Module 5: Values Formation and You

Overview
This lesson teaches you that there are unchanging and universal values and there are values that are as varied
by the culture that we have.

Objectives
Upon completion of this module you should be able to:
 accept continuing values formation as an integral part of your personal and professional life by practicing
what at all times, in every place.

Pretest
1. Define “values”
2. What are transcendent values?
3. Are values taught or caught?

LEARNING FOCUS

Education in values means the cultivation of affectivity, leading the educand through exposure to experience of value
and of the valuable. ---R. Aquino

1. Transcendent Values
If you belong to the idealist group, there are unchanging and universal values. The values of love, care and
concern for our fellowmen are values for all people regardless of time and space. They remain unchanged
amidst changing times. These are called transcendent values, transcendent because they are beyond space and
people. They remain to be a value even if no one values them. They are accepted as values everywhere.
On the other hand, the relativists claim that there are no universal values. They assert that values are
dependent on time and place
2. Values are taught and caught
Values are both taught and caught. We may not be able to her our father’s advice “do not smoke” because
what he does (He himself smokes) speaks louder than what he says.
3. Values have cognitive, affective and behavioral dimensions
Values have a cognitive dimension. We must understand the value that we want to acquire. We need to
know why we have to value such. This is the heart of conversion and values formation.
4. Value formation includes formation in the cognitive, affective and behavioral dimensions
Values have a cognitive dimension. We must understand the value that we want to acquire. We need to
know why we have to value such. This is the heart of conversion and values formation.
Values in themselves have an affective dimension. “ It is not enough to know what honesty is or why one
should be honest. One has to feel something towards honesty, be moved towards honesty as preferable to
dishonesty,” (Aquino, 1990
5. Values formation includes formation in the cognitive, affective and behavioral aspects
Your value formation include the three dimensions. You have to grow in knowledge and in wisdom and in
your “sensitivity and openness to the variety of value experiences in life.” (Aquino, 1990) You have to be open to
and attentive in your values lessons in Ethics and for those in sectarian schools, Ethics and Religious Education.
Since values are caught, help yourself by reading the biographies of heroes, great teachers and religious, and

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 other inspirational books. Associate with model teachers. If possible avoid the “yeast” of those who will not
exert a very good influence. Take the sound advice from Desiderata. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they
are vexations to the spirit.” Join community immersions where you can be exposed to people from various walks
of life. These will broaden your horizon, increase your tolerance level, and sensitize you to life values. These will
help you to “fly high” and “see far” to borrow the words of Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
6. Value formation is a training of the intellect and will
How can your will be trained to desire strongly the desirable and act on it? William Kelly explains it very
simply:
Training of the will must be essentially self-training. The habit of yielding to impulse results in the
enfeeblement of self-control. The power of inhibiting urgent desires, of concentrating attention on more remote
good, of reinforcing the higher but less urgent motives undergoes a kind of atrophy through disuse. Habitually
yielding to any vice, while it does not lessen man’s responsibility, does diminish his ability to resist temptation.
Likewise, the more frequently man restrains impulse, checks inclination, persists against temptation, and steadily
aims at virtuous living, the more does he increase his self-control, and therefore, his freedom. To have a strong
will means to have control of the will, to be able to direct it despite all contrary impulses.
7. Virtuous versus vicious life and their effect on the will
A virtuous life strengthens you to live by the right values and live a life of abundance and joy while a vicious
life leads you to perdition and misery.
8. Max Scheler’s hierarchy of values
Max Scheler outlined a hierarchy of values. Our hierarchy of values is shown in our preferences and
decisions. For instance, you may prefer to absent from class because you want to attend the annual barrio fiesta
where you are the “star” because of your ability to sing and dance. Another one may prefer just the opposite by
missing the fiesta (anyway, s/he can have all the fiestas after studies) and attends class. Aquino (Aquino,
1990) presents Scheler’s hierarchy of values arranged from the lowest to the highest :
a. Pleasurable values
- the pleasant against the unpleasant
- the agreeable against the disagreeable
o sensual feelings
o experiences of pleasure or pain
b. Vital Values
- values pertaining to the well being either of the individual or of the community
o health
o vitality
- values of vital feeling
o capability
o excellence
c. Spiritual Values
- values independent of the whole sphere of the body and of the environment
- grasped in spiritual acts of preferring, loving and hating
o aesthetic values: beauty against ugliness
o values of right and wrong
o values of pure knowledge
d. Values of the Holy
- appear only in regard to objects intentionally given as “absolute objects”
o belief
o adoration
o bliss

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 The highest values are those that pertain to the Supreme Being while the lowest values are those that pertain to
the sensual pleasures. We act and live well if we stick top Scheler’s hierarchy of values, i.e., give greater preferences
to the higher values. We will live miserably if we distort Scheler’s hierarchy of values.
LEARNING ACTIVITY
1. Present Scheler’s hierarchy of values by means of an appropriate graphic organizer. Each level of values
must be explained and must be given an example.
2. Interview a former alcoholic. Ask how his alcoholism affected himself, his job, and his relationship with his
family and community. Ask him to give his advice to the class.
3. In the modern parable “The Little Prince” written by Antoine Exupery, the Little Prince in his visit to one
planet, met an alcoholic. The following was their conversation:

Little Prince: “What are you doing?”

The alcoholic: “I am drinking.”
Little Prince: “Why are you drinking?”
Alcoholic: “To forget.”
Little Prince: “ To forget what?”
Alcoholic: “That I am a drunkard!”

Based on the above conversation, is the alcoholic (or any alcoholic for that matter) happy for being one? What
lessons can you learn from the life of an alcoholic or a gambler?]

4. In his book “Morality and You”, James Finley wrote:…”Look at modern advertisements. Commercials for
deodorants, mouthwashes, skin blemish removers and other cosmetics have a basis assumption that man
is a creature who must be physically attractive to have much worth in the eyes of his fellowmen. They try to
sell …the following concept of a person: to have a ggod breath and white teeth is to be a good person; to
have a bad breath is to be socially undesirable.” Has this thought on man as sold by media in a subtle
manner influenced your value orientation?

POST TEST
1. Which Filipino values pose obstacles to your value formation? How do they block your value formation?
2. Are there times when the will refuses to act on what the intellect presents as good? How does a person
feel?

Journal Entry
1. Read the following and in the context of value formation write down your response/action plan to each as a
proof that you accept continuing personal value formation.
 Take care of your thought, they become your actions; take care of your actions, they become your
habits, they become your character; take care of your character, it becomes your destiny!
 …store up treasures in heaven neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For
where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” (Matthew 7:20)
 “Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.”-Albert Einstein
 “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
2. It is observed that beginning teachers somewhat lack emotional stability. What are some of its causes?
What should you do to counteract it?

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