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EDUCATION OF VALUE

The fateful year of 2020 has made mankind cognizant about the deadly biological threats , that lurk in the nature, and the devastating consequences when they jump species and infect humans. But there is one more elephant in the room that’s claiming lives like a deadly pandemic, but is not being caused by any external biological entity. And that’s Clinical Depression. Especially among children and young adults.

Unlike the yesteryears when most luxuries were the privilege of a few elite, today’s kids are born into a plentiful society that glamorizes opulence and indulgence. The impact of social media on the psychology of our children and young adults is undeniable, and in a way indispensible. Evolution has prepared our minds only to handle a few close interpersonal connections like within or family or community. But with the advent of social media, we are required to pay (and even compete for) attention of a lot more acquaintances. Imagine how stressful that can be for juvenile minds.

In the armed forces, while the personnel are not fighting a war, they are training to negotiate every possible scenario that can go wrong in a battle. And like a real life battle, life too is chronicle of challenges, and our children’s formative years must prepare them to handle the challenges, gains and losses that lie ahead for them. When a new recruit is inducted for training in the armed forces, initially he is denied or prohibited from even the most basic liberties like keeping a beard, or even walking from one place to other (every recruit has to move on the double). These liberties then become ‘privileges’, that they can gain only with self effort and seniority. This is important to discipline them to value everything they are provided it, be it men or weapons. And it also encourages them to climb up the ladder of service hierarchy, by delivering their best.

Parents don’t want their wards to miss out or be left behind in any aspect in their social circle. And so, we use our buying power to fulfil every puerile wish of our child, without giving much thought to how it will affect our child’s psychology, beyond the ephemeral pleasure it will bring him/her. Gain makes you aware of the price of things, but loss or its absence teaches its value. And its important to make our children aware of and appreciate the value of anything they get. It starts by choosing wisely which of your kid’s demands you oblige to. And training them to put an effort in some form to get what they asked for, before you give it to them.

When you gain something through self effort, only then you will attach some value to it. 

And knowing value isn’t just knowing its monetary value, but understanding what it adds to their life. We find youngsters today getting too obsessed and possessive about objects of desire. Objects have nothing more than a utility value. And Love is certainly not an emotion to be associated with objects. Love is a mutual emotion that exists only between living beings. Do not waste it on lifeless things. Encourage the young to choose their ideals and idols carefully, and look upon them to learn and ascend in life. At the same time not to look down on anyone as being devoid of any value. Even a blade of grass has a role in the scheme of things. And no form of work is inferior to any other. Learning life skills is as important as formal education if not more important. Let your kids manage their mundane chores like making their own beds or cleaning their living area without any gender discrimination.

Apart from learning to value what they have/get, another imperative aspect we need to prepare our kids for is on “how to graciously handle loss or failure“. And not let loss affect their belief that they can succeed. A loss becomes a failure only when you yourself start believing that you lack the skills needed to succeed and are incapable of gaining those skills, and stop trying.

Education is both for knowledge building as well as character building. Examinations test Knowledge, but challenging situations in life test Character. Are we preparing our youngsters for that? As long as we cradle, only a performance based education system, while taking for granted or neglecting the need for including and imparting value based education, we churn out a generation of emotionally brittle youth with twisted morals.

Article written by Lt. Vijay K Nair (retd)

Lt. Vijay Kumar Nair who lives in Kochi worked with the Indian Navy and has always been a passionate writer. He currently works as a content writer with Chinmaya International Foundation