THE ESSENCE AND

NATURE OF VALUES
EDUCATION

In the preceding Lesson, we saw the essence and nature of values. We saw that values
determine a person's choice when he is confronted with alternatives. Values lie at the core of
man's interiority. They color his choice and fundamental option. We also gave out the vital
contributions of Max Scheler in our understanding of values.

In this chapter, we shall examine the essence and nature of values education. What kind of
education leads to a happy, productive, rewarding and successful life?

We start with the affirmation that true education is the most important commodity a person
receives in life. Lack of true knowledge or false education can destroy individuals and even
nations.

The late American President John F. Kennedy said it so powerfully: "A child miseducated is
a child lost." This is a very simple but a very profound observation indeed.

The Power of Education

Political leaders have long realized the power of education. Joseph Stalin, leader of the
former Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953, remarked: "Education is a weapon, whose effect depends
on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed."

Philosophers, theorists, statesmen, and politicians have understood that the existence of a
nation hinges on education although they disagree among themselves as to what constitutes true
education.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) wrote: "The fate of empires depends on the
education of the youth."
Hitler, the dreaded Nazi leader, controlled Nazi Germany through the education of the youth.
These leaders are not educated trying to sell their points of view. They were men of affairs,
historians, thinkers. They all saw the societal problems and came to the conclusion that education
was at the heart and core of the solution.

Educators themselves often point out the importance and value learning. In the United
States. for instance, Dc Ernest L. Boyer, a former U.S. Commissioner of Education, heads the
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. His view on right education mirrored
when he said: "There is a need to reexamine its value education program in all levels
(elementary, secondary, tertiary)."
 The challenge, therefore, was how to make the values education program more relevant and
more responsive to the post-EDSA milieu and aspirations of Filipinos. This ideas was formented
by the Succeeding courses of action. At the same time, it was articulated by the then
Undersecretary of Education, Culture and Sports Dr. Minda Sutaria during her presentation of
the values education framework of the DECS at the Educators' Congress in 1988 at Baguio City.
Says Sutaria:

"Education cannot afford to be indifferent to the curricular demands of the

present situation. It is necessary to inject through systematic educational
efforts a counterveiling force that will address itself to such elements
which threaten national tranquility and national unity."

From this statement, we can infer that Philippine society is presently seeking fresher
dimensions and directions towards social transformation and development. However, no change
whether it be in process or structure, will certainly move unless people themselves are reformed.
To realize the desired social change, the values attitudes, and behavior of the Filipinos must be
appropriately reoriented.
This vision has propelled the Department to review its programs, particularly its values if it
is still to be made relevant to the recen t changes in the environment. Furthermore, it must be
made attuned to the demands of the situation and reoriented to current problems.
There were still other several official pronouncements by the DECS, especially by then
Secretary Lourdes Quisumbing. She eloquently expounded on the concept of social transfomation
through education. In one of her most important pronouncements in the Educators' Congress, she
underscored that:

"No political revolution is complete without an accompanying transformation of society; nor is

social transformation possible without inner transformation ofthe individual More than ever
before, our task as educators, which is to bring about this "revolution of the and of the heart,"
becotnes urgent and imperative"

Trae enough, this call should be the battlecry of values education. There must be revolution
of both the heart and the mindEducation, Society and Values
When one thinks of a "system of education" one must include the society beyond the
classroom. And the home must rank as the primary source of education.
Educators rightly complain that too many of today's parents are simply "dumping their
problems" into the schools. They expect the schools to teach their children everything there is to
know. The school cannot be the sole educating instrument of society—nor even its major
one.
George Santayana (1863-1952), the Spanish-born American philosopher, put it quite well: "A
child educated only in school is an uneducated child."
Furthermore, Albert Einstein (1879-1955), acknowledged to have one of the greatest
scientific minds, said. "It is essential that the student acquire and understanding of and a lively
feeling for values of the morally good. Otherwise, he—with his specialized knowledge—more
closely resembles a well-trained dog than a harmoniously developed person."
The British writer John Ruskin (1819-1900) said it about as well as anyone: "Education does
not mean teaching people to know what they do not know; it means teaching them to behave as
they do not behave."
More significant also is this statement of the American historian philosopher Will Durant
(1885-1981). He called education "a progressive discovery of our own ignorance."
The aim of all education—whether at home, at work, at play or at school—ought to be the
teaching of what we call values, not merely funnelling information into empty vessels. This is
values education.
 Belonging to the world of the intangibles, values education is a term that defies definition. At
best, we can only describe it as synonymous with life itself. After all, all education is values
education. It is the search for the human good whose structure is presented as follows: