In the era of civil chaos in Ghana: Value education is the answer

Value-based education is highly needed in our modern society because our lives have become more miserable. The content of education has considerably increased, but it appears the quality has decreased. Why? The number of schooled people has reached a high level, but murder, hatred and selfishness have spread out like wildfire everywhere. Why?

Many organisations, including educational institutions and churches have been set up but only few “civilised” people seem to have been produced. Why? We have several people acquiring degrees and titles but the general indications are that very few of them can be said to be people of integrity. Why? Also despite the existence of the many books that have been produced based on research one cannot say that human behaviour has been touched for the better. Why?

Recent intensification of mob-justice by vigilante groups, murder (including suicide), rape in our peace loving country, corruption, the ‘galamsey’ menace and general indiscipline in our institutions seem to confirm that we are in the era of civil chaos. Thus, there is acute need for Ghanaians to incorporate values from the realms of religion, education, social service, economics and politics in Ghana.

Needed Values?

Values describe and promote a means of talking about what is important to us. They are ideals we hold that give significance and meaning to our lives. Hence, values underpin our beliefs and influence the decisions we make, the actions we take and the life we lead. Understanding what values are helps us to appreciate how we create our own reality and gives us insight into the personal realities of others.

However, it should be noted that values exist and have meaning only when used within a web of other values, not in isolation. Our values fundamentally affect the beliefs and mindsets we hold.

The theory of human values is complex; the full scope cannot be treated in this piece of writing. In any opinion, humans have the unique ability to define their identity, choose their values and their beliefs. All these three directly influence a person’s behaviour. People have gone to great lengths to demonstrate the validity of their beliefs, including the need for war and the necessity for a person to sacrifice their own life. Conversely, people are not motivated to support and validate the beliefs of another, when those beliefs are contrary to their own. In principle, people will act congruent with their personal values or what they deem to be important. A value then is defined, in my opinion, to be a principle that promotes well-being; hence, values need to be shaped by way of education to ensure that they become guidelines for our success and our paradigm of what is acceptable to society.

Types of Human Values

The five core human values, in my opinion, are right conduct, peace, truth, love and non-violence.

Values related to right conduct are: Self-Help Skills – Care of possessions, diet, hygiene, modesty, posture, self-reliance and tidy appearance. Social Skills – Good behaviour, good manners, good relationship, helpfulness, no wastage, and good environment, Ethical Skills – Code of conduct, courage, dependability, duty conscious, efficiency, ingenuity, initiative, perseverance, punctuality, resourcefulness, respect for all, and responsibility.

Values related to peace are: Attention, calmness, concentration, contentment, dignity, discipline, equality, equanimity, faithfulness, focus, gratitude, happiness, harmony, humility, inner silence, optimism, patience, reflection, satisfaction, self-acceptance, self-confidence, self-control, self-discipline, self-esteem, sense of control, tolerance and understanding.

Values related to truth are: accuracy, curiosity, discernment, fairness, fearlessness, honesty, integrity (unity of thought, word, and deed), intuition, justice, optimism, purity, quest for knowledge, reason, self-analysis, sincerity, spirit of enquiry, synthesis, trust, truthfulness and determination.

Values related to love are: acceptance, affection, love, compassion, consideration, dedication, devotion, empathy, forbearance, forgiveness, friendship, generosity, gentleness, humanness, interdependence, kindness, patience, patriotism, reverence, sacrifice, selflessness, service, sharing, sympathy, thoughtfulness, tolerance and trust.

Values related to non-violence are: Psychological – Benevolence, compassion, concern for others, consideration, forbearance, forgiveness, manners, happiness, loyalty, morality and universal love.

Social – Appreciation of other cultures and religions, brotherhood, sisterhood, care of environment, citizenship, equality, harmlessness, national awareness, perseverance, respect for property and social justice.

Evolution of Human Values

The human values as enumerated above evolve because of the factors, including the impact of the society on the fulfilment of the needs or desires of individuals, development or modification of one’s own awareness, choice and judgement in fulfilling the needs, teachings and practices of Preceptors (Gurus or saviours or religious leaders) and fostering or modification by social leaders, rulers of kingdom, and by law (government).

Truly, values are the scales we use to weigh our choices for our actions, whether to move forward or away from something.

Please, pause for a second as you read this piece to weigh your own personal values on a scale of zero to ten and grade yourself to find out whether you measure up as a mature citizen.

Sadly, most of our citizenry, including, ministers of religion, politicians, professionals, chiefs, corporate leaders, civil servants etc., cannot pass this test yet they are the leaders ruling us in all spheres of endeavour in Africa confirming Africa’s leadership conundrum.

Value Education or Value-Based Education

Education is important in a developing country such as Ghana, because it promotes the knowledge, skills, habits, values, or attitudes and understanding of the citizenry. Education not only develops morality but also helps to make an individual capable of leadership and to participate in intelligent fellowship.

Value education helps people to develop values and serve to establish our individual fulfilling life. It can be an activity that is the teaching of Socratic dialogue which seeks to inculcate or transmit a set of values which often come from societal or religious rules or cultured ethics. This would then bring people gradually to their own realisation of what is good behaviour for themselves and for their community.

Value education can take place at home, in voluntary organisations, the chief’s palace, as well as in schools, colleges, universities, churches, prisons and at workplaces.

Educational Policy and the bane of “endless education”

Values education is both complex and controversial; it is very easy, therefore, to become engulfed in the needless debate that it presents. For me, it is simply worth noting that our educational system needs to undergo some overhaul.

The current era characterised by staggering social upheavals with its devastating impacts calls for a change of educational policy. Our schools, particularly the public schools, cannot remain value neutral and still claim to be “educational” institutions. There is nothing more pernicious than “endless education”, that is, an education which is so preoccupied with the foreground of facts and skills, that it neglects the backdrop of purposes and values which supposedly validate the facts and skills we choose to teach.

Therefore, value education must start from families and continue at school through to the university level and beyond; in our churches, chiefs’ palace and workplaces etc. Value education is a lifelong learning venture. Value education encompasses an umbrella of concepts that includes moral education. Themes that value education can address in varying degrees are character, moral development, religious education, spiritual development, citizenship education, personal development, social development and cultural development.

If our nation is going to prosper and continue into “a more perfect union” value education must be placed on the front burner of reforms in education, not placed on the back porch; hence, the need for educational policy reforms.

Today, educational reform is based on test scores in maths, science and literacy! Though I understand the importance of continued progress in maths and science, I am tempted to agree with Risinger who in 2010 remarked “.... However, if we do not teach our young citizens about history, geography, economics, civics (value education) and other social studies areas, our nation will lose its bearings.... it will lose its soul”.

Changing the Philosophical Foundation of Nations

After decades of neglect and decay in the socio-economic life of nations, value education is back on the agenda of education reforms of these nations: Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Philippians, Singapore, Slovania, Sweden, Thailand and the United Kingdom (UK) to name a few.

Governments of the said nations are strongly promoting value education in various forms: Living Values Education, Education in Human Values, and Emotional Education etc. The prime aim of governments is to change the philosophical foundation of the nation by re-orienting and building national values using the following ten “moral and spiritual values”:

They are Human Personality – (the basic human) values; Moral Responsibility, Institutions as the servant of men, Common consent, Devotion to truth, Respect for Excellence, Moral equality, Brotherhood/Sisterhood, the pursuit of happiness, Spiritual environment. Value Education holds the key to mending national fault lines and to increasing the benefits of civic engagement by promoting “democratic enlightenment” or stated differently, by shaping individual preferences for civic activity as Dee pointed out as far back as 2003.

Research has also proven that the more civically engaged citizens are the more the economy benefits because value education is seen to definitely play an important public role by directly inculcating in the youth the fundamental democratic and pluralistic values.

Conclusion

The recent civil unrest in Ghana as seen in Denkyira-Obuase, vigilante group actions in Kumasi and Savalugu respectively, as well as perennial Nkonya and Alavanyo crises are indeed a wake-up call to all Ghanaians, particularly the leadership of this country.

The manhandling of an alleged thief in a bank, by a female staff, confirms that the toxic mindset of some Ghanaians is being exhibited in the same way in Accra and other urban cities such as Kumasi, Takoradi as it was done in the poor village of Denkyira- Obuase. We need to build human solidarity! Of course, as Lourdes Quisumbing pointed out strongly about a decade ago:

“First and foremost, human solidarity is founded in mutual respect of each other’s uniqueness, and a deep sense of appreciation of our common humanity that we are individuals with intrinsic self-worth, and that we are sisters and brothers within one human family inhabiting planet EARTH, our home and our heritage.”
Simply put, the answer to the current era of civil chaos is the need to urgently promote Value Education wherever Ghanaians live or find themselves. I rest my pen!

The writer is the Vice Rector and Dean of the Pentecost University College Graduate School (PUCGS)