College Department

Values Education

Cirila A. Ibaňez
Instructor
 College
Department

Overview of the subject

Today students expect more from education than just the acquisition of information. They want an
education of stiffer stuff. They prefer to set up their own values and goals rather than to accept the
ready-made values and goals of someone else. Since no two people see the same thing in the same
way, they see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear from their own point of view.
As Carl Rogers says: “a person learns significant only those things which he perceives as being involved
in the maintenance of, or enhancement of, the structure of self.

There is a story, often repeated in Tanzania, about the Christian missionaries who took over the
schooling in a wachaggan village and taught with great dedication the basic skills of readin,’ ‘ritin.’
‘rithmetic, and reverence for the Lord. The missionaries did a fine job, sanctified by their own zeal, and
when they left, all young wachaggansin the village had mastered the basics and could
read,’rite,’rithmetize, and revere. by “ all the young wachaggans,” we mean only the two youngsters
who accidentally survived the lions, sharks, draught, heat, European clothing, etc. this experience
gave rise to the old Tanzanian proverb, “caveat discipulus,” which translated roughly means” beware
of pedagogues peddling basic skills.” The wachaggans, in their primitive innocence, recognized too
late the basic survival skills and destinies in any society are determined by the actual nature of that
society, and not by misperceptions or well-intentioned wishes of outsiders about the nature of that
society or culture. Responsibility of helping students learn the skills they need for adulthood, and to
grasp how the shadings of their character, the scale of their talents, and the shape of their aspirations
will one day fit within that broader society beyond home and school, educators must recognize that
values and goals cannot be imposed. Only the individual student himself can develop his own values
and goals through the process of self-realization upon exploration of different systems of thoughts on
man, his values and goals.

The author is one with those who hold that the best way of teaching any discipline and thus
communicating values is to respect the individuality of the students. it is true that learning is the search
after truth by which the mind proceeds from the known to the unknown, but the road is not uniform. A
great variety of sources can be helpful in providing the opposing or supporting points of view in almost
any discipline. It is important then to understand that alternatives are alternatives of subject matter
and of beliefs. While the learning experiences of the students include information from many sources,
the assistance of the educator in the analysis of the information coming from these multiple sources is
a must. Furthermore, the skills of self analysis should be maintained while the student goes through the
business of selecting from among the alternatives. Finally, the process of investigation, exposition, or
reasoning in any case should be analytic-synthetics. Analysis without synthesis will give the student
acknowledge of unconnected parts: synthesis alone will give him acknowledge of the whole that will
be superficial, vague and even imaginary.

Objectives

At the end of the module, you are expected to:

1. explain the traditional approaches to values;

2. differentiate the values classification processes;
3. define values; and
4. enumerate the types of values

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Lesson 1 Definition of Values

What is Value?
 Qualities, characteristics, or ideas about which we feel strongly.
 Our values affect our decisions, goals and behavior.
 A belief or feeling that someone or something is worthwhile.
 Values define what is of worth, what is beneficial, and what is harmful
 Values are standards to guide your action, judgments, and attitudes.
Hypocrite – One who subscribes to one set of values, and does another.
Immaturity - One who has not identified his values.
 Immaturity:
 Unclear values
 Drifters
 Flighty
 Uncertain
 Apathetic
 Maturity
 Clear values
 Life of purpose
 Meaning and direction
Your age will greatly influence your values. Different people and things influence you at different ages:
 Ages 1-7 --- parents
 Ages 8-13 --- teachers, heroes (sports, rocks, TV)
 Ages 14-20 --- peers (values because of peers or peers because of values?)
 Ages 21+ your values are established, but you may test your values from time to time.
Value versus Facts:
 Values are things we feel “should”, “ought”, or “are supposed to” influence our lives.
VALUE: All people should be active in a specific religion.
VALUE: The best time to buy clothing is when the price is discounted.
 A value is a statement of one’s personal beliefs.
 Facts simply state what actually are. It is easy to confuse values with facts.
FACT: Many people are active in a specific religion.
FACT: The most economical time to buy clothing is when the seasons change and the price is reduced.
 A fact is established by observation and measurement.
Values and Behaviors:
 Happiness comes from letting values decide your behavior and goals.
 Values can change over a life-time as your experiences change your view.

Types of Values:

 Moral
 Material
 Aesthetic
 Intrinsic
 Extrinsic
 Universal/American
 Group specific values

Lesson 2 VALUES CLARIFICATION

Traditional approach to Values

In the past, adults and educators, motivated by a sincere desire to help the younger generation
lead worthwhile lives, had employed several methods and approaches that disregarded the personal
individuality of the students and appealed more on authority figure. This appeal to authority figure had
led to what we call imposition of the adult’s values upon the young.

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The appeal to the authority of experience and age, the limiting of choices, the setting up of
unquestionable dogmas, rules and regulations, the appeal to conscience and emotional pleas for
certain values are some of the traditional approaches to values.

Experience has proven that people brought up and formed by moralization educators,
authoritative parents, and dogmatic preachers are not prepared to make their own responsible
choices and value-decisions.the devastating effects of such approaches to values are a dichotomy
between creed and deeds, theory and practice, split-level personality and religiosity. Unthinking
submission to authority or to the power of propaganda has made young people, when left on their
own, experience a great deal of con conflict and confusion in the realm of values. Holt keenly
observes:

We adults destroy most of the intellectual and capacity of children by the things we do to them
or make them do. We destroy their capacity their capacity ,above all by making them afraid, afraid
of not doing what other people want, of not pleasing , or making mistakes, of failing of being wrong.
Thus, we make them afraid to gamble, afraid to experiment, afraid to try the difficult and the unknown.
Even when we do not create children’s fears, when they come to us with fears ready-made and built-
in, we use these fears as handles to manipulate them and get them to do what we want.

Friedenberg, Goodman, and illich’s direct assault on the conformism in education is an indirect
attack on the traditional approaches to values. Illich stresses that learning is the human activity which
least needs manipulation by others. For him learning is the result of unhampered participation in a
meaningful setting. He calls institutionalized values a myth.

Values Clarification Theory

The Theory of values clarification is proposed by Dr. SidneySimonof the Department of Education
of the University of Massachusett and was developed in his books: Values and Teaching and Values
Clarification.

As Dr. Simon himself admits, Values Clarification is not a new Approach. However, it was he who
systematized it and applied it widely in the educational field.

Values Clarification is based on the approach formulated by Dr. Louis Raths, who in turn built
upon the thinking of John Dewey.

Values clarification is an educational philosophy based on the concept of humanity that says
human beings hold the possibility of being thoughtful and wise and that most appropriate values will
come when persons use their intelligence freely and reflectively to define their relationships with each
other and with an ever-charging world. Furthermore, it is based on the belief that values are personal
things if they exist at all, that they cannot be personal until they are freely accepted, and that they
cannot be of much significance if they do not be of much significance if they do not penetrate the
life of the person who holds them.

Values clarification is a way becoming human. It is not concerned with the con tent of people’s
values but the process of valuing. Values clarification is a way of examining our lives and trying to find
out more clearly what we want and what we don’t want, based on the assumption that the
development of values is a personal and life-long process. As the world changes, as man changes,
and as man strives to change his world, he has many decision to make and he should be learning how
to value.

Values clarification is an educational philosophy which can help individuals choose those3
values which they themselves prize and are willing to proclaim and which would serve as a base from
which to make choices and decisions in their own lives. It is not a set of values to live by and which the

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students memorize like some verses in the Bible or lessons in the catechism. It is not a set of moral and
ethical standards. It places the emphasis on the process of valuing rather than in actual identifiable
values.

According to John Dewey’s doctrine of instrumentalism, philosophy is an instrument of action in

human affairs and ideas are tools with which men might change or improve mankind: and the truth or
error of these ideas is determined by whether or not they ultimately work in actual practice. For Dewey,
intelligence is the purposive reorganization through action, of the material of experience and
education, a constant reorganization or reconstruction of experience. Thus he observed: “It has all the
time an immediate end, and so far as activity is educative, it reaches that end-the direct
transformation of the quality of experience.”

Founded on this thinking of John Dewey, Louis Raths sees values as constantly being related to the
experiences that shape them and test them. Values are the results of hammering out a style of life in a
certain set of surroundings. After such hammering, certain patterns of evaluating and behaving tend
to develop. Certain things are treated as right, or desirable, or worthy. These tend to become man’s
values.

From this assumption comes Values Clarification processes. According to Raths, there are three
process of valuing:

Choosing values. The mainspring of human behavior is the will. The will is the faculty of acting
with reflection and freedom the faculty with which to decide upon any course of action after
deliberation. The will expresses itself in choices which presuppose freedom or full possession of one’s
self. Thus, values must be freely chosen.

However, choice must be precede by deliberation wherein one examines and weighs the
different courses of action or values. There is no real choice if it is limited to one. Thus, values must be
chosen from among alternatives.

In deliberation, man must examine the pros and cons of the act or motive, of whatever kind,
that solicits the will. The nature of the act or value, it’s importance and consequence must be taken
into consideration. Thus, values must be chosen after consideration of the consequences of each
alternative. A value can only emerge after one has clearly understood what each alternative will results
in.

Prizing values. Those acts or values which one has chosen must be prized and cherished.
Furthermore, if one has gone through the process of establishing his values he must be willing to
publicity affirm them, in his anxious desire to share the values he holds strongly. Values clarification
engenders productivity, for man will work for the values which he truly prizes and cherishes.

Acting on values. The zenith of values clarification is acting on one’s prized and cherished
values. After man has begin to clarify his values he will begin to apply his new knowledge. He will act
with pattern, consistency, and repetition on his values.

As we can see, the values clarification processes evidently invade both the cognitive domain
of human activity as well as the affective domain. When man is asked to make a choice, to decide
thoughtfully from alternative, to analyze an issue and to decide, he is asked to think. When he is asked,
on the other hand, how he feels about that choice-does he cherish it or is he glad that he made the
choice-he is being asked to consider his affective side. Thus, a value is a result of activation of both the
affective and cognitive domains.

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ACTIVITY 1

Explain the following completely and comprehensively.

1. “A person learns significantly only those things which he perceives as being involved in the
maintenance of, or enhancement the structure of.”
2. Is the implementation of the k-12 curriculum allow students to learn the basic skills they need in
life? Relate it to the story of the Wachaggans. Explain your answer your answer.
3. As a teacher in the future, how do you show best teaching considering the individuality of
students?
4. What are some traditional approaches to values and the 3 processes of valuing?

Activity 2

1. What are the 5 basis principles of becoming aware of values?

2. Explain the democratic goal in the 5 basis principles of becoming aware of values. Explain this
goal is being controversial in terms of power sharing, pandemic and freedom of the press in the
present times.
3. How can a value becomes a result of the activation of the affective and of cognitive domains.
Explain

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