Universal Human values

Unit 1: Introduction to value Education

Q 1. What do you mean by values or human values? Or

What is value education?
Answer: Value education is a subject that impart the knowledge and skills in
human beings about what is universally valuable and how to live in the state of
continuous happiness and prosperity.
 Value education enables us to understand our needs and visualize our goals
correctly and also helps to remove our confusions and contradictions and bring
harmony at all levels. It also helps remove our confusions and contradictions
and enables us to rightly utilize the technological innovations.
 Values form the basis for all our thoughts, behaviours and actions. Once we
know what is valuable to us, these values becomes the basis, the anchor for our
actions.
 We also need to understand the universality of various human values, because
only then we can have a definite and common program for value education.
Then only we can be assured of a happy and harmonious human society.

2. What are the basic guidelines of Value Education?

Answer: The subject that enables us to understand ‘what is valuable’ for human
happiness is called value education. In order to qualify for any course on value
education, the following guidelines for the content of the course are important:
a. Universal: It needs to be applicable to all the human beings irrespective of cast,
creed, nationalities, religion, etc., for all times and regions.
b. Rational: It has to appeal to human reasoning. It has to be amenable to
reasoning and not based on dogmas or blind beliefs.
c. Natural and verifiable: It has to be naturally acceptable to the human being
who goes through the course and when we live on the basis of such values it
leads to our happiness. It needs to be experientially verifiable, and not based on
dogmas, beliefs or assumptions.
d. All encompassing: Value education is aimed at transforming our consciousness
and living. Hence, it needs to cover all the dimensions (thought, behaviour,
 work and realization) and levels (individual, family, society, nature and
existence) of human life and profession.
e. Leading to harmony: The value education ultimately is targeted to promote
harmony within the individual, among human beings and with nature.

3. What is the need for value education? or

Write a short note on the need for value education in today’s scenario.
Answer: The subject that enables us to understand ‘what is valuable’ for human
happiness is called value education. Need for value education is:
a. Correct identification of our aspirations: The subject which enables us to
understand ‘what is valuable’ for human happiness is called ‘value education’
(VE). Thus, VE enables us to understand our needs and visualize our goals
correctly and also indicate the direction for their fulfillment. It also helps to
remove our confusions and contradictions and bring harmony at all levels.
b. Understanding universal human values to fulfill our aspirations in
continuity: Values form the basis for all our thoughts, behaviours and actions.
Once we know what is valuable to us, these values becomes the basis, the anchor
for our actions. We also need to understand the universality of various human
values, because only then we can have a definite and common program for value
education. Then only we can be assured of a happy and harmonious human
society.
c. Complimentarily of values and skills: To fulfill our aspirations both values
and skills are necessary. When we identify and set the right goals and produced
in right direction. This is known as value domain, the domain of wisdom, and
when we learn and practices to actualize this goal to develop the techniques to
make this happen in real life, in various dimensions of human Endeavour
(struggle). This is known as domain of skills. Hence, there is an essential
complementarily between values and skills for the success of any human
Endeavour. For example, I want to lead a healthy life. Only wishing for good
health will not help me keep my body fit and healthy and without having
understood the meaning of health, I will not be able to choose things correctly
to keep my body fit and healthy.
d. Evaluation of our beliefs: Each one of us believes in certain things and we base
our values on these beliefs, are they false or true which may or may not be true
in reality. These believes come to us from what we read, see, hear, what our
 parents tells us, our friends talk about, what them magazines talk of, what we
see from TV etc. Value Education helps us to evaluate our beliefs and assumed
values.
e. Technology and human values: The present education system has become
largely skill-based. The prime emphasis is on science and technology. However,
science and technology can only help to provide the means to achieve what is
considered valuable. It is not within the scope of science and technology to
provide the competence of deciding what really is valuable. Value Education is
a crucial missing link in the present education system. Because of this
deficiency, most of our efforts may prove to be counterproductive and serious
crises at the individual, societal and environmental level are manifesting.

4. Explain the process of self-exploration with a diagram. or

“Process of self exploration leads to realization and understanding.” Explain
with example.
Answer: Self exploration is the process to find out the reality and what is valuable
to me by self investigation, observation and analysis. Through self exploration we
get the value of ourselves. The process of self exploration is as follows:
First of all we have to keep in mind that, Whatever is being presented is a
PROPOSAL.
Don’t assume it to be true immediately, nor reject it without proper exploration.
Verify it in your own right, on the basis of it being naturally acceptable to you, Not
just on the basis of scriptures Not on the basis of equipment/instrument data Not
on the basis of the assertion by other human beings.
Therefore, it is essential to carefully ponder over these on your own right.
Neither accepts these as true immediately nor rejects them prematurely without
proper exploration.
Don’t just accept / reject these only on the basis of the following: Because
something like this/ different from this, has been mentioned in scriptures, Or,
because it has been preached/ denied by some great men, Or, a large number of
people possess such a view / a different view, Or it is claimed to have been verified
through some physical instrument or, claimed that this is beyond the domain of
verifiability by physical instruments.
Then what to do Verify on the basis of your natural acceptance Live accordingly
to validate it experientially If the proposal is true in behaviour with human leads
to mutual happiness If the proposal is true in work with rest of the nature leads to
mutual prosperity Remember, it is a process of self- exploration, therefore, it has
to be authenticated by us alone by means of verification at the level of natural
acceptance and experiential validation. The process is shown in the diagram below:

This process is not complete. It will be completed on verification on the basis

of natural acceptance and testing in our living ultimately results in ‘realization’
and ‘understanding’ in us. Verify on the basis of your natural acceptance Live
accordingly to validate it experientially o If the proposal is true in behaviour
with human leads to mutual happiness o If the proposal is true in work with rest
of the nature leads to mutual prosperity.

5. What are the requirements to fulfill basic human aspirations? What is

the program to fulfill the basic human aspirations? or
Explain the basic requirements to fulfill human aspirations. Give the
correct priority among them. or
Three things are needed in order to fulfill basic human aspirations–right
understanding, right relationships and physical facilities. Explain meaning
of each one of these. Or
Right understanding has first priority to fulfill basic aspiration. How can
you explain it?
Answer: Our basic aspirations are happiness (mutual fulfillment) and prosperity
(mutual prosperity). Happiness is ensured by the relationships with other human
beings and prosperity is ensured by working on physical facilities.
Right Understanding: This refers to higher order human skills – the need to
learn and utilize our intelligence most effectively.
Good Relationships: This refers to the interpersonal relationships that a person
builds in his or her life– at home, at the workplace and in society.
Physical Facilities: This includes the physiological needs of individuals and
indicates the necessities as well as the comforts of life. It means the feeling of
having or being able to have more physical facilities than is needed.
In order to resolve the issues in human relationships, we need to understand
them first, and this would come from ‘right understanding of relationship’.
Similarly in order to be prosperous and to enrich nature, we need to have the
‘right understanding’. The ‘right understanding’ will enable us to work out our
requirements for physical facilities and hence correctly distinguish the
difference between wealth and prosperity. With nature as well, we need to
understand the harmony in nature, and how we can complement this harmony.