Values are vital vitamins of life. They are required in small doses but are very essential for the well being. They are the roots of life and the very foundation of our existence. They are age-old guidelines which have kept society safe, sane and stable. They bring order and meaning to both our personal and professional life.
Our schools, colleges and universities are churning out, in plenty, undergraduates, graduates and post graduates whose sole aim of education is to pursue a career-oriented course in order to eke out a livelihood for them. This is education for a living. But much more important is the education for life. One of the most challenging tasks confronting us is that of instilling within our children a proper set of values that will provide them with motivation and guidance throughout their lives. These universal values build character which provides behavior that is beneficial for the individual as well as the community. The life-skills enable us to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. Winston Churchill rightly said: “The first duty of a university is to teach wisdom, not trade; character, not technicalities.”
Values and virtues are not hereditary. They are learned. The best gift that a parent can give to his child is the framework of positive values. The super-structure of life will easily be erected on this solid foundation.
Teachers and educational institutions can also become effective role models for inculcating core human values in their students. Theodore Roosevelt felt : “To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”
In this age of flux, people think that values have become old-fashioned. With changing times, values change their form but they are never obsolete or out-dated. They are like cheques that never bounce in the bank of life.
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