Are Schools Successful in Teaching Values?

Reimagining Values in Education

              - Apoorva Saini

What are values?

Our values and beliefs, our attitudes and feelings, our ideals and life stances, all characterize us. The ways in which experts define values throws light on the term’s deeper meaning. Values are our standards and principles for judging worth, say Shaver and Strong (1996), while other experts describe a value as a belief pertaining to desirable end states or modes of conduct, that transcends specific situations, and guides selection or evaluation of behavior, people, and events (Schwartz, 1992; Schwartz & Bilsky, 1987, 1990). Values have been categorized in a variety of ways including personal, social, logical, and competence based.

At their best, values are a framework for a pluralistic society, at their worst, they are discriminatory and exclusionary. They are our paradigm, our prisons, our filters for connecting to the world. Exclusionary values embody elitism and imply higher status. Even seemingly ‘good’ values such as appreciating order, followership, and adherence to established norms, can blind us to the appreciation of other aspects around us such as diversity and innovation. When the social narrative upholds certain values, people begin to conform to them. One example gaining popularity these days is ‘inclusivity’. The adoption of inclusivity is promoting acceptance and serving as an impetus for enhanced participation.

What do we value?

Each time humans interact with their world at physical, mental, and emotional levels, our values come naturally into play. While the notion of goodness underpins all values across the globe, specific sets of values differ across time, across nations, and across age groups. When taking a big picture view of each century in human history, changes in what people valued stand out clearly. From the dark Middle Ages, the luminous Renaissance period, to an increasingly hegemonistic now, many perspectives on how lives should be lived have been proffered. Changes during one’s lifetime also significantly impact beliefs and behavior. Upheavals in regions fuel patriotism, while peace and harmony are conducive to the pursuit of individual goals and pleasures. If human behavior differs considerably between periods of adversity and prosperity, perhaps only the privileged should be held to account for showcasingvalues,orattheveryleastthosewhosesurvivalneedshavebeenmet. Ontheotherhand, do values have any meaning if they are abandoned in times of hardship?

From her behaviour, are we able to gauge Ana’s values? Can we decode why Ana’s behavior appears contradictory over the day?

Whose values?

‘Who is asking’ should precede the question ‘Does Ana lack values?’

Should we look for values from the perspective of a parent, grandparent, school, workplace, citizen, government, or activist group? If their lists of values differ, how can their frames of reference be determined? Feelings of being ‘honorable’, for instance, are applicable within one’s frame of reference alone. Do all parents teach their children the same values, or do professions, social circles, and aspirations change the message? For example, is it wrong for families engaged in business to impart the value of maximizing profits, while those engaged in service teach their child to revel in their higher purpose?

How are values propagated?

The primary unit, the family, introduces children to their first frame of reference. Through shared experiences analyzed in everyday discussions between family members, children begin to adopt the same belief systems. For those included in this family bond, rules and expectations do not need to be explained. Both love and discipline of members is interpreted within the parameters of this frame. In their own context, growing children are constantly observing what is being said against what is taking place, and any lack of alignment starts to become visible to them, especially in their teenage years. Their ability to cross reference against other frames they encounter in the world as they grow, further informs this discernment, cutting through the family narrative. After the family, other units they encounter such as sororities, religious communities, workplaces, etc. mimic this style of propagation of values. Schools similarly offer their own membership, complete with their expectations, routines, and exemplar narratives.

Are schools able to uncover students’ central frame of reference? Judging Ana without understanding her behaviour in other contexts can be an unfair assessment. Any clash with Ana’s primary frame of reference could lead to further alienation.

Can values be taught?

While schools aspire to develop value-driven individuals, they also see themselves as partners in realizing their families’ aspirations for their child. Most schools’ promotional materials highlight their focus on a set of values, aligning to what they believe their parents’ expectations to be. Value-based guidance is often a significant consideration for parents when selecting schools, regardless of whether their child’s behavior is already exemplary or requires a lot of re-direction. Values in schools serve as guidelines within which interactions take place and choices are made. Schools tend to choose values that promote harmonious behavior, such as empathy, cooperation, respect, and responsibility, popular around the world. Although the pathway to translating the vision into behavior is described in most schools’ mission statements, it is easier said than done, and in many schools, remains an unrealized dream.

Schools generally make references to their select values, notice them in world leaders, and plan activities for students to engage in, such as community-service initiatives, and gratitude building events. A possible danger of this direct approach is that in some students, feelings of being judged and of inadequacy may arise. In the case of tokenistic, reward and sanction-oriented activities, meaningful immersion can remain elusive, and the learning of values could seem contrived to students. Portfolio padding is often the aim or outcome of ‘charitable’ actions. Privileged children can develop savior complexes from superficial community service, a pitfall for schools to guard against. Since students learn to strongly identify with all that differentiates them from others, orientation to such causes and cliques sets the tone for later life.

How will such a program affect Ana, given her lack of belonging at school? Will her teachers’ observations of her behavior in school earn her a place in the ‘emerging’ or ‘not developed’ column?

Different values come into play as fields of reference change. Human behavior reflects their sense of belonging in that situation. ‘Who I consider mine, and who not’, has been the basis of many wars in human history. How can schools develop caring people who will collaborate effectively, compete fairly, and live a balanced life?

Force Field of Values: Stretching the Circle

Values are natural to a community that is bonded, like a close-knit family. They are intrinsic to such environments because there is collective ownership through trust, care, respect, commitment, and shared achievements. The circle that binds people together is a living being. When it feeds off strife, judgement, and persecution, it grows taut and strong around them. Within the circle, the sense of belonging is strong, people share attributes, and revel in camaraderie. At times it can be mistaken for a higher purpose, but it thrives on alienating the group from others. The discussion in such factions often revolves around how different those on the outside are. Turning the focus away from its distinguishing characteristics tends to loosen the taut circle’s grip, making it a barely noticeable boundary that separates members from non-members. Without this emphasis on differences, acceptance and kinship grows, widening the circle of belonging. In such an environment, values are spontaneously at play.

In Ana’s context, the circle stretches tightly around her family, and her behaviour at home demonstrates this membership. At school, her circle shrinks to fit around her alone, signaling that her sense of belonging with her peers and teachers is not sufficiently developed.

If we think about a person whose values strongly underscore their actions, can we predict what their circle includes? For Mother Theresa, the legendary care giver, her circle seemed to encompass the sick and homeless people she encountered and offered refuge to. Similarly, for those who feel a kinship with nature and animals, their interactions and decisions demonstrate this sense of belonging. One hardly ever hears of animal lovers who harm animals or nature lovers who raze a forest. Whom do we consider ours in our pool of belonging and allegiance, and how can we grow our sense of identity with others?

Finding the Trail

For Generation X, the glue that kept families together 4 decades ago was respect and compliance to roles. In contrast, Generation Z challenged hierarchy and status quo, and thrived on free thinking, meaningful motivation, and recognition. Today belongs to aware, expressive, inclusive, and visionary Gen Alpha, widely connected to others, yet not in deep ways. Understanding values in the present and predicting what the future will value will help schools set their sails in the right direction. In this constantly changing scenario, do lists of specific values seem too limited to be of value?

Most values selected by schools are expressive in nature rather than perceptive and are observable in student behaviour. The learning of these values is often an individual pursuit, spurring competition, especially amongst students who aspire to be recognized. When students ‘act’ kind, there may be some who learn associated behaviours that they can sustain. However, the showcase of such values could be more performative in nature, pursued with an audience and personal benefit in mind.

Selecting values that do not lend themselves to stressful and competitive environments can lesson hero behaviour. When students collaboratively engage in aesthetic and creative pursuits, with no judgement or as low-stakes competitions, a holistic value-based ecosystem is created. When kindness emerges from kinship, no instruction is necessary. How can schools raise the collective spirit of students? What set of activities will result in such a transformation?

Reimagining Values

Reimagining the suite of values itself opens new doors to the interpretation of values in education and how these may be imbued. Consider observation, beauty, membership, equanimity, potential, health, to name a few, as new-age values to be explored by students.

Observing beauty in chaos, in simplicity and complexity, in unpredictability, in unsolicited kindness, and not just in physical attributes, attunes the mind to a deeper meaning of observation and a wider definition of beauty. Judgment of the level of beauty is not the intended outcome, instead an appreciation of the many places where beauty may be perceived. Potential may be found in the flowers that bloom, in the sunlight that illuminates, in themselves and people in the world, in innovative thinking, and more. Similarly in health too, the net can be cast wider from experiencing it in the body, in food, in systems, in relationships, in balance and beyond. Observation here is both a skill and a value and is naturally interwoven in learning and interactions.

Under these larger umbrellas, students should be guided to notice the presence of many individual values and their contributions, such as the ways in which empathy aids the observation of beauty, and respect underscores membership. While a restless mind focuses on failures and shortcomings, equanimity leads to a nuanced experience of one’s own potential. Membership as a value involves skills of participation, commitment, and communication, without the pressure of leadership and associated egoic reactions.

With such values, the expectation isn’t that students should showcase them, but instead should experience them When the spotlight is not on the students themselves, their exploration is an interesting, judgement-free quest. Engagement in such explorations in the form of individual or group projects, could be standalone or enmeshed in curricular objectives. Personal logs to record student musings, questions, and changing conclusions, can serve as a self-dialogue tool through this journey. Sharing thoughts and findings with peers, either orally, through writing or videos, will aid an exchange of insights. Students can be asked to select their umbrella values and create their own engagement grids to experience them. A mind accustomed to such explorations will see opportunities before boundaries. Values need not be expected as standalone outcomes, rather they can be evidenced in students’ choices and transactions.

Will Ana feel included in activities that lead to the development of perception and expression of values, and the skills that activate them?

Non-competitive environments in which other people’s successes are not a personal failure, are naturally ripe for display of values. Initially, a choice menu offered to Anna with opportunities to work alone or in groups, even with different age-groups in school, will invite her to work in her comfort zone. A guided or independent reflection will aid deeper observation and help to consolidate learning. In this way, a culture of participation can be created, in which student’s preferences are honoured. This club of inquirers has a much lower threshold of entry and acceptance, and a sense of belonging is easier to facilitate for teachers.

School must provide platforms for students to look at life through a variety of lenses and notice how these filters change what they see. Isn’t this what it means to be educated?

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Bibliography:

Shaver and Strong in Taylor, Monica J. and Halstead, J. Mark. Values in education and education in values / edited by J. Mark Halstead and Monica J. Taylor, Falmer Press London 1996

Schwartz, S. (1994), Are There Universal Aspects in the Structure and Contents of Human Values? Vol. 50, No. 4, pp. 19-45, Journal of Social Issues

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