Value Crisis: A Global Phenomenon

The many ills that our society as a whole is suffering today are mainly due to crises of values. Hardly any day goes without some news indicative of crisis of values.  There is erosion of social, moral, cultural, economic and political values at all levels. The erosion of values has led to the spread of selfishness, unlimited greed, corruption, violence, and destruction, abuse of human rights, frustration and crisis of character. The crisis has taken up such a magnitude that if serious efforts are not made to check it, then the whole system is likely to collapse. After all what factors have been responsible for creating this crisis in our society? If we think that the political system alone is responsible for this crisis, then we are mistaken. No political system can develops in vacuum; it is the sub-system of the entire social system. Hence the strengths and weaknesses in the society are reflected in the political system. We must accept that the degradation of moral fiber is a problem of entire society. With the advancement of technology, man himself is becoming a machine. The reason behind this is that he is spending more and more time with machines rather than with human beings. Emotions, feeling, values and manners are disappearing day by day in human beings. So, there is a strong need to make him aware of his responsibilities towards society, his family and others. A building can’t be strong if its base is not strong. In the same way a child can’t be a good man if he is not given good values in his childhood. The unity and progress of our society is threatened because, core values that promote law and order, respect for elders, sanctity of human lives, brotherliness, honesty and tolerance are disappearing. This situation calls for an urgent need for values orientation through our educational system. Education occupies an important place in societal development, therefore it could be used effectively to transform the society through value orientation to the teachers — the architects of the national development, leaders and the masses. This can be achieved through well articulated policies on value education and the incorporation of value education in the school curricula at all levels of education.