspiration, a persistent and dynamic will, one is sure to meet in one way or another the help that one needs, externally by study and instruction, internally by concentration, revelation or experience. Only one thing is absolutely indispensable, namely the will to discover and realise. This discovery and this realisation should be the primary occupation of the being, the pearl of great price which one should acquire at any cost. Whatever one does, whatever one’s occupation and activity, the will to find the truth of one’s being and to unite with it should always burn like fire behind all that one does, thinks and feels

l. At higher levels of development, the teacher should use the methods of daily conversation and discussion on books read from day to day. Books should contain lofty examples of the past, given not as moral lessons but as experiences of supreme interest. These books should also contain (a) great thoughts of great souls, (b) passages of literature which set fire to the highest emotions and promote the highest aspirations, and (c) records of history and biography which exemplify the living of great thoughts, noble emotions and inspiring ideals.

m. Opportunities should be given or created which would enable students to progressively embody higher and nobler values.

III

There are important aspects of mental, vital and physical education which contribute to value-oriented education. They can be briefly mentioned: a. In its natural state, the human inind is limited in its vision, and narrow in its understanding. It is often rigid in its conceptions, and a certain effort is needed to enlarge it to make it supple and deep. Hence, it is very necessary to develop in the child the inclination and capacity to consider everything from as many points of view as possible. There are several exercises in this connection which give greater suppleness and elevation to thought:

A clearly formulated thesis is set; against it is opposed an antithesis, formulated with the same precision. Then by careful reflection the problem must be widened or transcended so that a synthesis is found, which unites the two contraries in a larger, higher and more comprehensive idea.
Another exercise is to control the mind from judging things and people hastily and without sufficient data. True knowledge is always at a higher level, and one must be able to reach not only the domain of pure ideas but even of deeper experiences. Therefore, the mind should be trained to be silent and to search intensely in order to derive knowledge from higher regions of pure ideas and deeper experiences.
To suggest a further exercise, whenever there is a disagreement on any matter, such as a decision or an action to take, one must not stick to one’s own conception or point of view. On the contrary, one must try to understand the other person’s point of view, put oneself in the other’s place and instead of quarrelling, find out a solution, which can reasonably satisfy both parties. There is always one for men and women of goodwill.

A wide, subtle, rich and attentive, quiet and silent mind is a powerful base not only for the discovery of supreme values but also for manifesting them in our outer actions, thoughts and feelings.

The vital being in us is the seat of impulses and desires, of enthusiasm and violence, of dynamic energy and desperate depression, of passions and revolt. The vital being is, however, a good worker, although most often it seeks its own satisfaction. If that is refused totally or even partially, it gets vexed and sulky and goes on strike.

The right thing to do at such moments is to remain quiet and refuse to act. For it is important to realise that at such times one does stupid things and can, in a few moments, destroy or spoil what one has gained in months of regular effort.

Another approach is to deal with the vital as one deals with child in revolt, with patience and perseverance, showing it the truth and the light, endeavouring to convince it and awaken in it the goodwill that will overcome the revolt.

A wide, strong, calm but dynamic vital, capable of right emotion, right decision and right execution is an invaluable aid to the realisation of higher values.

The body by nature is a docile and faithful instrument, but it is very often misused by the mind with its dogmas, its rigid and arbitrary principles, and by the vital with its passions, its excesses and dissipations. It is these, which are the cause of bodily fatigue, exhaustion and disease. The body must, therefore, be freed from the tyranny of the mind and the vital. This can be done by training the body to feel and sense the presence of inmost harmony and peace and to learn to obey their governance.

The emphasis in physical education should be laid on the development of health, strength, agility, grace and beauty through various exercises, whether done by Yogic Asana or by other methods of physical culture such as gymnastics, athletics, aquatics, combative games and sports. When the body is rightly trained, it will learn to put forth at every minute the effort that is demanded of it, for it will have learnt to find rest in action, and to replace through contact with universal forces and energies what it spends consciously and usefully. By this sound and balanced practice, a new harmony will manifest in the body, which will give right proportions and the ideal beauty of form.

There are many sports, which help to develop the qualities of courage, hardihood, energetic action, initiative, steadiness of will, rapid decision and action, the perception of what is to be done in an emergency. Another invaluable result of these sports is the growth of the sporting spirit. This includes good humour and tolerance and consideration for all, a right attitude and friendliness to competitors and rivals, self-control and scrupulous observance of the laws of the game, fair play and avoidance of the use of foul means, equal acceptance of victory or defeat without bad humour, and acceptance of the decision of the appointed judge, umpire or referee. More important still is the intrinsic discipline, obedience, order and teamwork, which many games necessitate.

In the words of the Sri Aurobindo:

"If they (the above qualities) could be made more common not only in the life of the individual but in the national life and in the international where of the present day the opposite tendencies have become to rampant, existence in this troubled world of ours would be smoother and might open to a greater chance of concord and amity of which it stands very much in need. The nation which possesses them in the highest degree is likely to be strongest for victory, success and greatness, but also for the contribution it can make towards the bringing about of unity and more harmonious world order towards which we look as our hope for humanity’s future.”

Community service should be included as a part of the total educational process. But to make community service truly value-oriented, emphasis should be laid on the true spirit with which the proposed work is to be done. Requisite spirit can be developed progressively through certain successive stages. For example, work motivated by desire or by restlessness should be replaced by the work done with ever-growing skill and perfection. At the higher stages, work should be done in order to discover its relationship with one’s own inmost and highest aspiration. At a still higher level, work should be looked upon as an offering, without any sense of bargaining. At still higher stages, work should be done in consonance with the highest ideal that is being progressively worked out in the world, namely, the ideal of solidarity, unity and harmony. The entire discipline of work should be looked upon as tapasya, which should be carried out not only in the right spirit but also with efficiency and skill. True morality and spirituality demand meticulous care in handling materials things. There should be a living deep respect of things, material, a tools and processes of work. There should be an increasing awareness that matter, too, is sacred.

An important element in children’s development is the presentation of dreams of a new world, a world of peace and international understanding, a world where truth alone would prevail, a world where beauty and goodness would pervade all that we see and experience.

Stories and plays to illustrate these dreams would be an effective instrument. Artistic imagination that would refine sensitivity and sense of beauty should develop right from the early stages of education. Even ordinary, habitual things of daily life should be taught as activities of art and beauty. That even activities such as those of bathing, cleaning the teeth, dressing, sitting and standing require art and a refined sense of beauty should be brought home to children and young students.

Students should be encouraged to live in harmony with nature and to develop the habit of being calm when in the intimate company of plants, trees and flowers.

At a little higher stage, students may be introduced to the art of listening to music. Acquaintance with some selected ragas (Indian) and harmonies (Western) should be encouraged. Exhibitions of books of beauty in its various aspects should also form part of the programmes in schools. A great stress should be laid upon physical fitness as an essential part of the pursuit of beauty.

Those who have special interests in music, dance, art and poetry should be given special facilities so that they can develop their interest and capacities in these fields.

Examples of poetic excellence should also be presented to the students in various ways. An idea should be emphasised that just as there is beauty and harmony of physical forms, even so there is beauty and harmony in the forms of thoughts, words, feelings and deeds.

At a still higher level, special emphasis may be laid on the powers of expression, a such as lucid recitation, poetry and dramatics. A special emphasis should be laid on the study of the appreciation of art and music.

Since stories play a great role in providing inspiration to the children in regard to values, teachers should prepare various collections of stories and plays from world literature which would satisfy the following criteria:

a. They should be written in language that is beautiful and devoid of vulgarity;

b. They should be full of human interest, which, however, do not involve plots of mischief and cunning, and

c. They should create an atmosphere of peace and harmony and a spontaneous inspiration for Truth, Beauty and Goodness.

Teachers should also endeavour to:

a. Select and compile exercises of remembering and repeating noble aspirations and thoughts, (b) of observation and accurate description, and (c) of control of senses, speech and behaviour;

b. Identify subjects and topics, which develop a sense of wonder;

c. Identify topics, and subjects which would provide an inter-disciplinary study of science and values;

d. Identify activities which may relate to a free choice directed towards control and mastery over lower impulses and towards excellence in studies and in works;

e. Identify topics that would help students to widen and elevate their consciousness;

f. Select topics related to self-knowledge and to the methods of concentration by which human consciousness can be developed not only horizontally but also vertically so as to create states of consciousness in which mutuality, harmony and true brotherhood could flower spontaneously;

g. Identify subjects and topics related to values needed for a new world order of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity; and

h. Finally, identify subjects and topics related to the Values of the Synthesis of East and West.

Teaching-Learning Materials for Value-Oriented Education

The task of preparing teaching-learning materials is so enormous that various agencies have to come together to conceive of them and to execute them. In brief, the proposal that one could make is the following:

There should be, first, a new literature which can be produced with a special focus on various topics that are included in various programmes that have been suggested earlier in this report. This material could be called the resource material. This resource material should be addressed primarily to teachers. On the basis of taking advantage of this resource material, the teaching-learning materials which will be actually used at various levels of education can be produced by concerned agencies.
The resource materials that could be suggested may consist of certain specific topics, among many others, which have been identified in view of several considerations. These include: a. The idea that value-oriented education should be exploratory in character and the teaching-learning materials should provide to the learners a growing experience of exploration.

b. Powerful inspiration to turn to value-orientation is provided by biographies, autobiographical accounts, personal anecdotes, epistles, short poems, stories of humour, interest, brief passages filled with pregnant meanings, reflective short essays written in well-chiselled language, plays, powerful accounts of historical events, statements of personal experiences of values in actual situations of life, and similar other forms of scientific, philosophical, artistic and literary expression. Even a random collection of such material, if presented to students could be very useful and even inspiring.

c. As we all learn best by experience, personal or historical, it would be advisable to collect what can be called "lessons of history" or "lessons of culture”, and some kind of systematic presentation of these lessons could constitute a useful collection of resource materials.

d. As the entire world is moving rapidly towards the synthesis of the East and the West, it seems obvious that our teaching-learning materials should foster gradual familiarisation of students with global themes, themes of universal significance, and materials should bring the students nearer to their own cultural heritage, but also to the highest that is available in the cultural experiences of all parts of the world.

e. It appears that there are three major powers that uplift human life to higher and higher normative levels, and these powers, if well illustrated through stories or real accounts of life or historical biographies or events, could be effectively conveyed to the learners for their upliftment. These powers are those of illumination, heroism and harmony.

f. An attempt should be made to select from Indian and World History such examples that could illustrate how these or some of them have a personality or an event and uplifted individuals or groups or even a certain historical epoch and contributed to the upward progress of humankind.

g. This upliftment could be one or many fields of human culture, physical, vital intellectual, ethical, aesthetic or spiritual. Thus the selected resource material could be multisided or even integral, and teachers can make use of this material in the manner and in the context which they need it in specific situations that might obtain or that can be created in respect of their students from day-to-day or from stage-to-stage.

In view of the above, it is suggested that the general title of the scenes of resource materials that can be proposed to be prepared could be: Illumination, Heroism and Harmony

And sub-title could be: Explorations in Value-Oriented Education

Certain selected topics are listed below:

Lead me from the Unreal to the Real

Lead me from Darkness to Light

Lead me from Death to Immortality

Story of Savitri: Life, Death and Immortality

The Rishi and Brahmacharin (Ancient Stories of Teachers and Pupils)

Vasishtha and Vishwamitra

Story of Shakuntala: Beauty in Bloom and Victory over Catastrophe Science and Art of Divine Life: The Message of the Ishopanishad Story of Harishchandra: Tests of Truth

Janaka: Liberated Kinghood

Upanishadic Stories Yajnavalkya: Debate with Gargi and Dialogue with Maitreyi

Tale of Nala and Damayanti: Chequered Experiences of Human Life Virtues of Rama: Dialogue between Narada and Valmiki

Rama and Sita Rama and Bharat

Story of Hanuman: Surrender of Life-Force to the Highest Krishna in Brindaban: Life of Divine Play

Arjuna: Crisis in the Battlefield of Life

The Human Disciple

Story of Draupadi

Vyasa and Valmiki

Amhnotep - Akenaton Gods and the World

Zoroaster (Selected Stories: Eastern and Western)

Abraham

Moses

Alcestis: Savitri of the West

Perseus the Deliverer

Siege of Troy and Birth Hellenism

Legends of Odysseus: Adventures of Heroism

Homer

Sophocles

Search for Utter Transcendence: Buddha as a Seeker

Buddha’s Enlightenment

Buddha as a Teacher

Selections from Dhammapada

Life of Lao Tse

The Life of Confucius

New Awareness and Instruction: Influence of Zen Buddhism

Life of Mahavira

Socrates: Heroic pursuit of Truth

Apology and Crito: Platonic Dialogues

Virtue is Knowledge: The Socratic Doctrine

Learning is Recollection: Platonic Dialogue "Meno"

Platonic simile of Den. The theme of Knowledge of Reality

Platonic Utopia

What did he really achieve? Ambition and Adventure of Alexander the Great

Horror of War and Path of Peace — Life and Work of Ashoka

The Ancient Experiment in Human Unity: Life and Work of Augustus Caesar

Holy Mary

Jesus Christ: His Life and Crucifixion

Kalidasa: His Genius and Work

The Hero and the Nymph

Tapasya of Parvati (Kumarsambhavam)

Vasavadutta

Varahamihira

Pursuit of Goodness: Nidshatakam of Bhartrihari

Life and Work of Shankara: Brahman is Real, the World is a Lie

Prophet Mohammed: Submission to the Will of the Supreme

Charlemagne

Haroun al Rashid and the story of Vizier of Basra

A Story of Initiation and Stories of Sufi Wisdom

Gengis Khan

Search for Excellence and Perfection: Life and Work of Leonardo da Vinci

"One can die later": The Life and Work of Elisabeth I

The Poet of Life-Force: Life and Work of Shakespeare

Stories of Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, The Tempest

Guru Nanak

Life and Work of Akbar

Rana Pratap

Joan of Arc

Martin Luther

Ecstasy of Divine Love: Life and Work of Sri Chaitanya

Proofs of Existence of God and of the Human Soul

Life and Work of Newton

The Would-Be Gentleman: Life and Work of Molière

Guru Govind Singh

Shivaji

Spinoza’s definitions of Virtues

Holding the hand of the Pupil: Life and Work or Rousseau

Danton and French Revolution

Catherine of Russia

Napoleon

Kant and the Discovery of the Categorical Imperative

The Cid

Washington

Industrial Revolution

A Lover of Children: Life and Work of Pastelozzi

An Illumined Teacher and the Brilliant Pupil: Have Life and Work of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda Have you seen God?

Discovery of the Child: Life and Work of Montessori

Piercing veils of Darkness: Sullivan and Helen Keller

Queen of Jhansi

Jagdish Chandra Bose

Life and Work of Rabindra Nath Tagore

The Parrot’s Training

Post Office

Stories from Lipika

Lenin and the Russian Revolution

Rimbaud and Jacques Lusseyrand

The Little Prince

Magister Ludi

Jonathan Livingstone Seagull: An Allegory

A Few Letters from a Father to a Daughter

Life’s Philosophy

On Women

Life and Work of Albert Einstein: The World As I See It

Life and Work of Bertrand Russell: A Freeman’s Worship

Science and Values

What the Educator Needs and what His pupils should Acquire.

A Message to parents, teachers and pupils

Ascent to the Truth

Contemporary Evolutionary Crisis

Each of this above topics will constitute a monograph, which will have three parts: i Introduction; ii. Basic text on the topic (consisting of an anthology or selection from the writing of an author) and

iii. Explanatory notes, including explanations of important and difficult words, phrases, ideas, anecdotes, etc.

The monographs will also include illustrations, drawings, sketches, painting, diagrams, maps, etc.

Applied Philosophy

It has been suggested that a specialized course relating to value-oriented education could be formulated in the form of a study of applied philosophy.

This is a very specialized subject, and Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR) has already undertaken the task of preparing the curriculum for this Course.

In regard to Applied Philosophy, it would be necessary to develop a new curriculum. The aim of this curriculum should be:

a. To prepare young men and women to understand philosophical problems, as expounded by Indian and Western philosophers; b. To underline the necessity and justification of applying philosophical visions of the ultimate reality or realities and meaning of life in day to day problems of contemporary times; c. To develop in themselves integration of personality which would enable them to confront the problems of practical life with a sympathetic understanding, equanimity and ability to deal with them effectively; d. To be able to counsel and guide people in different vocations and thus play the role of leadership; and e. To promote value-orientation in various fields of creative and practical activities and professions.

It may be added that courses in higher education have always connections with employment avenues. From this point of view, since employment avenues are available in universities for those who can teach the usual courses of philosophy, the course of Applied Philosophy should include also the existing courses of philosophy. Applied Philosophy should also provide specialization in problems of practical ethics, value-oriented education, ethics of practice of law, medicine, management, industry, etc.

Since this is going to be a very specialized subject, a suitable curriculum and Syllabus can be formulated by a Committee of Experts. This Committee can be constituted under the joint auspices of Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR), University Grants Commission (UGC) and National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA).

For the purposes of developing a curriculum and a syllabus, the following suggestions can be made so that they may be considered by the Expert Committee:

Under Graduate for B.A

First Year: a. Problems of Philosophy and Applied Philosophy; b. Practical lessons of human culture; c. Applied moral and social philosophy; d. Philosophy and practice of intellectual, aesthetic and practical skills.

Second Year: a. Applied Philosophy of value-oriented education; b. Philosophy of religion, science and yoga; c. Problem of human freedom; d. Applied Philosophy of nation building and world unity.

Third Year: a. Applied Philosophy of law and economics; b. Applied Philosophy of integral health; c. Applied Philosophy of technology and management; d. Applied Psychology of spiritual liberation and perfection.

The Expert Committee may also think of any other alternative curriculum and corresponding syllabus.

The emphasis should be to enable individuals to develop those qualities which have been specially emphasized by Sri M.K Kaw in his letter addressed to Chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC) and others.

University Grants Commission (UGC) may consider instituting a Refresher Course for philosophers and teachers so that they could be equipped to teach Applied Philosophy with effect from the next academic year. Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR) may collaborate in this task.

Value Based Education 22-23 September 1997

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

KIREET JOSHI

VALUE-BASED EDUCATION

Delivered at

CHINMAYA VISION PROGRAMME

TWO DAY WORKSHOP

VALUE-BASED education

SEPTEMBER 22-23, 1997

CHINMAYA MISSION, DELHI.

I am grateful to the organisers of this two-day Workshop on Value Based Education for having given me this valuable opportunity to be associated with it and to meet teachers, parents and representatives of management who are going to participate in the Workshop. I am very happy that the programme that has been chalked out by the educationists like Swamini Vimalananda, Mrs. Radhika Krishna Kumar and Swami Nikhilanada has underlined the importance of value based education and has also produced important learning material that has been incorporated in the "Garden of Life" series. I was very happy when Ms. Parveen Bahl explained to me recently in detail the multi-sided effort that has been employed to bring to the people of our country the awareness of the necessity of character development when only economic values are being given exclusive attention in our present day system of education. The fact that a new awareness is growing in our country to place value education in the centre of teaching-learning process is due to the efforts made by organisations like yours.

May I begin by stating that making of a teacher differs significantly from making, say, of an advocate or a surgeon. The teacher is more than a mere skilled performer in a branch of his profession. It is true, indeed, that he must have the best of skill in accustoming the pupil to the austere joy of mastering a difficult theme, be it quadratic equation or the equation of E=MC? or any other similar theme. But in the end, when the frontiers of knowledge change, the importance and even the validity of what is learnt may not survive. What survives the discipline of learning and the values acquired in the process. Whatever be the topic teacher teaches, the ultimate values of his professional endeavour bear on the habits of living and thinking and feeling, — the art of life — on what the pupil comes to love and care for. Thus the teacher fashions the life of the pupil — which is the single theme of all of education. Skills in teaching are, no doubt, important, but they do not take the teacher far. An otherwise unashamedly desolate teacher may teach effectively; he also influences lives of the pupils no less, but sadly. Therefore, teacher must not only be efficient, but he or she should also be a good person. The most effective weapon of teacher is the silent power of example; it matters in the end and always. It is, therefore, necessary that teacher education should aim not merely at cultivation of skills but in making a personality of high character and noble vision. This consideration brings to teacher education very different purpose and responsibility which are not equally relevant to other professions.

It is for this reason that both pre-service and in-service programmes of teacher education need to be re-oriented in such a way that they provide orientation towards value education.

It is often asked whether values can be taught. This is a very serious question and lies at the root of the proposals for value-based education. And in answer to this question, it must be acknowledged that values cannot be taught in the same way as Mathematics. But it can be contended that values can be transmitted through subtle and psychological means which bring together methods of training. A very tendencies and aptitudes of volition, affection and cognition. In relation to this special requirement, we need to develop a model programme of value education, which can be varied according to the needs of teachers and students or according to special situations that may obtain at any given point of time. This core programme should have an intellectual dimension, an ethical dimension and an aesthetic dimension. These three dimensions should again be related to an over-arching or all-comprehensive umbrella of spiritual education. A very important part of this programme should be devoted to the theme of science and values, considering that the modern civilisation is undergoing an unprecedented crisis because science and values have been divorced from each other. And they need to be brought together in a happy harmony if we are to deal with the crisis effectively and fruitfully. The programme should also have practical aspects which may involve exercises of volition, exercises of aspiration and exercises of introspection. There should also be opportunities where students can participate in works of community service or situations where courage and heroism can be developed. It is not sufficiently realised how much physical culture can contribute to the practice of values. And ideal sports person develops more easily the qualities of courage, hardihood, energetic action, initiative, steadiness of will, rapid decision and action, perception of what is to be done in an emergency and dexterity in doing it. An ideal sports person embodies the true sporting spirit, which includes good humour and tolerance and consideration for a right attitude and friendliness to competitors and rivals, self-control and scrupulous observance of the laws of the games, fair play and avoidance of the use of foul means, equal acceptance of victory or defeat without bad humour, and loyal acceptance of the decisions of the appointed judge, umpire or referee. Above all, an ideal sports person develops the habit of discipline, obedience, order, team spirit and cooperation. While speaking of these qualities that physical culture can contribute, Sri Aurobindo has written:

"If these could be made more common not only in the life of the individual but in the national life and in the international where in the present day the opposite tendencies have become too rampant, existence in this troubled world of ours would be smoother and might open to a greater chance of concord and amity of which it stands very much in need. The nation which possesses them in the highest degree is likely to be strongest for victory, success and greatness, but also for the contribution it can make towards the bringing about the unity and more harmonious order towards which we look as our hope for humanity’s future."

While preparing the proposed programme, we should lay a great stress on the right type of teaching-learning material. Here, the importance of stories, plays and passages of literature need to be underlined. These selections should possess qualities of chiselled expressions and refined tastes. Even examples of poetic excellence need to be included. They will help us in emphasising that just as there is beauty and harmony of physical forms, even so there is beauty in harmony of thoughts and words and rhythms.

Value education is directly related to the concept of integral education. And in this connection, the concept of integral education needs to be clarified more and more sharply. There have been in the history of the development of education certain systems where a special stress was laid on harmonious development of the physical, the vital and the mental aspects of personality. Such, indeed, was the Greek ideal of education, which has re-appeared in the West, and which influences the modern educational thinking in. India. However, it can be shown that although some kind of integration is possible between the physical, the vital and the mental, under the leadership of comprehensive mental development or by following the leadership of the powers of the intellect, it is impossible to harmonise the tendencies that support the truth on the one hand and those that support the Good on the other, and these conflict with those tendencies that support the pursuit of Beauty. It is for this reason that that the Indian system of education had in earlier times emphasised the role that the spiritual element in the personality can play in bringing about the true integration. In that light, spiritual education is, by definition, an all-embracing education, and it weaves rightly the rhythms of the physical, vital and mental education under the sovereign power of psychic and spiritual knowledge, which has its own specific methods. We need to emphasise that the knowledge of the secrets of these special methods is very largely contained in the Vedas and the Upanishads, and we have even further developments of this knowledge in our own times. A few remarks in this connection may not be out of place here.

Integration implies complexity: integration implies inter-relationship between different elements contained in the complexity; integration implies a central thread which is capable of weaving together harmoniously the inter-relationship among different elements of the complexity. Integration is not juxtaposition; it is not pursuit of different elements side by side; it is not a process of adding more and more. Integration is a subtle process of harmonising and perfecting various elements in a certain order, in a certain rhythm, and in a process whereby extremes are avoided, balance is obtained, and each element is placed in its proper place according to its value in the totality, determined by the sovereignty of the integrating principle.

Fundamentally, the integrating principle is what the Veda describes as the Mystic Fire (Agni) which has been considered to be the priest (Purohita) or the guide of the human journey. It is what the Kathopanishad calls the being seated in the cave of the heart, not bigger than the thumb (Angushtha Matram), the being which can be discovered by a process which has three elements: (1) a process of inward orientation as against outer orientation which is so normal since all our senses open outward; (2) a process of choosing the good as against the pleasant, or to put in the terms of Kathopanishad, choosing shreyas as againstpreyas; and (3) a process in which every element of personality is integrated and developed not in a mechanical manner or juxtaposition or arbitrary simultaneity, but according to the inner rhythm of the law of rhythm (dharma) which is unique and special for each individual, who has a specific and unique position in the world, a world of spatio-temporal relationship. This process aims at the discovery of the inner guiding principle and giving to it the ways and methods by which the personality can be integrated and perfected.

There are three instruments of personality, — body, life and mind, and there are four powers of personality, namely, knowledge, will, harmony and skill. The process of integral education would mean integrating those three instruments and these four powers in such a way that they all develop, — not at the same speed, but each in its own rhythm, and yet from the point of view of the totality all of them obtaining optimum acceleration of progress.

It will be clear that integral education tends to become increasingly individualised. For each individual is unique in the composition of his or her qualities and characteristics, his or her capacities and potentialities, his or her predominant inclinations and propensities. This is the reason why integral education discovers for each individual his or her own swadharma and swakarma and directs each individual to develop his or her own pace of progress.

The first task of the teacher in integral education is to observe every child and to develop dynamic methods by which the child can be lifted up in its totality into a higher light which can sharpen, chisel, purify, perfect and transform every part of the being, while maintaining a constant balance and integrity. Every minute detail is important in this process. In this process, there is nothing which is too small to be neglected and nothing is too great to be excessively emphasised.

In integral education, every domain gets related to its own proper value system. In the domain of physical education, the values that are promoted are those of health, grace and beauty. In the domain of vital education, the values that are promoted are those of harmony and friendliness, of courage and heroism, of endurance and perseverance. In the domain of mental development, the values that are pursued are those of utmost impartiality, dispassionate search of the truth, of calm and silence, and of the widest possible synthesis. The values pertaining to the aesthetic development would be those of beauty and creative joy. The integrating psychic and spiritual development emphasises the value of intimate sympathy for all, mutuality, ever-increasing wideness, process of self-exceeding and attainment of oneness.

Let us also note that integral education admits integrality of life, and invites life itself to be the teacher of the life of the pupil. As life works through atmosphere and environment created by activities of inter-relationship of individuals and things, — therefore, integral education aims at creating the right atmosphere and the right environment which are so skillfully organised that outer instruction plays a minor role and personal example of the teacher and nearness of the teacher to the soul of the student play a major role.

It is evident that in our present system of education, we are greatly removed from the ideals that are implied in integral education. In our present system, we are too occupied with the mental development, and that, too, to a narrow aspect of mental development so that only those qualities of the mind are attempted to be developed which are relevant to subject-oriented, book-oriented and examination-oriented system. We stress the powers of memory rather than the powers of understanding; we emphasise the power of knowing facts and hardly attempt to the development of the power of imagination. Our process of education is a pursuit of piecemeal assimilation of information, and holistic vision of things is hardly given any place.

We may now come to the last question that may be of direct relevance to the subject that we are discussing. How can we transform the present system of education into a process of value-based education and a process of integral education? Can we do anything worthwhile in the present system? The first answer to this question is that at least the preliminary things can be done even in the present system, provided that one important condition is fulfilled. If teachers consent to change their attitude, then much can be done, irrespective of the system in which we are obliged to work today. If teachers can change their attitude towards students, they will make a great effort to observe their students with greater and greater psychological understanding and sympathy. A good teacher can always empathise with the children in the class as a good gardener can empathise with flowers in the garden, whatever their state of development. If teachers can consent to look upon their work as sacred work, a work of priesthood, a work of a trustee, a work in which his or her own soul gets directly related to the inmost souls of the children, — if teachers perform their tasks with fresh eyes, fresh vigour, and fresh approach, they can make a great contribution to their children’s integral development. No system prevents a teacher from utilising the important methods of education such as those of setting an example of high character and providing stimulating atmosphere in the class room for their own students. Nobody prevents teachers from cultivating powers of expression and powers of explanation; nobody prevents teachers from inventing striking words, striking phrases and striking ideas which can illumine the perceptions and thoughts of the children, nobody prevents teachers from devoting their own utmost time to the preparation of lessons for the children; nobody prevents teachers from establishing right relationships with children so that they can be inspired to put their trust in their teachers and follow their guidance. There are, indeed, counteracting influences at work, — at home, in school or in society at large. But still, a good teacher can make a great difference, and in spite of limiting conditions in which they are working, they can still achieve something that is of basic importance.

Parents also can contribute a great deal. They, too, can become good teachers; they can learn how to look after children and how they can inspire them to develop right habits, right manners, and right attitude towards things and people, towards environment, towards their work, towards their books and time-tables; towards their time of play and time of study. Parents can supplement teacher’s task in many ways; and parents can also create in their homes value-oriented atmosphere. They can so organise the home life that nothing is displayed in children’s atmosphere which is injurious to children’s value education. They can also learn how to sacrifice their outer pleasures for the sake of the growth of their children.

Again, it is true that the circumstances in which the families run these days, the tasks that are expected of the parents may not be so easy to implement. There is a big factor of Television today in every home and, and nobody has control over it which is influencing our children in a very big way and often in a disastrous way. But, here again, Parents’ Associations can play a great role. They can create a movement in the country to combat this menace. They can pressurise the government to change the policy in such a way that at least the official channels are freed from vulgarity, cheap entertainment, and vulgar advertisements which stimulate lower desires and impulses. They can also create public opinion whereby parents choose the channels for children and ensure that good films and right episodes are witnessed by children. When there is a downpour, you cannot stop the rain, but you can certainly have an umbrella to protect the body. In the same way, when there is downpour of films on TV, good, bad and indifferent, parents can provide umbrella for their children by means of counselling, and by means of setting certain standards in the atmosphere of the home.

The educational administrators also can help a great deal even in the present system of education. Principals, Inspectors, Directors and Policy makers can ensure that funds are allocated for right purposes, that programmes are so designed, — both curricular and extra-curricular, that value education and integral education get utmost importance, that atmosphere of the institutions is so designed and developed that in every nook and corner children find display of beautiful things, inspiring thoughts and ennobling stimulation.

Similarly, students also can play their own role. Students can be taught or they can learn on their own how to discipline themselves, they can be stimulated, both internally and externally, how to utilise immense freedom which is available to them in the present day societal environment. They can think of the art of self-discipline, the art of control, the art of concentration. They can also seek guidance of teachers and others as to how to study, what to study and how to develop their faculties, and how to harmonise and integrate their personality.

Changes in the attitudes of the teachers, parents, educational administrators and students can create a suitable climate in which greater reforms in education can be proposed more effectively and fruitfully. For even if there is a new system of education, and the attitudes remain the same, that new system will either not work at all or will become a kind of ornament which might hurt rather than help.

At the same time, it is for the organisers of education, it is for the leaders of education, — to think about an ideal system of education and create fields of experimentation so that eventually a new system of education can be invented and implemented.

I am happy that this present workshop is a part of the promising movement where those who are devoted to education are making a tremendous effort to spell out new ideas, to stimulate new attitudes, to provide facilities for new experiments. I am sure that all of us who are associated today with this workshop will learn a great deal and will become better instruments of value-based education and integral education.

Urgency of Value Education 29 September 1997

A REVISES AND ENLARGED VERSION OF THE KEYNOTE ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE SEMINAR ON “VALUE-EDUCATION AND PRIMACY OF THE GIRL-CHILD” ORGANISED BY THE RASHTRIYA JAGRITI SANSTHAN ON 29.9.1997 AT THE PARLIAMENT HOUSE ANNEXE, NEW DELHI.

Urgency of Value Education

Value education is not only urgent but it is also imperative. In fact, value education is overdue, and we feel that appropriate measures should have been taken much earlier, soon after the attainment of independence. The degree to which Indian polity and social life has degenerated could have been mitigated or even prevented if we had taken due note of the educational visions that were given to us during the freedom struggle. Unfortunately, we lost sight of the right direction, and even when facilities or opportunities for education were expanded, we could not provide value-orientation to educational system. Not only did we fail in responding to the great messages given by great educationists like Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati, Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindra Nath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo, we could not even initiate minimum education reforms that were proposed by the Radhakrishan Commission and the Kothari Commission which had pleaded for incorporation of a profound value system that took care of plurality of religions that obtains in our country and science-based civilisation that is spreading all over the world. We have remained stuck to the Macaulayan model of education, and shown great timidity by refraining from proposing any radical changes that would have contributed to the shaping of a true national system of education and to the shaping of the young people into courageous builders of the future. The programme that should have been initiated in 1947, has not yet been even crystallised clearly and even today our thinking on value education and the corresponding educational reforms remain wrapped in superficial and controversial ideas and ideologies which prevent speedy envisagement and implementation of value education.

The first layer of these disabling ideas betrays the cynical attitude which declares that value education is impossible when the society itself is drenched in increasing vice, violence and corruption. And since this argument supports status quo, people have a natural tendency to succumb to it without realising that cynicism, if not broken at its earlier stages, leads ultimately to disintegration and abysmal collapse. It is only when the vicious circle is broken, appropriately bold steps are taken, that we can survive and eventually arrive at fulfillment. There is no way to change the social collapse except by resurrecting education and, that too, value-oriented education.

The second layer of superficial ideas that prevent any successful experimentation in value education is that of the half-truth that values cannot be taught. This is a half-truth because basically nothing can be taught, that life itself is a great teacher of life and that to attempt to substitute life by any other artificial methods is never ultimately effective. But we do not take care to realise that education itself can be so designed that it bears within itself the stamp and flow of life-force, a kind of education that was already attempted to be designed by Rabindra Nath Tagore when he established Shanti Niketan, or when a new educational invention was initiated by Sri Aurobindo under his inspiring idea that all life is Yoga. The real truth of education is that it is a deliberate attempt to understand life, to employ all the principles and methods of life in the processes that accelerate human progression, not by mechanisation but by enhancing the pulsation of life-force itself. In the light of that concept, everything can be taught and values, too, can be taught, — not indeed, by mechanical means but by the creation of atmosphere and environment and by employment of methods which are conducive to the natural processes of growth of each individual. Values can be taught, provided we do not make value education a process of prescriptions of Do’s and Don’ts, provided that we do not employ the outdated methods of lecturing and book-oriented and memory-oriented examination system. Just as swimming cannot be taught by lecturing, even so values cannot be taught by lecturing. Long ago, Socrates had taught us that virtue is knowledge and both virtue and knowledge can be awakened by a process of heart-searching dialogues initiated and conducted by the teacher whose very life is virtuous and luminous and which is deeply committed to the upliftment of the pupils and the society.

But then we come to the third range of arguments where it is suggested that it is impossible to have teachers imbued with high character and capable of engaging students and society in heart-searching dialogues. Here, again, there is some truth in the contention. It is not an easy task to create a band of teachers who can really inspire idealism by the power of their own character; but is it, then, we may ask, a truly impossible task? Is it not possible to conceive a programme of teacher education so that we can generate a new type of teachers? But imprisoned as we are with our present notions of B.Ed. courses, we ask as to how within a compass of 8-10 months we can create teachers of a different type. But is it imperative that B.Ed. courses must be of the duration of 8-10 months? Can we not redesign programmes of teacher education, both pre-service and in-service, and assign to these programmes of education not merely a short period of eight months, but a long period of five years and even of continuing education? Is it not the right thing for us to overhaul our entire system of teacher education keeping in view that value-orientation is absolutely imperative and that without a good teacher we cannot fulfill the objectives of value education? It would be seen that once the objectives are clear, means will surely be found. Indeed, means will be difficult but we are living in difficult times. After all, it is only by accomplishing difficult things that our own value as human beings can rightly be fulfilled.

Now we come to the fourth layer of arguments that is obstructing our way. We are told that value education must be interwoven in all disciplines of study, and it should not be conceived as a separate discipline. And we must admit immediately the force of truth of this argument. But those who advocate this argument have unfortunately continued to argue but not produced any illustrative literature where it is demonstrated that values can be effectively interwoven in every discipline of knowledge. This has not been not because it cannot be done, but because it is extremely difficult to accomplish it. In any case, it is perfectly possible to treat value education as an overarching subject, and one can prepare both curriculum and learning material more easily to demonstrate how study of values could serve as the central nucleus of varieties of disciplines of knowledge. It may, therefore, be contended that we could create a nuclear programme of value education with several embedded dimensions. It should have an intellectual dimension, an ethical dimension and aesthetic dimension. These three dimensions should again be related to overarching and ever-comprehensive umbrella of spiritual education where the values of inner life and universality and oneness are emphasised, both in theory and practice.

In the new efforts that have to be initiated, one of the most important elements will be related to women’s empowerment. For, if we examine carefully, we shall find that the Indian woman has such a combination of qualities and virtues that once she is empowered, she will become an invincible shakti and will be able to create the right atmosphere as far as value education is concerned. It is for this reason that the primacy of the girl child has to be emphasised. Unfortunately, social attitudes in our country have been unfavourable to the girl child right from the prenatal condition. The latest statistics shows that female population is lagging behind male population in our country and girl children suffer from handicaps right from early stages of growth and development.

Happily, only a few days ago, the Government has proposed a scheme which aims at adding value to the girl child and her much neglected life. Under the scheme, families with an annual income of Rs.11,000/- or less per annum, will be entitled to a one-lime grant of Rs.500/- on the birth of their first or second daughter. In addition, when she is ready for primary school she will be entitled to Rs.500/- per year towards her education and at the secondary school level, the annual grant will increase by another Rs.500/-.

While this scheme is to be appreciated, much will depend upon how effectively the scheme will be implemented. But, it may be asked, how will the girl child be supported during the early years before she enters the primary school ‒ a period during which no grant will be available? In fact, there is a strong case for pre-school education for attaining the goal of universalisation of elementary education. It has been seen that Balwadis and Anganvadis or Kindergartens are so conducive to the proper development of early childhood that if important habits are inculcated during that period, the drop-out rate of children at the primary and secondary stages will be greatly reduced. It may, therefore, be suggested that every girl child should have the opportunity of enrolment in a system of pre-school education, and the Government must extend financial assistance for retaining the child in the pre-school system.

It may also be suggested that there is a very important category of families who are just above the poverty line, and it is this sector of families who are already committed psychologically to provide education to their girl children. They need to be supported. Therefore, the new scheme should also provide for financial assistance, if not at the level of Rs.500/- per year per girl child, but at least at the rate of Rs.300/- per girl child per year. It may also be added that in addition to what has been proposed, every girl child should receive, free of charge, at least three pairs of uniforms per year.

We have to underline that education of the girl child holds the key to all other elements on which development of the society depends ‒ i.e. population control, family health, nutrition, receptivity to innovations and educational motivation of children.

All of us need to realise that a very difficult period is ahead of us, that arduous efforts will be demanded of us, and unless we bring about an effective system of value education and integral education urgently, we shall be in a state of continuous peril, and the urgency of value education will have to be coupled with the primacy of the girl child.

In fact, education, rightly defined, is automatically value-oriented. Value education is the very definition of education; for the ultimate justification and the very process of education consists in transmuting impulses, emotions and thoughts into higher modes of culture. Both in theory and practice, education must bear this fundamental imprint. It is because education has ceased to be education, it is because education has gradually become a prison house of various kinds of walls of artificiality, of mechanisation, of de-personalisation, ‒ that we feel offended by the whole structure of education and are now wondering how we can make this house of education to blossom into a garden of values.

At the deepest level, the answer to the question that we have raised is that the entire system of education needs to be thoroughly transformed. It is not as though we have to add a new dimension of values to the present system of education by some kind of grafting; what is needed is to touch the very centre of education, touch its very kernel, and irrigate it with fresh water so that in all its sinews, vessels and organs, values flow and bloom with all the life-giving fragrance. This is the programme that we need to put before ourselves.

But, practically, how should we go about this task?

The first step is to bring into prominence those aspects of education which contribute greatly to value education but which have remained neglected or have been given only a peripheral place in the present system. It is here that we need to underline the role of art in education. The first aim of art education is purely aesthetic, the second is intellectual and the third and the highest is spiritual. Music, art, and poetry may be viewed as a perfect education for the soul. They are, when properly used, great educating, edifying and civilising forces.

We have to ensure that every child with artistic talents gets right encouragement to develop his/her talents and to express them. We have also to ensure that every child is helped to understand and appreciate the uplifting role of art. The same rule should apply in respect of the development of skills involved in different crafts.

Physical education is another domain, which continues to be neglected in our present system. We must underline that some of the best qualities of character can be developed through physical education, particularly those of sportsmanship, team spirit, practice of fair play, and acceptance of success and failure with grace and equanimity. Therefore, physical education should be so designed that these qualities and virtues get right nourishment and encouragement.

Along with physical education, we must provide opportunities for the development of the national spirit of discipline. Scouts and guide movements as also NCC and NSS should not be allowed to remain in the periphery. Students should be offered the opportunity of participating in one or more of these channels. We must also make them utilisable for the requirements of national defence.

Vocational education should also be looked upon as an essential part of character development. No personality is complete without the development of skills for which vocational education provides ready means. Our system of education should be so redesigned that every student should have the possibility of at least two years training in the skills suitable to a chosen vocation prior to any terminal point in the system of education, ─ particularly prior to the end of elementary education.

All these measures may be looked upon as the first step.

We may now come to the next step, and here we are bound to recommend certain radical measures:

(a) First of all, our contents of education need to be greatly revised, and in this revision we have to provide for a core programme of what may be called "man-making education", or value education. This core programme of value education should have, as stated above, an intellectual, ethical and aesthetic dimension. These three dimensions should also be related to overarching and ever-comprehensive umbrella of spiritual education where the values of inner life and universality and oneness are emphasised, both in theory and practice. In order that this core programme gets easily interwoven with various branches of studies, teaching-learning materials should be so prepared that illustrations are taken, preferably in the form of stories, plays or poems relating to the domains of language and literature, history and geography, science and mathematics and of other domains from where vastness of universe gets related harmoniously with human life and with life in general. Great values like the ideals of truth, self-control, self-knowledge, heroism, sincerity, honesty, endurance, faithfulness, and the rest can best be communicated through appropriate stories or great passages of literature. Parables from various religions and secular literature and biographical and legendary stories can also be utilised in this connection.

We need to prepare literature that can give inspiring accounts of great leaders of rational thought, aesthetics, morality and spirituality.

(b) Another aspect of this core programme should he related to exercise of observation of Nature so that students are encouraged to develop qualities of impartiality in observation. But the most important aspect of this core programme could be related to the exercises of introspection. This may be regarded as the psychological domain of value education. The important point is that value education should not be reduced to teachings of do’s and don’ts. Such a teaching is counter-productive, and students who are bred under the regiment of do’s and don’ts develop secret revolt against moral and spiritual values. It is through psychological means and through development of human and humane qualities that one is inspired to grow into a proper state of values which are distinctly related to one’s own inner nature, swabhava, and one’s own law of development, swadharma.

(c) Psychology of thought, will and emotion, and that of cognition, affection and conation will open up the understanding of higher states of consciousness such as those of quietude, tranquillity, calm, silence, equanimity, compassion, and perfect detachment as also of perfection in works, karmasu kaushalam.

(d) No programme of value education will be complete without relating the lessons of science and its relationship with values. One of the present needs of our times is to harmonise science and values, science and ethics, science and aesthetics and science and spirituality. Science of the body and science of matter, science of life and art of life, science of mind, and science of the unity of mind and heart, all these have a direct connection with the realm of values which are connected with our physical, emotional and mental life. The scientific theme of evolution has also a message for the development of the human personality. If evolution is a fact, human being is also both a product of evolution and leader of further evolution. Questions as to how evolution can be engineered in such a way that better human beings can be designed and even mutation of human species can be conceived and effectuated. In fact, there is a direct relationship between evolution and Yoga, since, as Swami Vivekananda has pointed out, Yoga is nothing but an accelerated and conscious process of evolution. This will bring about a revolutionary change in our concept of value education and make value education a subject of profoundest importance in the minds of students and society in general.

(e) As a matter of fact, value education and holistic vision of the universe are closely related. The greater the universality of vision, the greater will be the intensity of pursuit of values. Therefore, value education programme should underline not only the perception but also the experience of universality and even of cosmic consciousness, and still higher levels of consciousness.

(f) Finally, value education should provide for the understanding of the ideal of perfection. Perfection can be conceived both as a maximum state of excellence as also a continuous process of balance and harmony of all aspects of personality. The real perfection comes about when excellence of knowledge, works and love are integrated. It is at this point that education for personality development becomes identical with value education. It is here that one begins to bring home to the students and teachers the knowledge and practice of the science and art of self-education.

We may now come to the third step.

Closely connected with the proposal of the core programme is the problem of the load of curriculum on students. The present load itself is so heavy that any proposal to bring about a further increase in the curriculum is bound to be resisted, and quite rightly. But the fact is that we are here speaking, not of increase of a new programme, but of redesigning the whole programme in such a way that the centrality of value education is ensured. This redesigning will imply pruning a large number of topics and subjects which have become outdated and obsolete. It would also imply that many areas which are made compulsory today will be made optional. It will also imply that children’s talents and interests will be so respected that they will be encouraged to pursue those subjects in which they have natural talent and genius. It would also mean that the stuffing of the human mind with snippets of information will be eliminated. Instead of mere information, knowledge will be encouraged; instead of mere knowledge, wisdom will be encouraged. In order that this recommendation is properly implemented, we need to create a body of educationists who would look at the present curriculum with fresh eyes, with fresh objectives and with fresh concerns.

It may be argued that this would mean a great upsetting of the present situation. But we may answer that a radical change will certainly imply some upsetting, but the wisdom of the reformers will lie in the fact that they will carry out changes in such a way that the transition is smooth and the strategies are so worked out that students’ careers are not in any way adversely affected. In the ultimate analysis, unless we are prepared for great changes, we cannot hope to make our education value oriented.

We may now come to the last question, and this is directly related to the creation of the right atmosphere in educational institutions and to the study of practice of great values that have been the special concern of Indian culture.

As we all know, our noble, great and ancient culture is being invaded today by increasing tides of currents which are spreading from foreign countries. It is not that we should shut ourselves in a shell and allow ourselves to be narrowed down to our small domains of life. On the contrary, we should be able to receive the winds from all sides and assimilate all that is helpful. For example, Western culture is today striving for the realisation of the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity. This striving has a great message for us, and if we can receive it rightly, our individual and collective life can be rejuvenated. The Western mind advocates original thought, critical thought and scientific thought; if we are to develop originality, criticality and scientific spirit, we shall be able to recover and re-fashion our own national intellectual, moral and spiritual resources and capacities. There are also currents of creativity, prosperity and unity which are drawing upon us from the West. These elements also are very helpful, and if we can receive them in the right context, and in the right spirit, they will contribute to the re-invigoration of our own sinews of energy and enterprise.

But those great things of the West are mixed with their ideas and forces of economic barbarism, vulgar sensuality, and unacceptable life style that affect our sense of sacredness of human relationships. Indian culture has always honoured the spirit of sacrifice rather than of consumption; it has always counselled us to choose the good rather than the pleasant, to choose shreyas rather than preyas. Indian culture has always put before us the ideal of liberation from egoism rather than that of worship of selfish self-centredness and narrow competitiveness in self-assertion. We are, therefore, called upon to become vigilant so that these adverse tendencies do not get entrance into thought and life of our people and weaken our morale and sense of self-identity. Indeed, our sense of self-identity is not inconsistent with universality. To become citizens of the world should be our goal, but to honour our own heritage, to practise our own great ideals which are themselves conducive to universality should not be allowed to be ruined or sacrificed.

For this purpose, we need to devise the study of Indian culture in our schools and colleges in such an effective manner that the lessons of Indian culture are not only learned intellectually, merely on school benches, but they are learnt even vitally, emotionally, concretely and by methods of practice, by methods of concrete internalisation, and by methods of tests on the anvil of life.

This is the most difficult task, but if we want to make our education value-oriented this has to be accomplished. How far and how soon this can be done will depend upon our teachers.

And, for this reason, we need to make an earnest appeal to the teachers.

III

If teachers can change their attitudes towards students, they will make a great effort to observe their students with greater and greater psychological understanding and sympathy. A good teacher can always empathise with the children in the class as a good gardener can empathise with flowers in the garden, whatever their state of development. If teachers can consent to look upon their work as sacred work, a work of priesthood, a work of trustee, a work in which his or her own soul gets directly related to the inmost souls of the children, — if teachers perform their tasks with fresh eyes, fresh vigour, and fresh approach, they can make a great contribution to their children’s value-oriented integral development. Good teachers can utilise the important methods of education such as those of setting an example of high character and providing stimulating atmosphere in the class room for their own students. Teachers can cultivate powers of expression and powers of explanation; they can invent striking words, striking phrases and striking ideas, which can illumine the perceptions and thoughts of the children. Teachers can devote their own utmost time to the preparation of lessons for their children; teachers can establish right relationships with children so that they can be inspired to put their trust in them and follow their guidance. There are, indeed, counteracting influences at work, — at home, in school or in society at large. But still, good teachers can make a great difference, and in spite of limiting conditions in which they are working, they can still achieve something that is of basic importance.

Parents also can contribute a great deal. They, too, can become good teachers; they can learn how to look after children and how they can inspire them to develop right habits, right manners, and right attitudes towards things and people, towards environment, towards their work, towards their books and time-tables, towards their time of play and time of study. Parents can supplement teacher’s tasks in many ways; and parents can also create in their homes value-oriented atmosphere. They can so organise the home life that nothing is displayed in children’s atmosphere which is injurious to children’s value education. They can also learn how to sacrifice their outer pleasures for the sake of the growth of their children.

It is true that the circumstances in which the families run these days, the tasks that are expected of the parents may not be so easy to implement. There is a big factor of Television today in every home, and nobody has control over it which is influencing our children in a very big way and often in a disastrous way. But, here again, Parents’ Associations can play a great role. They can create a movement in the country to combat this menace. They can pressurise the government to change the policy in such a way that at least the official channels are freed from vulgarity, cheap entertainment, and vulgar advertisements which stimulate lower desires and impulses. They can also create public opinion whereby parents choose the channels for children and ensure that good films and right episodes are witnessed by children. When there is a downpour, you cannot stop the rain, but you can certainly have an umbrella to protect the body. In the same way, when there is a downpour of films on TV, good, bad and indifferent, — parents can provide umbrella for their children by means of counselling, and by means of setting certain standards in the atmosphere of the home.

The educational administrators also can help a great deal even in the present system of education. Principals, Inspectors, Directors and Policy makers can ensure that funds are allocated for right purposes, that programmes are so designed, — both curricular and extra-curricular, — that value education and integral education get utmost importance, that atmosphere of the institutions is so designed and developed that in every nook and corner, children find display of beautiful things, inspiring thoughts and ennobling stimulation.

Similarly, students also can play their own role. Students can be taught or they can learn on their own how to discipline themselves; they can be stimulated, both internally and externally, how to utilise immense freedom which is available to them in the present day societal environment. They can think of the art of self-discipline, the art of control, the art of concentration. They can also seek guidance of teachers and others as to how to study, what to study and how to develop their faculties, and how to harmonise and integrate their personality.

In this connection, perhaps the most important thing that we need for implementing value education in public and private schools, universities and other educational institutions is to underline the programmes of training of teachers.

Making of a teacher differs significantly from making, say, of an advocate or a surgeon. The teacher is more than a mere skilled performer in a branch of his profession. It is true, indeed, that he must have the best of skill in accustoming the pupil to the austere joy of mastering a difficult theme, be it quadratic equation or the equation of E=MC2 or any other similar theme. But in the end, when the frontiers of knowledge change, the importance and even the validity of what is learnt may not survive. What survives is the discipline of learning and the values acquired in the process. Whatever be the topic teacher teaches, the ultimate values of his professional endeavour bear on the habits of living and thinking and feeling, the art of life — on what the pupil comes to love and care for. Thus the teacher fashions the life of the pupil — which is the single theme of all education. Skills in teaching are, no doubt, important, but they do not take the teacher far. An otherwise unashamedly desolate teacher may teach effectively; he also influences lives of the pupils no less, but sadly. Therefore, a teacher must not only be efficient, but he or she should also be a good person. The most effective weapon of a teacher is the silent power of example; it matters in the end and always. It is, therefore, necessary that teacher education should aim not merely at cultivation of skills but in making a personality of high character and noble vision. This consideration brings to teacher education very different purpose and responsibility, which are not equally relevant to other professions.

Value education is directly related to integral education. In integral education, every domain gets related to its own proper value system. In the domain of physical education, the values that are promoted are those of health, grace and beauty. In the domain of vital education, the values that are promoted are those of harmony and friendliness, of courage and heroism, of endurance and perseverance. In the domain of mental development, the values that are pursued are those of utmost impartiality, dispassionate search of the truth, of calm and silence, and of the widest possible synthesis. The values pertaining to the aesthetic development would be those of beauty and creative joy. The integrating psychic and spiritual development emphasises the value of intimate sympathy for all, mutuality, ever-increasing wideness, process of self-exceeding and attainment of oneness.

Let us also note that integral education admits integrality of life, and invites life itself to be the teacher of the life of the pupil. As life works through atmosphere and environment created by activities of interrelationship of individuals and things, — even so, integral education aims at creating the right atmosphere and the right environment which are so skillfully organised that outer instruction plays a minor role and personal example of the teacher and nearness of the teacher to the soul of the student play a major role.

As the subject of value-education and integral education is very important, let us present here a brief outline of a synoptic view of the present situation in respect of learning-teaching process, which throws useful light on the pedagogy that we can evolve for application in the field of value-education.

We are passing through a great transition. The old is becoming obsolete and the new is still in the process of emergence. The old ways of learning and teaching are found to be too rigid and too outmoded. A greater application of psychological principles is being increasingly demanded. It has been urged that the training of the young requires on the part of the teacher a deep psychological knowledge. According to some thinkers, the present educational system is a huge factory of mis-education. According to them, the spontaneity of the child is smothered at an early stage by our mechanical methods which are prevalent in our educational system. They contend that the child is not a plastic material which can be moulded according to educators’ design, but it is a closed bud having its own inherent capacity to flower and blossom, needing only the favourable climate and conditions such as the right atmosphere, environment, inspiration and guidance. Each child, according to them, is a psychological entity, having its own specific individual needs of growth of knowledge and the teacher is required to develop the same kind of insight and tact by which a good gardener tends to varieties of plants and trees in his garden. Just as each plant needs to be individually looked after, even so, each child, it is contended, is required to be looked after individually. It has been further held that each individual is a great potentiality, but only very little gets actualised, and the rest remains dormant and uncultivated. This means a tremendous waste both for the nation and the world. Not to tap the full potentialities of each individual is thus psychologically unsound and economically unproductive. It has, therefore, been urged that our educational system should either be set aside altogether through some kind of "de-schooling" or radically changed in such a way that each individual is provided with conditions and facilities under which he can grow towards his fullness on the lines that are psychologically appropriate to him.

There is another line of thinking according to which it is not enough to develop the potentialities of the individual but also to direct these potentialities towards their highest values. It has been argued that the psychological development of the individual is an extremely dangerous process unless the development is guided by wisdom and skill and directed towards, certain desirable and sublime ideals. There is a risk, it is argued, of succeeding in developing only highly egoistic and self-centred individuals, if we insist only upon development and do not take a great care to insist on the discovery of the right values, aims, objectives and ideals. It has, therefore, been urged that education should be value-oriented and should provide those conditions and facilities under which each: individual is enabled to discover the highest possible values and embody them as effectively as possible in thought, feeling and action.

An unprecedented education experiment which is taking place in different parts of the world today has resulted in the formulation on new models of learning-teaching process. It has been argued that learning is a process of transmutation, transmutation of innate reflexes into organised and conscious perceptions, visions and actions, transmutation of innate drives into wise and skillful pursuit of means and ends, and transmutation of innate tendencies into harmonious integrated personality. It has been contended that there are observable and discernible processes by which the process of transmutation can be accelerated. We are often asked to consider the tremendous feat of learning that the child performs in the first few years of its life. It has been contended that the child learns so fast because all its occupations are occupations of learning. For the child, all play is learning, and all learning is a play. Again, it is contended, the child learns so fast because the child deals with its universe with its total being by the exercise of all its faculties and by a concrete urge of experience. It has been argued that our entire learning process should be so changed that we are able to create for the learner the same conditions, which obtain in the child’s encounter with its universe. Some educationists have, therefore, pleaded for a search of a school that has no walls, and for studies that have no boundaries.

It has also been argued that the learner learns best under the conditions of freedom to choose, under teacher’s wise guidance, what he wants to learn and what he should learn. The learner should have also the freedom of pursuing his studies at his own pace. This argument is further intensified when it is seen that an indispensable condition of the moral and spiritual development is secured only when the learner is given ample opportunities to exercise his free will.

Learning by doing is being increasingly advocated. At the same time, it is being recognised that there are, for different categories of learners, different ways of learning. Some students learn better through aesthetic experience, some others through manual work, while still others through intellectual or meditative contemplation. It has, therefore, been suggested that an ideal system of education should provide to each learner that method or such combination of methods which is suitable to his specific needs of learning.

Self-learning is being given in several experiments a pre-eminent place. Individualised programmed instruction, for example, follows an instructional model which aspires to produce an effective communication for securing precisely defined goals of learning, in a manner timed to meet the needs of the individual, mostly with the help of programmed teaching and learning material. An important variant of individualised learning is that of learning by consultation with the teacher, as and when needed. Lecture system, which caters to group learning, plays a minor role in experiments which emphasise self-learning. Even the syllabi and examination system are required to be radically changed in the context of a system based upon self-learning.

Project systems try to combine self-learning with group-learning. Projects may be directed towards an exploration or towards producing some practical action under certain actual situations. In a model that is known as Info-Bank, the learner is required to define what he is interested in and the kind of approach that he wants to undertake. The learner is given the freedom to govern his reading and practical activities and to judge the knowledge acquired and its significance. In some educational experiments, a combination of different information materials is made available to the learner and he is given the freedom to construct and control his own learning process and the environment suitable for the chosen learning process. In yet another instructional model, individual learners learn from one another by informing and consulting one another mutually from time to time. At a higher level of consultation, there is experimental testing and feed-back. In some models, the learner takes over the roles of those responsible for action and decision in simulated environment. In some cases, problems to be solved are frequently more complex and make the acquisition of external information necessary, while in others the required information is supplied in advance. In the “Workshop Model", the learners work like colleagues, supported, if necessary, by organisers and advisers, on the solution of real problems with which they are confronted. In this model, the learning of the methods of work is as important as the production of results.

Educationists are perplexed by the phenomenon of unprecedented explosion of knowledge. Teachers and learners are required to deal with this explosion, and efforts are being made to discover accelerated methods of learning and teaching. The necessity of continuous or life-long education is also being underlined. At the same time, teachers and students are required to distinguish more clearly than ever before, those aspects of knowledge which are essential from those which are of peripheral importance.

There is also today an unparalleled width and depth of enquiry, which necessitates a new kind of learning-teaching process that would be at once comprehensive and yet peculiarly specialised or varied so as to suit each individual.

Again, there is today a great quest all over the world towards the synthesis of knowledge and synthesis of culture. Ancient knowledge is being recovered in the context of modern knowledge. The humanist and the technologist are finding themselves in greater and greater need of each other. It is being increasingly recognised that the learner should not only develop his rational faculties but should also pursue moral and aesthetic tendencies. In India, we go farther and underline the need of a synthesis of science and spirituality. Against this background, there is a quest to discover a point of convergence where different sciences and humanities can meet in a synthesis of knowledge. There is a search for an all-embracing project of work-experience that would generate a continuing process of life-long education. And there is a search for a programme of learning that would necessitate a spontaneous harmony of the needs of a personal development with the needs of collective development. It is being asked if there is a tool of the acceleration of the summing up of the past and the unfolding of the future. And it is asked if there is a method and content of education that would necessitate an automatic synchronization of studies, work-experience and flowering of faculties and values. It has become necessary, both for the learner and for the teacher, to discover or invent such methods by the employment of which the explosion of knowledge can be contained and personality can be developed which would harmonise, progressively, the wideness of the humanist and the skill of the technologist, the disciplined will-force of the moralist and the refined imagination of the artist, and the scrupulous knowledge of the scientist and the sublime vision, wisdom and ever-growing perfection of the profound and wide spiritual culture.

We thus see that there are today powerful trends that necessitate a continual revision of the contents of education as also a continual refinement of the learning-teaching process.

It is against this background that there is a serious thinking to determine the new role that the teacher is called upon to play. The situation in India is in a sense more complex than in many other countries of the world. India is passing through a tremendous period of scientific and cultural efflorescence. This period was marked by a powerful phase of the national freedom struggle during which the Indian subcontinent passed through an unprecedented churning of mental, aesthetic, moral and spiritual ideas. In the course of this churning, profound experiments in the field of education took place, the lessons of which need still to be assimilated. There grew in India during this period an irresistible sentiment to give to the children and the youths of our country a new kind of education, which is freed from the fetters of the system given to us by the British and which would ensure development and promotion among students and teachers not only of the highest values of physical, emotional, mental, aesthetic, moral and spiritual culture, but also those values which are uniquely Indian, and which would at the same time promote a new kind of synthesis appropriate to our own culture. India has developed a kind of secularism which needs to be properly defined, understood and promoted. We have to build up young men and women who would have pride in the Indian heritage and our culture. This would mean that we have to transmit to the children and youths a true knowledge of India, of India’s complexity, of India’s greatness and of India’s innate tendencies to harmonise and synthesise.

The task that lies ahead of Indian education is difficult. We are speeding rapidly towards the turn of the century, and we are being called upon to take into account the educational needs both of today and of tomorrow.

The implications of these trends are many, but we shall limit ourselves only to those practical guidelines that emerge from a detailed study of the relevant experiments carried out in the recent past in India and elsewhere.

The secret of teaching values is to inspire and kindle the quest among the students by means of one’s own example of character and mastery of knowledge. It is by embodying values within ourselves that we can really radiate values to our students.

Value-oriented education should not be conceived as an enunciation of a series of command merits. The idea of command merits implies a belief that there are certain actions which are absolutely good, and there are others which are absolutely bad. An inner process, however, shows that outer actions derive their value only in relation to the inner motive and the inner consciousness from which those actions emerge. It is not actions in themselves but the inner qualities behind actions which are important. The given right quality may express itself in different forms of actions. And each of these actions would be right, since behind each one of them there is the living vibration of the right quality. On the other hand, there are several actions which may apparently seem to be good and right in their outer form, and yet, if they are not spontaneous expressions of the right quality, they cease to have any moral and spiritual value.

A good teacher should, therefore, have a sound psychological knowledge of the different parts of the being, of the different qualities that come into play in various actions, and of the right laws of the development of personality in relation to the development of capacities and values of an integrated personality.

As we have noted elsewhere, values cannot be taught in the same way as lessons of information. Instruction should form a minor role, and a major role should be assigned to intimate contact and individual guidance. The role of the teacher is to put the child on the right road to his perfection and to encourage him in his growth by watching, suggestions and helping, but not imposing or interfering.

All occasions of daily life should be utilised by the teacher to bring his student nearer to the realisation of the ideals. There are occasions when children express wild impulses and passions, and often they are in revolt. Children have their own daily battles and loyalties and friendships, and there are moments of desperate depression and of violent enthusiasm. There are occasions when children get vexed, become sulky and go on strike. All these occasions are occasions for value-oriented education. With patience and perseverance, the teacher can utilise all these occasions to show the truth and light and to awaken among the children the right sense and the right directions of true progress.

We may now venture to suggest some further guidelines which may be helpful to teachers at different levels of guiding and helping the children:

(a) It may first be noted that a good many children are under the influence of their inner psychic and spiritual being which shows itself very distinctly at times in their spontaneous turning truth, beauty and goodness. To recognise this turning and to encourage it wisely and with a deep sympathy would be the first indispensable step.

(b) The most important quality to develop among the children is sincerity.

(d) The undesirable impulses and habits should not be treated harshly. The child should not he scolded. Particularly, care should be taken not to rebuke a child for a fault which one commits oneself. Children are very keen and clear-sighted observers; they soon find out the educators’ weaknesses and note them without pity.

(e) When a child commits a mistake, one must see that he confesses it to the teacher spontaneously and frankly; and when he has confessed it he should be made to understand with kindness and affection what was wrong in movement and that he should not repeat it. A fault confessed must be forgiven.

(f) A child should be encouraged to think of wrong impulses not as sins or offences but as symptoms of a curable disease which can be remedied by a steady and sustained effort of the will ─ falsehood being rejected and replaced by truth, fear by courage, selfishness by sacrifice, malice by love.

(g) Great care should be taken to see that unformed virtues are not rejected as faults. The wildness and recklessness of many young natures are only over-flowing of an excessive strength, greatness and nobility. They should be purified, not discouraged.

(h) An affection, that is firm yet gentle, sees clearly, and a sufficiently practical knowledge will create bonds of trust that are indispensable for the educator to make the education of a child effective and value-oriented.

(i) When a child asks a question, he should not be answered by saying that it is stupid or foolish, or that the answer will not be understood by him. Curiosity cannot be postponed, and an effort must be made to answer questions truthfully and in such a way as to make the answer comprehensible to the student’s mental capacity.

(j) The teacher should ensure that the student gradually begins to become aware of his deeper self and that with this growing awareness the student is able to harmonise and resolve his inner conflicts.

(k) It should be emphasised that if one has a sincere and steady aspiration, a persistent and dynamic will, one is sure to meet in one way or another, externally by study and instruction, internally by concentration, revelation or experience, the help that one needs. Only one thing is absolutely indispensable, namely, the will to discover and realise. This discovery and this realisation should be the primary occupation of the being, the pearl of great price which one should acquire at any cost. Whatever one does, whatever one’s occupation and activity, the will to find the truth of one’s being and to unite with it should always burn like fire behind all that one does, thinks and feels.

(l) At higher levels of development, teacher should use the methods of daily conversation and books read from day-to-day. Books should contain lofty examples of the past, given not as moral lessons but as things of supreme human interest. These books should also contain: (i) great thoughts of great souls, (ii) passages of literature which set fire to the highest emotions and promote the highest aspirations, and (iii) records of history and biography which exemplify the living of great thoughts, noble emotions and inspiring ideals.

(m) Opportunities should be given or created which would enable students to embody progressively higher and nobler values.

There are important aspects of the mental, vital and physical education, which contribute to the value-oriented education. They can be briefly mentioned:

(a) In its natural state the human mind is limited in its vision, and narrow in its understanding. It is often rigid in its conceptions, and a certain effort is needed to enlarge it to make it supple and deep. Hence, it is very necessary to develop in the child the inclination and capacity to consider everything from as many points of view as possible. There is an exercise in this connection which gives greater suppleness and an elevation to thought. It is as follows:

A clearly formulated thesis is set; against it is opposed an anti-thesis, formulated with the same precision. Then by careful reflection the problem must be widened or transcended so that a synthesis is found which unites the two contraries in a larger, higher and more comprehensive idea.

Another exercise is to control the mind from judging things and people hastily and without sufficient data. True knowledge is always at a higher level, and one must be able to reach not only the domain of pure ideas but even of deeper experiences. Therefore, the mind should be trained to be silent and to search deeply in order to derive knowledge from higher regions of pure ideas and deeper experiences.

One may suggest a further exercise: Whenever there is a disagreement on any matter, as a decision to take, or an action to accomplish, one must not stick to one’s own conception or point of view. On the contrary, one must try to understand the other person’s point of view, put oneself in his place and, instead of quarrelling, find out a solution which can reasonably satisfy both parties. There is always one for men of goodwill.

A wide, subtle, rich, complex, attentive, quiet and silent mind is a powerful base not only for the discovery of supreme values but also for manifesting them in our outer actions, thoughts and feelings.

(b) The vital being in us is the seat of impulses and desires of enthusiasm and violence, of dynamic energy and desperate depression, of passions and revolt. The vital being is, however, a good worker, although most often it seeks its own satisfaction. If that is refused totally or even partially, it gets vexed, sulky and goes on strike.

An exercise at these moments is to remain quiet and refuse to act. For it is important to realise that at such tines one does stupid things and can, in a few moments, destroy or spoil what one has gained in months of regular effort.

Another exercise is to deal with the vital as one deals with child in revolt, with patience and perseverance, showing it the truth and the light, endeavouring to convince it and awaken in it the goodwill.

A wide, strong, calm but dynamic vital, capable of right emotion, right decision and right execution is an invaluable aid to the realisation of supreme values.

(c) The body by nature is a docile and faithful instrument but it is very often misused by the mind with its dogmas, its rigid and arbitrary principles, and by the vital with its passions, its excess and dissipation. It is these which are the cause of bodily fatigue, exhaustion and disease. The body must, therefore, be freed from the tyranny of the mind and the vital and this can be done by training the body to feel and sense the presence of inmost harmony and peace and to learn to obey its governance.

The emphasis in physical education should be laid on the development of health, strength, agility, grace and beauty through various exercises, whether done by Yogic Asanas or by other methods of physical culture such as gymnastics, athletics, aquatics, combatives, games and sports. When the body is rightly trained, it will learn to put forth at every minute the effort that is demanded of it, for it will have learnt to find rest in action, and to replace through contact with universal forces and energies what it spends consciously and usefully. By this sound and balanced practice, a new harmony will manifest in the body, which will give right proportions and the ideal beauty of form.

There are many sports which help to form and necessitate the qualities of courage, hardihood, energetic action, initiative, steadiness of will, rapid decision and action, the perception of what is to be done in an emergency and dexterity in doing it. Another invaluable result of these sports is the growth of the sporting spirit. This includes good humour and tolerance and consideration for all, a right attitude and friendliness to competitors and rivals, self-control and scrupulous observance of the laws of the games, fair play and avoidance of the use of foul means equal acceptance of victory or defeat without bad humour and loyal acceptance of the decisions of the appointed judge, umpire or referee. More important still is the custom of discipline, obedience, order and habit of teamwork which certain games necessitate.

In the words of Sri Aurobindo:

"If they(the above qualities)could be made more common not only in the life of the individual but in the national life and in the international where in the present day the opposite tendencies have become too rampant, existence in this troubled world of ours would be smoother and might open a greater chance of concord and amity of which it stands very much in need. The nation which possesses them in the highest degree is likely to be strongest for victory, success and greatness, but also for the contribution it can make towards the bringing about of unity and more harmonious world order towards which we look as our hope for humanity’s future."

Works of community service should be included as a part of the total educational process. But to make community service truly value-oriented, emphasis should be laid on the true spirit with which the proposed work is to be done. Requisite spirit can be developed progressively through certain successive stages. For example, the work inspired by desire or by restlessness should be replaced by the work inspired by aspiration for perfection. At the higher stage, work should be done in order to discover relationship with one’s own inmost and highest aspirations. At a still higher level, work should be looked upon as an offering, without any sense of bargain. At still higher stages, work should be done in consonance with the highest ideal that is being progressively worked out in the world, namely, the ideal of solidarity, unity and harmony. The entire discipline of work should be looked upon as tapasya, which should be carried out not only in right spirit but also with efficiency and skill. The true morality and spirituality demand meticulous care in handling material things, and one should not tolerate one’s own forgetfulness or idleness. There should be a living worship of things, materials, tools and processes of works. There should be an increasing awareness that matter too is sacred.

Stories and plays to illustrate these dreams would be an effective instrument. Artistic imagination that would refine sensitivity and sense of beauty should develop right from the early stages of education. Even ordinary habitual things of daily life should be taught as activities of art and beauty. That even activities such as those of bathing, cleaning the teeth, dressing, sitting and standing require art and refined sense of beauty should be brought home to children and young students.

Students should be encouraged to live in harmony with Nature and to develop the habit of calm and intimate company of plants, trees and flowers.

At a little higher stage, students may be introduced to the art of listening to music. Acquaintance with some selected ragas (Indian) and harmonies (Western) should be encouraged. Exhibition of books of beauty in its various aspects should also form part of the programmes in schools. A great stress should be laid upon physical fitness as an essential part of the pursuit of beauty.

Those who have special interest in music, art and poetry should be given special facilities so that they can develop their interests and capacities in these fields.

Examples of poetic excellence should also be presented to the students in various ways. An idea should be emphasised that just as there is beauty in the harmony of physical forms, even so, there is beauty in the harmony of the forms of thoughts, words, feelings and deeds.

At a still higher level, special emphasis may be laid on the powers of expression, such as faultless recitation, poetry and dramatics. A special emphasis should be laid on the study of the appreciation of art and music.

A. Since stories play a great role in providing inspiration to the children in regard to values, teachers should prepare various compositions of stories and plays from the world literature, which would satisfy at the best the following criteria:

(i) They should have been written in a language that is chaste and beautiful;

(ii) They should be full of human interests, which however, do not involve plots of mischief and cunning; and

(iii) They should be able to create an atmosphere of peace and harmony and a spontaneous inspiration for Truth, Beauty and Goodness.

B. Teachers should also endeavour to:

(a) Select and compile exercises (i) of remembering and repeating noble aspirations and thoughts, (ii) of observation and accurate descriptions, and (iii) of control of senses and speech and behaviour;

(b) Identify subjects and topics, which develop sense of wonder;

(d) Identify activities, which may relate to the free choice directed towards control and mastery over lower impulses and towards excellence in studies and in works;

(e) Identify topics that would help students to widen and heighten their consciousness;

(f) Select topics related to self-knowledge and to the methods of concentration by which human consciousness can be developed not only horizontally but also vertically so as to create states of consciousness in which mutuality, harmony and true fraternity could flower spontaneously;

(g) Identify subjects and topics related to values needed for a new order of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity; and

(h) Finally, identify, subjects and topics related to the Values of the Synthesis of the East and the West.

Let us reiterate, however, that if the teacher is to play his right role in the promotion of value-oriented education, the teacher himself should be value-oriented. It is only when he is himself is value-oriented, that he will be able to give the necessary inspiration, help and guidance to his students. As we have noted elsewhere, values cannot be taught merely by discourse, just as swimming cannot be taught merely by lectures. A good teacher of swimming has to be a swimmer himself, and he should be able to take the learner into the waters to make him swim. Similarly, a teacher of values should himself be a seeker and aspirant of values, and he should be ready to walk with the learner on the long and difficult path of realising and embodying values.

How to Make Education Value-Oriented? - 8 November 1997

ROTARY CLUB OF COIMBATORE TEXCITY

DESABHAKTA SOCIETY OF COIMBATORE

Address Delivered At

TEACHERS INDIA 2000

By KIREET JOSHI

"HOW TO MAKE EDUCATION VALUE-ORIENTED?"

8th November, 1997

PSG INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES AUDITORIUM, PSG MEDICAL COLLEGE, PEELAMEDUM, COIMBATORE

It is a matter of privilege and happiness to have an opportunity to meet teachers who are gathered here to prepare themselves for India 2000. Indeed, teachers are the makers of tomorrow, but the prerogatives of the makers carry with themselves corresponding responsibilities.

It is refreshing that your Agenda has spelt out some of the root questions like what is education and also some of the fundamental issues which must be confronted boldly and squarely, if we are to prepare for India a happier and a brighter 2000. Among these important issues, the most important is related to value-education. The question that has been formulated for our consideration is: how to make education value-oriented?

In fact, education rightly defined is automatically value-oriented. Value education is the very definition of education; for the ultimate justification and the very process of education consists in transmuting impulses, emotions and thoughts into higher modes of culture. Both in theory and practice, education must bear this fundamental imprint. It is because education has ceased to be education, it is because education has gradually become a prison house of various kinds of walls of artificiality, of mechanisation, of de-personalisation, that we feel offended by the whole structure of education and we are now wondering how we can make this house of education to blossom into a garden of values.

At the deepest level, the answer to the question that we have raised is that the entire system of education needs to be thoroughly transformed. It is not as though we have to add a new dimension of values to the present system of education by some kind of grafting; what is needed is to touch the very centre of education, touch its very kernel, and irrigate it with fresh water so that in all its sinews, vessels and organs, values bloom and flow with all the life-giving fragrance. This is the programme that we need to put before ourselves.

But, practically, how should we go about this task?

We had recently a Conference in Delhi which was organised by the Desabhakta Trust in collaboration, with the Dharam Hinduja International Centre of Indic Research. After due deliberations it has chalked out a minimum programme and has presented to the country a “National Agenda for Education". It has made an appeal to the people not to leave the subject of education in the hands merely of bureaucracy or governmental machinery but to involve themselves in initiating and aiding through various programmes and activities, so that, first, education gains top priority, secondly, the child and the youth are declared to be the sovereigns of the country’s concerns, and, third the entire society is constantly inspired to turn itself into a learning society. This Agenda declares that the crisis through which our country is passing today is the crisis of character, and it cannot be met without radical change in the objectives, contents and methods of education, so as to place character development at the centre of our educational endeavour. It further adds that there should be holistic approach to character development and all aspects of personality, — physical, vital, intellectual, aesthetic, ethical, and spiritual, — should be emphasised. The entire Agenda is value-oriented and advocates reiteration of objectives of education that underline value-oriented integral development of personality, synthesis of science and values, promotion of national integration and international understanding and peace.

These objectives are often repeated and they sound so charming even in the speeches of those who give them as a kind of lip-service. What is needed, however, is that these objectives are not only to be announced but they should be made vibrantly alive to the contents and methods of education. If Macaulayan system of education which aimed at producing clerks is to be redesigned so as to fulfil the dream of Swami Vivekananda of man-making education”, we need to involve everyone connected with education, — and teachers most prominently, — and everyone has to take a pledge to understand his/her own role in education and to fulfil it honestly and sincerely.

It is often argued that unless the system is first changed, nobody can fulfil his/her role in education. This is a sweeping statement and it can be reasonably argued that no system can be changed unless the consciousness of all concerned is first changed. Therefore, even while working for the change of the system, — and for the total change of the system, let us begin to work upon ourselves, and we shall find that even in the present circumstances, even in the conditions that obtain today, each one can contribute quite a great deal.

The first practical thing, — and I use the word "practical” deliberately — is that teachers must consent to be ready to work upon themselves to develop the right attitudes, to perform their work and their tasks with the sense of dedication and to devote themselves to the service of the children whom they happen to be the real trustees. The emphasis on education for character development, for value-orientation, for transforming education and to value-education, — imposes on the teachers a very special responsibility. As character can best be imparted by the living example of the teacher, a high standard of ethos must become an indispensable part of the teaching profession. Considering that the teacher is the bridge between the past and the future, and carrier of cultural heritage from generation to generation, it must be expected from every teacher to become a perpetual student of the lessons of history and of the quest of the knowledge by the aid of which brighter future can be built.

We speak today of the child-centred education, but only the teacher can give concrete shape to this concept. For it is only the teacher who can introduce dynamic methods which would place the child in the centre of the learning process.

At the same time, corresponding to higher demands which must be made on teachers, the society has to ensure that the career graphs of teachers should be greatly revised and congenial conditions are created for teachers so that standards are equivalent to those or high quality of life.

The role of the teacher must be supplemented by the role of the students, of the parents, of the educational administrators.

But all this is only the first step, although an extremely important step. This will create a favourable climate for a greater change in the educational system. The next step is to bring into prominence those aspects of education which contribute greatly to value education but which have remained neglected or have been given only a peripheral place in the present system. It is here that we need to underline the role of art in education. The first aim of art education is purely aesthetic, the second is intellectual and the third and the highest is spiritual. Music, art, and poetry may be viewed as a perfect education for the soul. They are, when properly used, great educating, edifying and civilising forces.

Physical education is another domain which continues to be neglected in our present system. We must underline that some of the best qualities of character can be developed through physical education, particularly those of sportsmanship, team spirit, practice of fair play, acceptance of success and failure with grace and equanimity. Therefore, physical education should be so designed that these qualities and virtues get right nourishment and encouragement.

Along with physical education, we must provide opportunities for the development of the national spirit of discipline. Scouts and guide movements as also NCC and NSS should not be allowed to remain in the periphery. Students should be offered the possibility of participating in one or more of these channels. We must also make them utilisable for the requirements of national defence.

Vocational education should also be looked upon as an essential part of character development. No personality is complete without the development of skills for which vocational education provides ready means. Our system of education should be so redesigned that every student should have the possibility of at least two years training in the skills suitable to a chosen vocation prior to any terminal point in the system of education, — particularly prior to the end of elementary education.

All these measures may be looked upon as the second step.

We may now come to the third step, and here we are bound to recommend certain radical measures:

(a) first of all our contents of education need to be greatly revised, and in this revision we have to provide for a core programme of what may be called “man-making education" of value education. This core programme of value education should have an intellectual dimension, ethical dimension, and aesthetic dimension. These three dimension should also be related to overarching and every- comprehensive umbrella of spiritual education where the values of inner life and universality and oneness are emphasised, both in theory and practice. In order that this core programme get easily interwoven with various branches of studies, teaching-learning materials should be so prepared that illustrations are taken, preferably in the form of stories, plays or poems relating to the domains of language in literature, history and geography, science and mathematics and of other domains from where vastness of universe gets related harmoniously with human life and with life in general. Great values like the ideals of truth, self-control, self-knowledge, heroism, sincerity, honesty, endurance, faithfulness, and the rest best can be communicated through appropriate stories or great passages of literature. Parables from various religious and secular literature and biographical and legendary stories can also be utilised in this connection.

We need to prepare literature that can give inspiring accounts of great leaders of rational thought, aesthetic domain, morality and spirituality.

(b) An another aspect of this core programme should be related to exercise of observation of nature so that students are encouraged to develop qualities of impartiality in observation. But the most important aspect of this core programme could be related to the exercises of introspection. This may be regarded as the psychological domain of value education. The important point is that value education should not be reduced to the teachings of dos and don’ts. Such a teaching, is counter-productive, and students who are bred under the regimen of dos and don’ts develop secret revolts against moral and spiritual values. It is through psychological means and through development of human and humane qualities that one is inspired to grow into a proper state of values which are distinctly related to one’s own inner nature, swabhava, and one’s own law of development,swadharma.

(c) Psychology of thought, will and emotion, psychology of cognition, affection and conation will open up the understanding of higher states of consciousness such as those of quietude, tranquillity, calm, silence, equanimity, compassion, and perfect detachment as also of perfection in works, karmasu kaushalam.

(d) No programme of value education can be complete without relating the lessons of science and the relationship with values. One of the present need of our times is to harmonise science and values, science and ethics, science and aesthetics and science and spirituality. Science of the body and science of matter, science of life and science and art of life, science of mind, and science of the unity of mind and heart, — all these have a direct connection with the rhythm of values which are connected with our physical life, emotional life and mental life. The scientific theme of evolution has also a message for the development of the human personality. If evolution is a fact, human being is also both a product of evolution and leader of further evolution. Questions as to how evolution can be engineered in such a way that better human beings can be designed and even mutation of human species can be conceived and effectuated. In fact, there is a direct relationship between evolution and Yoga, since, as Swami Vivekananda pointed out that Yoga is nothing but an accelerated and conscious process of evolution. This will bring about a revolutionary change in our concept of value education and make value education a subject of profoundest importance in the minds of students and of society in general.

(e) As a matter fact, value education and holistic vision of the universe are closely related. But greater the universality of vision, the greater will be intensity of pursuit of values. Therefore, value education programme should underline not only the perception but also the experience of universality and even of cosmic consciousness, and still higher levels of consciousness.

(f) Finally, value education should provide for the understanding of the ideal of perfection. Perfection can be conceived both as a maximum state of excellence as also a continuous process of balance and harmony of all aspects of personality. The real perfection comes about when excellence of knowledge, works and love are integrated. It is at this point that education for personality development becomes identical with the value education. It is here that one begins to bring home the students and teachers the knowledge and practice of the science and art of self-education.

(g) Close connected with the proposal of the core programme is the problem of the load of curriculum on students. The present load itself is so heavy that any proposal to bring about a further increase in the curriculum is bound to be resisted, and quite rightly. But the fact is that we are here speaking not of increase of a new programme but of redesigning the whole programme in such a way that the centrality of value education is ensured. This redesigning will imply pruning a large of number of topics and subjects which have become outdated and obsolete. It would also imply that many areas which are made compulsory today will be made optional. It will also imply that children’s talents and interests will be so respected that they will be encouraged to pursue those subjects in which they have natural talent genius. It would also mean that the stuffing of the human mind with snippets of information will be eliminated. Instead of mere information, knowledge will be encouraged, instead of mere knowledge, wisdom will be encouraged. In order that this recommendation is properly implemented, we need to create a body of educationists who would look at the present curriculum with fresh eyes, with fresh objectives and with fresh concerns. It may be argued that this would mean a great upsetting of the present situation. But we may answer that a radical change will certainly imply some upsetting, but the wisdom of the reformer will lie in the fact that they will carry out changes in such a way that the transition is smooth and the strategies are so worked out that students’ careers are not in any way adversely affected. In ultimate analysis, unless we are prepared for great changes, we cannot hope to make our education value oriented. We may now come to the last question, and this is directly related to the creation of the right atmosphere in educational institutions and to the study of practice of great values that have been special concern of Indian culture.

(h) As we all know, our noble, great and ancient culture is being invaded today by increasing tides of currents which are spreading from foreign countries. It is not that we shut ourselves in a shell and allow ourselves to be narrowed down to our small domains of life. On the contrary, we should be able to receive the winds from all sides and assimilate all that is helpful. For example, Western culture is today striving for the realisation of the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity. This striving has a great message for us, and if we can receive it rightly, our individual and collective life can be rejuvenated. The Western mind advocates original thought, critical thought and scientific thought; if we are to develop originality, criticality and scientific spirit, we shall be able to recover and re-fashion our own national intellectual, moral and spiritual resources and capacities. There are also currents of creativity, prosperity and unity which are drawing upon us from the West. These elements also are very helpful, and if we can receive them in the right context, and in the right spirit, they will contribute to the re-invigoration of our own sinuous of energy and enterprise.

But these great things are mixed with ideas and forces of economic barbarism, vulgar sensuality, and unacceptable life style that affect our sense of sacredness of human relationships. Indian culture has always honoured the spirit of sacrifice rather than of consumption; it has always counselled us to choose the good rather than the pleasant, to choose shreyas rather than preyas; Indian culture has always put before us the ideal of liberation from egoism rather than that of worship of selfish self-centredness and narrow competitiveness in self-assertion. We are, therefore, called upon to become vigilant so that these adverse tendencies do not get entrance into thought and life of our people and weaken our moral and our sense of self-identity. Indeed, our sense of self-identity is not inconsistent with universality. To become citizens of the world should be our goal, but to honour own heritage, to practice our own great ideals which are themselves conducive to universality should not be allowed to ruin or sacrifice.

For this purpose, we need to devise the study of Indian culture in our schools and colleges in such an effective manner that the lessons of Indian culture are not only learned intellectuality merely on school benches but they are learnt even vitally, emotionally, concretely and by method of practice, by the methods of concrete internalisation, and by methods of state of tests on the anvil of life.

This is the most difficult task, but if we want to make our education value oriented this has to be accomplished. How far and how soon this can be done will depend upon our teachers. And for this reason, we need to make an earnest appeal to the teachers.

Value Education - 9 November 1997

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Ву

KIREET JOSHI

DELIVERED

9th NOVEMBER, 1997

AUDITORIUM HALL, RAJENDRA BHAVAN DEENDAYAL UPADHYAYA MARG,

NEW DELHI-110 002.

Value Education

Dr. Karan Singhji and friends,

The Convention which is being held today has for its agenda some of the most important issues that confront us all, particularly in India. It would be useful to look upon various themes of the agenda to be focussed on value education.

If we wish to implement value-education effectively and smoothly, a great help has to be sought from the inter-faith movement, which is the fundamental theme of the Temple of Understanding. Unless there is a meeting point of various faiths, the theme of value education will remain riddled with controversies in respect of those essential aspects of different faiths where exclusivism of each of the faiths is emphasised. A situation must arise in the country and in the world so that every faith understands the truth that lies behind every faith and strives to arrive at some kind of synthesis. It is only when this synthesis is nourished that value-based education will be able to flourish in robust manner.

This synthesis is again closely related to the theme of conflict resolution, and in this area much work needs to be done. At present, even family life faces conflicts of various kinds, and effective methods of conflict resolution need to be evolved. And it will be soen that conflict resolution involves value-based education and value-based education requires a social atmosphere of harmony where conflicts are resolved smoothly and quickly; their relationship is cyclic in character.

There is also no doubt that since education is a sub-system of culture, and since culture is again a sub-system of the totality of social life, value-education cannot be promoted in isolation from the totality of public life. Unless, therefore, public liſe which is at present degenerated not only morally and spiritually, but even in terms of civil life, and in terms of evils of increasing mechanisation, is cleansed, value-education will always be looked upon as something utopian, unrealistic and impracticable.

Again, the cause of value-education can be greatly promoted, if media consent to honour the theme of value education and make a deliberate effort to utilise its services for the promotion of value-based education.

We may now concentrate on our present system of education and consider how, if at all, it can subserve the purposes of value-based education

It is evident that in our present system of education, we are greatly removed from the ideals that are implied in value-education. In our present system, we are too occupied with the mental development, and that, too, to a narrow aspect of mental development so that only those qualities of the mind are attempted to be developed which are relevant to subject-oriented, book-oriented and examination-oriented system. We stress the powers of memory rather than the powers of understanding; we emphasise the power of knowing facts and hardly attempt to the development of the power of imagination. Our process of education is a pursuit of piecemeal assimilation of information, and holistic vision of things is hardly given any place.

Can we do anything worthwhile in the present system? The first answer to this question is that at least the preliminary things can be done even in the present system, provided that one important condition is fulfilled. If teachers consent to change their attitude, then much can be done, irrespective of the system in which we are obliged to work today. If teachers can change their attitudes towards students, they will make a great effort to observe their students with greater and greater psychological understanding and sympathy. A good teacher can always empathies with the children in the class as a good gardener can empathies with flowers in the garden, whatever their state of development. If teachers can consent to look upon their work as sacred work, a work of priesthood, a work of a trustee, a work in which his or her own soul gets directly related to the inmost souls of the children, if teachers perform their tasks with fresh eyes, fresh vigour, and fresh approach, they can make a great contribution to their children’s value-oriented integral development. No system prevents a teacher from utilising the important methods of education such as those of setting an example of high character and providing stimulating atmosphere in the class room for their own students. No system prevents teachers from cultivating powers of expression and powers of explanation; nobody prevents teachers from inventing striking words, striking phrases and striking ideas which can illumine the perceptions and thoughts of the children; nobody prevents teachers from devoting their own utmost time to the preparation of lessons for the children; nobody prevents teachers from establishing right relationships with children so that they can be inspired to put their trust in their teachers and follow their guidance. There are, indeed, counteracting influences at work, at home, in school But still, a good teacher can make a great difference and inspite of limiting conditions in which they are working, they can still achieve something that is of basic importance.

Parents also can contribute n great deal. They, too, can become good teachers; they can learn how to look after children and how they can inspire them to develop right habits, right manners, and right attitudes towards things and people, towards environment, towards their work, towards their books and time-tables, towards their time of play and time of study. Parents can supplement teacher’s tasks in many ways; and parents can also create in their homes value-oriented atmosphere. They can so organise the home life that nothing is displayed in children’s atmosphere which is injurious to children’s value education. They can also learn how to sacrifice their outer pleasures for the sake of the growth of their children.

It is true that the circumstances in which the families run these days, the tasks that are expected of the parents may not be so easy to implement. There is a big factor of Television today in every home and, and nobody has control over it which is influencing our children in a very big way and often in a disastrous way. But, here again, Parents’ Associations can play a great role. They can create a movement in the country to combat this menace. They can pressurise the government to change the policy in such a way that at least the official channels are freed from vulgarity, cheap entertainment, and vulgar advertisements which stimulate lower desires and impulses. They can also create public opinion whereby parents choose the channels for children and ensure that good films and right episodes are witnessed by children. When there is a downpour, you cannot stop the rain, but you can certainly have an umbrella to protect the body. In the same way, when there is a downpour of films on TV, good, bad and indifferent, parents can provide umbrella for their children by means of counseling, and by means of setting certain standards in the atmosphere of the home.

The educational administrators also can help a great deal even in the present system of education. Principals, Inspectors, Directors and Policy makers can ensure that funds are allocated for right purposes, that programmes are so designed, both curricular and extra-curricular, that value education and integral education get utmost importance, that atmosphere of the institutions is so designed and developed that in every nook and corner, children find display of beautiful things, inspiring thoughts and ennobling stimulation.

At the same time, it is for the organisers of education, it is for the leaders of education, ‒ to think about an ideal system of education and create fields of experimentation so that eventually a new system of education can be invented and implemented.

Making of a teacher differs significantly from making, say, of an advocate or a surgeon. The teacher is more than a mere skilled performer in a branch of his profession. It is true, indeed, that he must have the best of skill in accustoming the pupil to the austere joy of mastering a difficult theme, be it quadratic equation or the equation of E=MC2 or any other similar theme. But in the end, when the frontiers of knowledge change, the importance and even the validity of what is learnt may not survive. What survives is the discipline of learning and the values acquired in the process. Whatever be the topic teacher teaches, the ultimate values of his professional endeavour bear on the habits of living and thinking and feeling, ‒ the art of life ‒ on what the pupil comes to love and care for. Thus the teacher fashions the life of the pupil ‒ which is the single theme of all of education. Skills in teaching are, no doubt, important, but they do not take the teacher far. An otherwise unashamedly desolate teacher may teach effectively, he also influences lives of the pupils no less, but sadly. Therefore, a teacher must not only be efficient, but he or she should also be a good person. The most effective weapon of a teacher is the silent power of example; it matters in the end and always. It is, therefore, necessary that teacher education should aim not merely at cultivation of skills but in making a personality of high character and noble vision. This consideration brings to teacher education very different purpose and responsibility which are not equally relevant to other professions.

It is for this reason that both pre-service and in-service programmes of teacher education need to be re-oriented in such a way that they provide orientation towards value education.

It is unfortunate that we have still not developed a model programme of value education. This is one of the most urgent needs in order to make implementation of value education practicable and expeditious. The model programme of value education should be so flexibly framed that it can be varied according to the needs of teachers and students or according to special situations that may obtain at any given point of time. There should, therefore, be what may be called a core programme. This core programme should have an intellectual dimension, an ethical dimension and an aesthetic dimension. These three dimensions should again be related to an over-arching or all-comprehensive umbrella of spiritual education. A very important part of this programme should be devoted to the theme of science and values, considering that the modern civilisation is undergoing an unprecedented crisis because science and values have been divorced from each other. And they need to be brought together in a happy harmony iſ we are to deal with the crisis effectively and fruitfully. The programme should also have practical aspects which may involve exercises of volition, exercises of aspiration and exercises of introspection. There should also be opportunities where students can participate in works of community service or situations where courage and heroism can be developed. It is not sufficiently realised how much physical culture can contribute to the practice of values. An ideal sports person develops more easily the qualities of courage, hardihood, energetic action, initiative, steadiness of will, rapid decision and action, perception of what is to be done in an emergency and dexterity in doing it. An ideal sports person embodies the true sporting spirit, which includes good humour and tolerance and consideration for a right attitude and friendliness to competitors and rivals, self-control and scrupulous observance of the laws of the games, fair play and avoidance of the use of foul means, equal acceptance of victory or defeat without bad humour, and loyal acceptance of the decisions of the appointed judge, umpire or referee. Above all, an ideal sports person develops the habit of discipline, obedience, order, team spirit and cooperation. While speaking of these qualities that physical culture can contribute, Sri Aurobindo has written:

"If these could be made more common not only in the life of the individual but in the national life and in the international where the present day the opposite tendencies have become too rampant, existence in this troubled world of ours would be smoother and might open to a greater chance of concord and amity of which it stands very much in need. The nation which possesses them in the highest degree is likely to be strongest for victory, success and greatness, but also for the contribution it can make towards the bringing about the unity and more harmonious order towards which we look as our hope for humanity’s future."

While preparing the proposed programme, we should lay a stress on the right type of teaching-learning material. Here, the importance of stories, plays and passages of literature need to be underlined. These selections should possess qualities of chiselled expressions and refined tastes. Even examples of poetic excellence need to be included. They will help us in emphasising that just as there is beauty and harmony of physical forms, even so there is beauty in harmony of thoughts and words and rhythms.

The value education is directly related to integral education. In integral education, every domain gets related to its own proper value system. In the domain of physical education, the values that are promoted are those of health, grace and beauty. In the domain of vital education, the values that are promoted are those of harmony and friendliness, of courage and heroism, of endurance and perseverance. In the domain of mental development, the values that are pursued are those of utmost impartiality, dispassionate search of the truth, of calm and silence, and of the widest possible synthesis. The values pertaining to the aesthetic development would be those of beauty and creative joy. The integrating psychic and spiritual development emphasises the value of intimate sympathy for all, mutuality, ever-increasing wideness, process of self-exceeding and attainment of oneness.

Let us also note that integral education admits integrality of life, and invites life itself to be the teacher of the life of the pupil. As life works through atmosphere and environment created by activities of interrelationship of individuals and things, ‒ therefore, integral education aims at creating the right atmosphere and the right environment which are so skillfully organised that outer instruction plays a minor role and personal example of the teacher and nearness of the teacher to the soul of the student play a major role.

It is in this context that a great effort needs to be made to change the atmosphere of schools and universities. This is a very difficult task, and this calls for a powerful public opinion. It is for this reason that the Convention that has been convened here today can contribute significantly. May I request Dr. Karan Singh ji and his colleagues to hold Conventions of this kind in different parts of the country so that they can create new vibrations in the country.

Value Education - 9 November 1997

On Value Education and Value Oriented Education 28 September 2000

How value oriented education would be defined?

I thought that when we write aims and objects the very first thing would be, or one of the first thing would be the project statement would itself come upon with the full section on definition of value oriented education. So if I write down in the beginning it would be dogmatic definition, because I would like to give a full exposition. So one of the aims of project statement itself would be to define value oriented education or at last to suggest that this is a subject which philosophers should discuss and put before the country.

What I was suggesting was that in this introduction I am only suggesting the relevance of taking up this project at all. There are so many ambiguities, so many difficulties, some of which I have mentioned.

Now, the first relevance that I have shown is that we are passing through a difficult period of human history in which there is a need of value oriented education whatever it may mean — there is a dimension of values and I have deliberately brought in Bertrand Russell because he is supposed to be one of the greatest authorities today both of science and philosophy, and although he is a materialist, he himself pursued the necessity of values. So it is one of the arguments in itself for if man like Bertrand Russell feels for civilization purposes if war and tyranny are to be avoided there is no other way excepting developing of love, compassion. This whole dimension is brought out.

Now this is only a kind of a preliminary statement, and this in the terms in the relevance to science because the modern civilization is science based and many of the problems of mankind today are the result of the development of science.

So that was my first concern to present the case in that context. My second point was that in India without going into the question of what are values, what is the definition of values and so on, one very important fact is that constitution of India, and this is relevant to India particularly. Constitution of India has declared the concepts of Equality, Liberty, Fraternity and Justice in the very preamble. And it is binding upon every citizen. So unless you have education which tells you what is Equality, what is Fraternity, what is Liberty, what is Justice, the constitution cannot be operated upon. And that would mean people of India must be educated for understanding these four concepts

Then, in the Constitution of India a further thing has been done, which has not been done in any constitution of the world. It has proposed fundamental duties. Not only rights, but fundamental duties which are obligatory for every citizen of India to fulfil. So there is an imperative need in education, the need to tell the people or children what are the fundamental duties, what they mean, and how they can be cultivated. This is the second relevance.

The third relevance is that even at the international level there is an international committee which has now come up with a statement of declaration of responsibilities and it is proposed that the whole world should be given this declaration for implementation. Now why is it that mankind today has turned to this ideas of responsibilities? Responsibilities is necessarily value oriented, this is the third relevance of value oriented education. If responsibilities are to be fulfilled, children and people have to be told and educated in regard to responsibilities.

Now the fourth point that I made is that duties and responsibilities imposed by the constitution or by any kind of code of conduct it will be limited to the idea of duties. Value oriented education can only be education in duties, basically responsibilities. But there are deeper dimensions in the value oriented education. Like I said there are ends in themselves, duties, but ends in themselves like love, beauty. Now what about this aspect which has also to be emphasized? So this is the fourth dimension for the whole proposal for value oriented education.

Now these questions can be debated perfectly well only through philosophy. There is only one science in the world which can deal with these questions in a dispassionate and critical manner. And that is philosophy. It is best that the whole task be given to philosophers.

I am only building up a case as to why this project report which we are writing has some kind of a necessity. So I have suggested that there has to be a philosophy of value oriented education. And this necessity arises out of the fact that although for decades we have spoken of value oriented education, for decades in fact, hardly anything has happened on the ground. And why? And there are three reasons I am giving.

One is that there has been a debate what are values? And this debate is endless. People have not come to answer this question.

Secondly, there has been a question whether value oriented education does not imply education in things which are relative in character, because values, it is argued, are relative. What is valuable to me may not be valuable to you. So where there is no certainty, no absoluteness, how can you prescribe? This is the second reason why this education has not come into practice. People feel very hesitant to say that well you educate yourself in this fashion.

The third reason is that there is a debate of whether value oriented education should have a separate syllabus or should be interwoven into various subjects. Now this question has been debated in our country for the last twenty-five years. And although there is a consensus that it should be interwoven, people don’t know how to interweave. So there is a need also to consider other way round. Develop another education relationships with other subjects. Otherwise interweaving would be difficult. On account of these difficulties this education has remained neglected and it is very important.

Relevance is there, idea is there, pious wish is there. But implementation has become difficult because of this reason. So now that we need to take up this task seriously, it is good that philosophers meet, discuss this question and arrive at some conclusions and recommendations. And then on that basis teaching-learning material is prepared and which can then be given to the country for implementation. This is my basic idea. I have not defined value education, because I take it whatever you mean by it, whatever reader means by value education, is for the moment value education. But these are the problems which all need to be considered; and in doing so, what is value oriented education will come to be defined. Instead of starting with a definition dogmatically, it should result from a debate and discussion and exploration. This is my approach.

I am only presenting this argument so that you may now react to me saying that in spite of all my saying you feel dissatisfied.

On Education - 2 June 2002

FOREWORD – On Education

2 June 2002

The contemporary civilisation is undergoing a severe crisis. This crisis is not merely economic, social and political, but it has its roots in the problems of human development itself. During the last five centuries, science and technology have enabled the human being to develop on certain lines of growth but ethical and spiritual dimensions have not received the attention that is required to ensure harmonious integral growth of human personality. Huge structures have come to be built, but they can be rightly organised and managed only if small egoistic personality begins to be replaced by larger and universal dimensions of personality. The contemporary disequilibrium can be remedied only if human beings are given a new direction in which the central emphasis falls on pursuit of normative modes of thinking, feeling and being. If this programme of development of humanity is to succeed, the most important instrument that will need to be explored and perfected will be that of value-oriented education.

Happily, the need for value-oriented education has come to be acknowledged in India with increasing insistence and persistence. Already, at the level of UNESCO, it had been proclaimed as far back as 1945 that since wars are fought in the minds of men, defences of peace have to be built in the minds of men. UNESCO’s programme of international understanding and universal peace has created a favourable climate all over the world and made salutary impact on the educational systems among Member-States. The dimension of value has been recognised and promoted. Similarly, UNICEF has also underlined the importance of opening the gates of value-education right from early childhood, and its programmes have constantly emphasised the need to place the child at the centre of education as also in the centre of each nation’s highest concerns for total welfare. Against this background, there is a need to cultivate the field of value-oriented education more and more extensively and also more and more intensively.

The theme of value-oriented education is in need of greater clarification and greater application. Values cannot be taught by the usual methods which are employed in teaching mathematics and science, which are largely cognitive disciplines. Value-education is at once cognitive, affective and conative, and its successful implementation requires integral methods which are at once conducive to the development of wisdom and, universal love, and practical abilities through which values can be expressed in day-to-day life. This is an extremely difficult task, and we must admit that we all are at a very elementary stage of development in this vast field. We need more and more explorations, greater and greater experiments, and more and more efforts at awakening teachers, students, and parents.

During the last few years, it has been increasingly realised that we need to develop suitable teaching-learning materials. We need to have new kind of literature which can inspire the modern child to set out on a quest of discovery of the highest values that can be envisaged in terms of truth, beauty and goodness. We need to create dramas and films; we need to develop suitable modes of communication through which noble emotions can be aroused in the hearts of children, adolescents and youths. We have to employ both literature and science; we have to employ the study of history and the study of philosophy; all this has to be done in such a meaningful manner that they inspire the new generations to develop wide vision of the universe and methods by which universe and human personality can be interrelated harmoniously and fruitfully. It can easily be seen that a vast programme of study, research, experimentation and action needs to be developed.

This work has just begun; and I am happy that educationists like Professor Kalra have come forward in our country to dedicate their entire life to this vast programme. When the Indian Council of Philosophical Research undertook recently the task of exploring philosophical foundations of value-education, a number of teachers and experts came together, and in January 2002, a National Seminar was organised with the help of some of these teachers and experts. We were happy that Professor Kalra offered his services as Advisor to this Seminar. The Seminar itself was a modest effort, but it is gratifying that it has produced a new wave of enthusiasm in different parts of the country. Professor Kalra has continued to carry the torch of the message of value-oriented education, and he has already travelled in Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. In Delhi itself, he has taken the message to a number of schools, and demands are now growing for a systematic expansion of the programme.

The present Report gives an account of exploratory studies regarding perceptions of teachers, parents and students about education in human values as also a synthesis of these preliminary studies which have resulted in formulating suggestions for strategies that should be employed for promoting the theme of value-oriented education. Professor Kalra has taken care to include in this Report the replies he has received to the questionnaires, from a number of teachers, parents and students. Thus the entire Report can be regarded as a very valuable input to the growing literature that is not merely theoretical but which is directed towards practical action.

Since this Report has its origin in the National Seminar conducted by the Indian Council of Philosophical Research in January 2002, we naturally feel gratified that Professor Kalra has continued to spread the message of value-oriented education and has also solicited and obtained valuable cooperation from educationists like Professor N.K. Ambasht, Chairman, National Open School (NOS), Dr. Kuldeep Agrawal, Director (Academic), NOS, Dr. J.D. Sharma, Senior Executive Officer, NOS, and eminent educators like Mrs. Chitra Nakra, Mrs. Sudershan Mahajan, Mrs. Renu Taneja, Mrs. Vibha Sharda, Dr. D.D. Jyoti, Dr. D.R.Vij, Shri Joseph John and others.

We look forward to receiving continued cooperation from Professor Kalra and others in our endeavours to give shape to value-oriented programmes in our country.

While congratulating Professor Kalra for presenting this valuable Report, I trust this Report will be studied carefully by a large number of educationists, teachers, students and parents.

Value-Oriented Education - 23 February 2003

NATIONAL SEMINAR

PHILOSOPHY OF INDIAN NATIONALISM

and

VALUE-ORIENTED EDUCATION

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

KIREET JOSHI

CHAIRMAN INDIAN COUNCIL OF PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH

23rd FEBRUARY 2003

JADAVPUR UNIVERSITY

CALCUTTA

A most luminous and revelatory exposition of philosophy of nationalism and of Indian nationalism is to be found in the writings of Sri Aurobindo. In fact, Sri Aurobindo’s own life is a flaming example of Indian nationalism, not only in its uniqueness but also in its universality. If we study the history of Indian nationalism, we shall find that he stands out as the most heroic nationalist who formulated in the most inspiring terms the true aim of Indian nationalism, during the early period of nationalist struggle and accomplished the task of fixing it in the national consciousness within a short period of two years (1906-8) through blazing pages of the Bande Mataram. This miracle can be regarded as an unparalleled achievement in the entire world history of nationalism.

The greatest thing done in those years was the creation of a new spirit in the country, a new electric current that awakened the people to the true meaning of nationalism and filled them with enthusiasm that created waves after waves all over the country. Repression and depression could not silence the stir of this enthusiasm. After each wave of repression and depression, it renewed the thread of the life of movement for liberation and kept it recognisably one throughout nearly fifty years of its struggle. The cry of Bande Mataram rang on all sides, and people felt it glorious to be alive and dare and act together and hope. The old apathy and timidity was broken and a force was created which nothing could destroy, and it carried India to the beginning of a complete victory.

It must be remembered that the climate under which the message of the Bande Mataram had to combat with its adversary forces was entirely unfavourable. The British Government had detected in Sri Aurobindo "the most dangerous man" and had perceived the rising tide of nationalist movement with utmost severity and with harshest measures of repression. Within the country itself, there was the rising tide the Moderate Party and its leaders who had belief in British justice and benefits from the foreign government in India, faith in British law courts and in the adequacy of the education given in schools and universities in India. They had assumed that the philosophy of nationalism was impracticable and they had stigmatised this philosophy as a philosophy of extremism. These leaders had ambiguous attitude towards the demand of complete independence of India. Many of them preached the gospel of faith in the British and in the British rule. Even those among them whose heart rebelled against the servile doctrine were intellectually so much dominated by the British influence that they could not embrace the philosophy of nationalism with their whole heart and tried to arrive at a compromise between subjection and independence. They discovered an intermediate path in which the blessings of freedom could be harmoniously wedded with the blessings of subjection! They spoke, therefore, of colonial self-government. Some of these leaders were emotionally nationalists and yet intellectually loyalists. There was a view that disunion and weakness are ingrained characteristics of the Indian people and outside power was necessary in order to arbitrate, to keep the peace and to protect the country from the menace of the mightier nations. They also advocated that a healthy development was possible at the time only under foreign domination and that such development must be first effected before we could begin to dream of freedom or even of becoming a nation. In the view of the Moderate Party, the philosophy of Indian nationalism as advocated by nationalist leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai, Sri Aurobindo and others was untenable and was even an avoidable menace.

There was a view among journalists such as that of Mr. N.N. Ghose of the Indian Nation that because there is diversity of race in India, because there is diversity of religion in India, and because there is diversity of language in India, the essential conditions of a nationality were absent and there was no possibility of creating a nationality in our country. As this perilous contention is crucial to the understanding of the notion of nation, of nationality and of nationalism, it may be useful to refer to the article Sri Aurobindo wrote in Bande Mataram (August 17, 1907) in which he answered it effectively. He argued that every nationality has been formed in spite of diversity of race or religion or language, and not unoften in spite of the coexistence of all these diversities. He pointed out that the English nation has been built not only out of various races but keep to this day their distinct individuality and that one of them clings to its language tenaciously. He referred to the striking example of Switzerland where distinct racial streams speaking three different languages and, later, professing different religions coalesced into and persists as one nation without sacrificing a single of those diversities. He referred to France where three different languages are spoken; he pointed that in America, the candidates for White House addressed the nation in fourteen languages; he referred to Austria, a congeries of races and languages, and he referred to acute divisions in Russia.

Sri Aurobindo maintained that the contention that unity in race, religion or language is essential to nationality will not bear examination. He acknowledged that such elements of unity are very helpful to the growth of nationality, but they are not essential and will not even of themselves assure its growth. Referring to the example of the Roman Empire, he pointed out that even though it created a common language, a common religion and life, and did its best to crush out racial diversities under the heavy weight of its uniform system, failed to make one great nation.

What, then, Sri Aurobindo asked, are the essential elements of nationality? And he answered:

“We answer that there are certain essential conditions, geographical unity, a common past, a powerful common interest impelling towards unity and certain favourable political conditions which enable the impulse to realise itself in an organised government expressing the nationality and perpetuating its single and united existence. This may be provided by a part of the nation, a race or community, uniting the others under its leadership or domination, or by an united resistance to a common pressure from outside or within. A common enthusiasm coalescing with a common interest is the most powerful fosterer of nationality. We believe that the necessary elements are present in India, we believe that the time has come and that by a common resistance to a common pressure in the shape of the boycott, inspired by a common enthusiasm and ideal, that united nationality for which the whole history of India has been a preparation, will be speedily and mightily accomplished.”⁵

In these brief but compelling lines we have a quintessential answer to the question as to what is a nation, what is nationality and what is nationalism. In the light of this affirmation it becomes clear that a nation or what may be called the soul of nation may exist and yet it may not be visible; it may take birth, but it may take long for it to create and develop; it may develop in many directions, but not yet integrally; it may be recognised by some or many in the country but not necessarily by masses of people; it may rest on a geographical unity, and yet it can become fragmented or disrupted or divided for short or long periods; it may attain even political unity as also geographical unity and yet its centrifugal and centripetal forces may not be in harmony with each other or in a balanced state of equilibrium. There may be rise and fall in the self-awareness of nationalism, new questions may arise that may disturb the manifestation of the soul of the nation. And yet, the seer of the soul of the nation will always recognise it and work for its manifestation.

Much has been written about the philosophy of nationalism and philosophy of Swaraj. Leaders of the Moderate Party, in order to belittle the importance of what they called extremists and their philosophy derided their opponents as votaries of violence and lawlessness and advocates of a blind or impulsive pursuit of the impracticable ideal of complete independence of India. Sri Aurobindo, in order to clarify the position of the philosophy of nationalism, wrote a brief but a powerful article on April 26, 07, under the title Nationalism Not Extremism. He said that the new movement was not primarily a protest against bad Government but that it was a protest against the continuance of British control. He pointed that the new movement was born of a conviction that the time had come when India can, should and would become great, free and united again. He clarified that it was not a negative current of destruction, but a positive, constructive impulse towards the making of a modern India, that, it was not a cry of revolt and despair, but a gospel of national faith and hope. He said that its true description was not Extremism but Nationalism.

Continuing his argument, Sri Aurobindo pointed out that there were not two parties in India but three,− the Loyalists, the Moderates and the Nationalists, and he articulated clearly the philosophies of all the three parties so as to bring out clearly the philosophy of nationalists. This articulation is so succinct and brings out the philosophy of nationalism with such sharpness that we should read it in full. Sri Aurobindo wrote:

"The Loyalists would be satisfied with good Government by British rulers and a limited share in the administration; the Moderates desire self-government within the British Empire, but are willing to wait for it indefinitely; the Nationalists would be satisfied with nothing less than independence whether within the Empire, if that be possible, or outside it; they believe that the nation cannot and ought not to wait, but must bestir itself immediately, if it is not to perish as a nation. The Loyalists believe that Indians have not the capacities and qualities necessary for freedom and even if they succeed in developing the necessary fitness, they would do better for themselves and mankind by remaining as a province of the British Empire; any attempt at freedom will, they think, be a revolt against Providence and can bring nothing but disaster on the country. The Loyalist view is that India cannot, should not and will not be a free, great and united nation. The Moderates believe the nation to be too weak and disunited to aim at freedom; they would welcome independence if it came, but they are not convinced that we have or shall have in the measurable future the means or strength to win it or keep it if won. They therefore put forward Colonial Self-Government as their aim and are unwilling to attempt any methods which presuppose strength and cohesion in the nation. The Moderate view is that India may eventually be united, self-governing within limits and prosperous, but not free and great. The Nationalists hold that Indians are as capable of freedom as any subject nation can be and their defects are the result of servitude and can only be removed by the struggle for freedom; that they have the strength, and, if they get the will, can create the means to win independence. They hold that the choice is not between autonomy and provincial Home Rule or between freedom and dependence, but between freedom and national decay and death. They hold, finally, that the past history of our country and present circumstances are of such a kind that the great unifying tendencies hitherto baffled by insuperable obstacles have at last found the right conditions for success. They believe that the fated hour for Indian unification and freedom has arrived. In brief, they are convinced that India should strive to be free, that she can be free and that she will, by the impulse of her past and present, be inevitably driven to the attempt and the attainment of national self-realisation. The Nationalist creed is a gospel of faith and hope.”⁶

This statement is also a manifesto of the philosophy of Swaraj. This philosophy regarded Swaraj as not mere political freedom but a freedom vast and entire, freedom of the individual, freedom of the community, freedom of the nation, spiritual freedom, social freedom and political freedom. Sri Aurobindo, in a powerful article on Swaraj (February 18, 1908), argued that if political freedom is absent, the community has no great ends to follow and the individual is confined within a narrow circuit in which the superiority of caste, wealth or class is the only ambition he can cherish. He pointed out that if political freedom opens to him a wider horizon, he forgets the lesser ambitions. Moreover, he contended, a slave can never be noble and broad-minded. He could not forget himself in the service of his fellows; for he already is a slave and service is the badge of his degradation, not a willing self-devotion. When man is thus degraded, Sri Aurobindo observed, it is idle to think that society can be free.

Sri Aurobindo went farther and pointed out that not only social freedom but even spiritual freedom can never be the lot of many in the land of slaves. He asked, "If the mass of men around us is miserable, fallen, degraded how can the seeker after God be indifferent to the condition of his brothers?"⁷

He stated further:

"Compassion to all creatures is the condition of sainthood, and the perfect Yogin is he who is sarvabhūtahite ratah, whose mind is full of the will to do good to all creatures. When a man shuts his heart to the cries of sufferings around him, when he is content that his fellow-men should be sorrowful, oppressed, sacrificed to the greed of others, he is making his own way to salvation full of difficulties and stumbling-blocks. He is forgetting that God is not only in himself but in all these millions. And for those who have not the strength, spiritual freedom in political servitude is a sheer impossibility. When India was free, thousands of men set their feet in the stairs of heaven, but as the night deepened and the sun of liberty withdrew its rays, the spiritual force inborn in every Indian heart became weaker and weaker until now it burns so faintly that aliens have taken upon themselves the role of spiritual teachers, and the people chosen by God have to sit at the feet of the men from whose ancestry the light was hidden. God has set apart India as the eternal fountain-head of holy spirituality, and He will never suffer that fountain to run dry. Therefore Swaraj has been revealed to us. By our political freedom we shall once more recover our spiritual freedom. Once more in the land of the saints and sages will burn up the fire of the ancient Yoga and the hearts of her people will be lifted up into the neighbourhood of the Eternal."⁸

Swaraj without any limit or reservation came to be fixed as the aim of the philosophy of nationalism. Swaraj came to be seen as a life-belt, as the pilot, as the star of guidance. Sri Aurobindo also saw the necessity of the Swaraj for the fulfilment of India’s true role in the comity of nations. He wrote:

" India is the guru of the nations, the physician of the human soul in its profounder maladies; she is destined once more to new-mould the life of the world and restore the peace of the human spirit but Swaraj is the necessary condition of her work and before she can do the work, she must fulfil the condition.”⁹

The philosophy of Swaraj was accompanied by a programme of effective Boycott. Both Tilak and Sri Aurobindo were in favour of an effective Boycott of British goods. They wanted the Boycott to be a political weapon and not merely as an aid to Swadeshi. They both advocated national self-sufficiency in key industries and in the production of necessities of all manufactures in which India had the natural means. In addition, national education was another item of the programme. The nationalist movement was also a movement of national education. This movement advocated the establishment of national schools and colleges so as to remedy the ills of education given by the British. Sri Aurobindo maintained that the British system tended to dull and impoverish and tie up the naturally quick and brilliant and supple Indian intelligence, to teach it bad intellectual habits and spoil by narrow information of mechanical instruction its rationality and productivity. Sri Aurobindo, in fact, wrote a full-fledged book entitled National System of Education, and another on National Value of Art. This entire programme, along with the programme of mass awakening and settlement of disputes by recourse to non-British tribunals, included a movement of passive resistance. This entire programme had a comprehensive aim of the attainment of all-sided and integral Swaraj.

III

Philosophy of nationalism was often described by the Moderate leaders a philosophy of violence. In order to contradict this misleading contention, we must study a series of articles written by Sri Aurobindo in Bande Mataram on the doctrine of passive resistance between 11th April to 23rd April 1907. One of the main contentions of these articles was to point out that the problem that faced the country at that time was how to stave off imminent national death, how to put an end to the white peril, how to assert for the people of India their right to be themselves and to live. The only immediate answer, he said, was an organised national resistance to the state of things so as to achieve one goal, namely, freedom. He referred to three alternative courses open. The first alternative was that of an organised passive resistance. This was the kind of the course of action that was initiated by Parnell when by the plan of campaign he prevented the payment of rents in Ireland and by persistent obstruction hampered the transaction of any but Irish business in Westminster. The second alternative course was the one illustrated by the first triumph of Russian liberty which involved a series of strikes on a gigantic scale that manifested widespread, desperate and unappeasable anarchy. The third course open to an oppressed nation, Sri Aurobindo contended, was of an armed revolt. Sri Aurobindo argued that the choice by subject nation of the means it will use for vindicating its liberty, is best determined by the circumstances of its servitude. On this point, Sri Aurobindo wrote:

"The present circumstances in India seem to point to passive resistance as our most natural and suitable weapon. We would not for a moment be understood to base this conclusion upon any condemnation of other methods as in all circumstances criminal and unjustifiable. It is the common habit of established Governments and especially those which are themselves oppressors, to brand all violent methods in subject peoples and communities as criminal and wicked. When you have disarmed your slaves and legalised the infliction of bonds, stripes and death on any one them, man, woman or child, who may dare to speak or to act against you, it is natural and convenient to try and lay a moral as well as a legal band on any attempt to answer violence by violence, the knout by the revolver, the prison by riot or agrarian rising, the gallows by the dynamite bomb. But no nation yet has listened to the cant of the oppressor when itself put to the test, and the general conscience of humanity approves the refusal. Under certain circumstances a civil struggle becomes in reality a battle and the morality of war is different from the morality of peace. ...But where the oppression is legal and subtle in its methods and respects life, liberty and property and there is still breathing time, the circumstances demand that we should make the experiment of a method of resolute but peaceful resistance which, while less bold and aggressive than other methods, calls for perhaps as much heroism of a kind and certainly more universal endurance and suffering. In other methods, a daring minority purchase with their blood the freedom of the millions; but for passive resistance it is necessary that all should share in the struggle and the privation.”¹⁰

Sri Aurobindo also pointed out through the pages of Bande Mataram that the philosophy of nationalism is not the philosophy of unreasoning spirit of violence and preference of desperate methods, that nationalism does not advocate lawlessness as contended by the moderate leaders. He argued that the nationalists did not love the philosophy of suffering for its own sake. In positive terms, Sri Aurobindo clarified that nationalism has deeper respect for the essence of law than anyone else, because the building up of the nation is its object and because without a profound reverence for law the national life cannot persist and attain a sound and healthy development. At the same time, he argued that the philosophy of nationalism qualifies its respect for legality by the proviso that the law that the nationalist is called upon to obey is the law of the nation, and not a law imposed from outside. The nationalist, he asserted, never loses sight of the truth that law was made for man and not man for law. Its chief function and reason for existence is to safeguard and foster the growth and happy flowering into strength and health of national life. He further stated that nationalism refuses to accept law as a fetish or peace and security as aims in themselves while it will not prefer violent or strenuous methods simply because they are violent or strenuous. The philosophy of nationalism, Sri Aurobindo elucidated, is to ask of the method whether it is effective for its purpose, whether it is worthy of a great people struggling to be, whether it is educative of national strength and activity.

It is true that philosophy of ahimsa which came to be advocated by Mahatma Gandhi later was not part of Indian nationalism as understood by the nationalist leaders like Tilak, Sri Aurobindo and others. On the subject of non-violence, there has remained a diversion of opinion, and if we study Sri Aurobindo and what he wrote on the subject of violence and non-violence, it is clear that a distinction should be made between acts of violence and acts of destruction. Violent act emerges from anger and hatred, but acts of destruction may not necessarily emerge from anger and hatred. A physician uses his knife for destruction of a disease, but in the motive there is no anger or hatred. Destruction advocated by Sri Krishna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra was to be carried out in consciousness of non-attachment and not in that of anger or hatred.

As this matter is very important, it will be useful to point out that while Mahatma Gandhi looked upon ahimsa as a matter of creed and a large number of his followers in the country also took it as such, many other leaders including Jawaharlal Nehru and others took it as a matter of policy under the-then prevailing circumstances in the country. A school of thought right through the freedom struggle continued to hold the view that the revolutionary movement using weapons of various kinds was indispensable. After India became independent, the National Policy considered Defence Services to be indispensable as a part of support to patriotism. Sri Aurobindo’s views cannot be regarded as pacifist, since Sri Aurobindo had believed in the efficacy of revolutionary activities of destruction and he had joined the secret society whose purpose was to prepare a national insurgence. In his public activity, however, he took passive resistance as the means in the struggle, but not as the sole means. In fact, as long as he was in Bengal, he maintained a secret revolutionary activity as preparation for open revolt, in case the passive resistance proved insufficient for the purpose.

To get a fuller idea of Sri Aurobindo in regard to this matter, we should also add the following lines from his famous book, Essays on Gita:

"All this is not to say that strife and destruction are the alpha and omega of existence, that harmony is not greater than war, love is more manifest divine than death or that we must not move towards the replacement of physical force by soul-force, of war by peace, of strife by union, of devouring by love, of egoism by universality, of death by immortal life.”¹¹

Sri Aurobindo regarded non-violence or peace as the part of the highest ideal, but contended it must be spiritual or at the very least psychological in its basis. He pointed out later in a letter that without a change in human nature it could not come with any finality. If it is admitted on any other basis (mental principle, gospel of Ahimsa or any other) it will fail and even leave things worse than before. Sri Aurobindo’s position and practice in this matter was the same as Tilak’s and that of other nationalist leaders. In any case, Sri Aurobindo insists that violence generated from anger or hatred or as an aggressive principle of action in the conditions of freedom and peace is entirely unjustifiable and it should not be resorted to any extent whatsoever.

Philosophy of Indian nationalism is also the philosophy of patriotism. In view of this philosophy, patriotism is not limited to the love of the land of the country,janmabhumi, but it is also love for the people of the land.

This philosophy goes even further and inspires love of the values of the culture that have been nourished and promoted through a long history of five thousand years and more. And beyond the values of this great culture, patriotism is in its heart illumined worship of the smiling and beneficent and strong and powerful Shakti, which we call Mother India, Bharat Mata. As Sri Aurobindo wrote, a nation is not a piece of earth, nor a figure of spirit, nor a fiction of mind, it is a mighty Shakti composed of the Shaktis of all the millions of units that make up the nation. He further pointed out that the nation is veritably a soul, which is immortal and even when geographically fragmented or divided, it has the power to reunite itself as one unity in diversity.

Indian nationalism has been a source of a great recovery and reassertion of those qualities of Dharma which have been the force of upliftment of millions of peoples of this country. That philosophy inspired thousands of martyrs, great and gallant Chidambarams, brave Padmanabhas, intrepid Shivas who defied the threats of exile and imprisonment. The force of patriotism, of the value of self-sacrifice, of the value of worship of Mother India, ─ this patriotism and its values live with us and we stand in the need to remember them, to collect them together and to pour them into a new system of education that we are striving today to construct. In an inspired article (March 11, 1908 of Bande Mataram) Sri Aurobindo gave expression to the voices of the martyrs from their cells which cry out to us and give us an imperishable message which we can incorporate in our studies that aim at value-oriented education:

"Work, but aspire, so that your work may be true to the call you have heard and which we have obeyed; labour for great things first and the small will come of themselves. Cherish the might of the spirit, the nobility of the ideal, the grandeur of the dream; the spirit will create the material it needs, the ideal will bring the real to its body and self-expression, the dream is the stuff out of which the waking world will be created. It was the strength of the spirit which stood with us before the alien tribunal, it was the force of the ideal which led us to the altar of sacrifice, it is the splendour of the dream which supports us through the dreary months and years of our martyrdom. For these are the truth and the divinity within the movement."¹²

When we think today of value-oriented education and as we are planning to create among our students the immortal spirit of nationalism and patriotism, we are required to develop means by which the vision of the nation can stand out in the centre of their consciousness and they are able to feel and perceive the invisible but mighty soul of the Mother India. At the same time, patriotism will also teach them to recognise the soul of other nations, the soul of entire humanity, in particular, the spirit of one united family of humanity. We need to ensure that students of today and tomorrow understand and work for those ideals for which leaders and youths, whether Hindus or Mohammedans, whether Christians or Sikhs, whether Jews or Parsis, irrespective of religion, language and race sacrificed their lives so that we may live in freedom and protect our freedom with courage and heroism.

Sri Aurobindo had conceived of national system of education, which had three important elements. Firstly, he made it clear that national education did not mean that we have to exile Galileo and Newton and all that came after and teach only what was known to Bhaskara, Aryabhatta and Varahamihira. But it means that an adequate place should be provided for the study of the noble heritage of our country and, while we must keep abreast with the march of truth and knowledge, and fit ourselves for existence under actual circumstances. Our education, he suggested, must be up to date in form of substance and modern in life and spirit. Secondly, he pointed out that the major question is not merely what science we learn, but what we shall do with our Indian science and how to acquire the scientific mind and recover the habit of scientific discovery, as also how we shall relate it to other powers of the human mind and scientific knowledge to other knowledge more intimate to other and not less light-giving and power-giving parts of our Indian intelligence and nature. The aim and principle of a true philosophy of national education, according to Sri Aurobindo, should not ignore modern truth and knowledge, but to take our foundation on our own being, our own mind and our own spirit. And thirdly, Sri Aurobindo pointed out that this philosophy of national education should underline the fact that the most advanced minds of the occident are beginning to turn in red evening of the West for the hope of a new and more spiritual civilisation to the genius of Asia, and at that moment, it would be strange if we can think of nothing better than to cast away our own self and potentialities and put our trust in the dissolving past of Europe.

The values of patriotism, the values of universal brotherhood and the values inherent in the philosophy of national education that demands the discovery of our national soul, — these and their immense implications would constitute a new message that should guide the formulation of value-oriented education.

In that new system of education, in that new system of value-oriented education, the heritage of India, the heritage that has always inspired the higher aspirations and achievements in India must form an integral part. Philosophy of Indian nationalism, and philosophy of internationalism that respects mutuality of all the national souls and their unity, and the right understanding of the inspiring values of Indian heritage, — this we need to put forward as the needed elements of India’s reconstruction.

Value-Oriented Research Material

The resource materials that could be suggested may consist of certain specific topics, among many others, which have been identified in view of several considerations. These include:

The idea that value-oriented education should be exploratory in character and the teaching-learning materials should provide to the learners a growing experience of exploration.
Powerful inspiration to turn to value-orientation is provided by biographies, autobiographical accounts, personal anecdotes, epistles, short poems, stories of humour, interest, brief passages filled with pregnant meanings, reflective short essays written in well-chiselled language, plays, powerful accounts of historical events, statements of personal experiences of values in actual situations of life, and similar other forms of scientific, philosophical, artistic and literary expression.

Even a random collection of such material, if presented to students could be very useful and even inspiring.

As we all learn best by experience, personal or historical, it would be advisable to collect what can be called “lessons of history” or “lessons of culture”, and some kind of systematic presentation of these lessons could constitute a useful collection of resource materials.

As the entire world is moving rapidly towards the synthesis of the East and the West, it seems obvious that our teaching-learning materials should foster gradual familiarisation of students with global themes of themes of universal significance, and materials should bring the students nearer to their own cultural heritage, but also to the highest that is available in the cultural experiences of all parts of the world.

It appears that there are three major powers that uplift human life to higher and higher normative levels, and these powers, if well illustrated through stories or real accounts of life or historical biographies or events, could be effectively conveyed to the learners for their upliftment. These powers are those of illumination, heroism and harmony.

An attempt should be made to select from Indian and World History such examples that could illustrate how these or some of them have a personality or an event and uplifted individuals or groups or even a certain historical epoch and contributed to the upward progress of humankind.

This upliftment could be one or many fields of human culture, physical, vital intellectual, ethical, aesthetic or spiritual. Thus the selected resource material could be multisided or even integral, and teachers can make use of this material in the manner and in the context which they need it in specific situations that might obtain or that can be created in respect of their students from day-to-day or from stage-to stage.

In view of the above, it is suggested that the general title of the scenes of resource materials that can be proposed to be prepared could be:

Illumination, Heroism and Harmony

And sub-title could be:

Explorations in Value-Oriented Education

Certain selected topics are listed below:

Life of Angirasa: Exploration of Life and Discovery of the Truth.
Legend of Shunahashepa: Human Bondage, Liberation and Perfection
Legend of Savitri: Life, Death and Immortality; — Powers of Love and Truth-Consciousness
The Rishi and the Brahmacharin Vasishtha and Vishwamitra: The Ideal of Forgiveness
Shakuntala: Beauty in Bloom and Victory over Catastrophe.
Science and Art of Divine Life: The Message of the Ishopanishad
Harishchandra: Tests of the Truth in LIfe
Janaka: Liberated Kinghood
Yajnavalkya: The Militant Yogi

Debate with Gargi
Dialogue with Maitreyi

Nala and Damayanti: Chequered Experiences of Human Life
Rama: Ideal of Humanhood

Virtues of Rama
Rama and Sita
Rama and Bharat
Rama as King

Hanumana – Surrender of Life-Force to the Highest
Krishna in Brindaban: Life of Divine Play
Arjuna: Crisis in the Battlefield of Life
- The Human Disciple
Draupadi
Gods and the World: Selected Stories (Eastern and Western)
Alcestis: Savitri of the West
Perseus the Deliverer
Siege of Troy and Birth of Hellenism
Legends of Odysseus: Adventures of Courage
Search for Utter Transcendence:
- Life of the Buddha:
- Buddha as a Student
- Buddha as a Teacher
- Buddha as the Greatest Personality of the World History
Life of Confucius - Instructions and New Awareness
Life of Lao Tse - Instructions and New Awareness
Mahavira: Universal Love of Life and Peace
Socrates: Courageous Pursuit of Truth
1. (Apology: the Great Platonic Dialogue)
2. Crito, the Platonic Dialogue describing Death of Socrates
Socrates: Virtue is Knowledge & Plato:
1. Learning is Recollection
2. Knower of Reality
3. Utopia of Collective Life and Justice
What Did He Really Achieve?
1. Adventure and Ambition of Alexander the Great
Ashoka: Horror of War and Path of Peace
Augustus: The Great Experiment in Human Unity
Christ: Sermon on the Mount
1. Crucifixion of Christ
Kalidasa: The Hero and the Nymph
1. Tapasya of Parvati (Kumarsambhavam)
Vasvadutta
Varahamihira
Achievements of Ancient Indian Science: Charaka, Sushruta, Aryabhatt, Vedic Mathematics, Astronomy and Astrology, Agriculture, Archery, Grammar, Metallurgy, Physics, Chemistry, Biology.
Pursuit of Goodness: Nitishatakam of Bhartrihari
Life and Work of Shankara:
1. à Brahman is Real, World is a Lie
Prophet Mohammed:
1. Submission to the Will of the Supreme
Charlemegme
Haroun al Rashid – Viziers of Bassora
A story of Initiation: Sufi Wisdom
Search for Excellence and Perfection: Life and Work of Leonardo da Vinci.
Elizabeth - I
Shakespeare: The Poet of Life-Force
Akbar
Guru Nanak
Communion with Nature: Wordsworth
Rana Pratap
Joan of Arc
Martin Luther
Ecstasy of Divine Love: Life and Work of Sri Chaitanya
Proofs of the Existence of God and of the Human Soul
The Would-Be Gentleman: Life and Work of Moliere
Crusades
Shivaji
Spinoza’s Definitions of Virtues
Holding the Hand of the Pupil: Life and Work of Rousseau
Washington and the American War of Independence
Danton and French Revolution
Catherine of Russia
Napoleon
Kant and the Discovery of the Categorical Imperfection
A Lover of the Children: Life and Work of Pestolozzi
An Illumined Teacher and a Brilliant Pupil
1. Have you seen God?
2. Life and Work of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda
Discovery of the Child
1. Life and Work of Montessori
Piercing the Veils of Darkness: Sullivan and Helen Keller
Queen of Jhansi
Industrial Revolution
Scientific Discoveries of Matter, Life and Mind
Life and Work of Rabindra Nath Tagore
1. The Parrot’s Training
2. Post Office
3. Stories from Lipika
Lenin and the Russian Revolution
Rimbeau
Selections of Olivier
The Little Prince
Magister Ludi
Jonathan Livingstone Seagull: An Allegory
A Few Litters from a Father to a Daughter:
1. Life’s Philosophy
The World as I see it.
A Freeman’s Worship
1. What the Educator Needs and What His Pupils should Acquire?
Teacher-Student Relationship
War and Peace: The issue of our Age Man and Superman: The Issue of our Age Science and Spirituality: The Issue of our Age Can Human Nature be changed? The Issue of our Age
A Message to Parents, Teachers and Pupils
1. Ascent to the Truth

Notes

Rashdall, Theory of Good and Evil, p.184.
↩
Ibid. pp.156-7
↩
Ibid. p.191
↩
Bertrand Russell: The Conquest of Happiness, Urwin Paperbacks, 1975, p.190.
↩
Sri Aurobindo: Bande Mataram, Centenary Edition, Volume 1, page 507.
↩
Sri Aurobindo: Bande Mataram, Centenary Edition, Volume 1, page 298-99
↩
Sri Aurobindo: Bande Mataram, Centenary Edition, Volume 1, page 700
↩
Sri Aurobindo: Bande Mataram, Centenary Edition, Volume 1, page 700-1
↩
Sri Aurobindo: Bande Mataram, Centenary Edition, Volume 1, page 731
↩
Sri Aurobindo: Bande Mataram, Centenary Edition, Vol. 1, pp. 98-99
↩
Sri Aurobindo: Essays on Gita, Centenary Edition, Vol. 13, page 42
↩
Sri Aurobindo: Bande Mataram, Centenary Edition, Vol. 1, page 745
↩

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