Educational Values: Are They In Crisis Or Are They Changing?
Before the economic crisis exploded in our mouths and overwhelmed the political and social agendas, we were fully immersed in two other crises. On the one hand, there was the ecological crisis (everything will work out) and on the other hand we had what was very aptly called “crisis of values”
The latter was usually interpreted from the nuance of danger of the word crisis, implying that values were at risk of disappearing, leading us to moral anarchy, and the task was to preserve them. However, let us remember that “crisis” also means “change”, and with it also “opportunity”, and the next generations could have more perfected moral systems and ethical scales than ours.
So that… What is happening with educational values? Are they evolving so rapidly that we have not yet realized their transformation, or are they in the process of dissolving into nothingness?
The most important thing is that predominant values are not disappearing, but are being relegated to the background or are beginning to coexist with new emerging values. A key agent in this process is the rise of social networks, which allow the expression and transmission of certain values normally repressed by the mass media and which favor a globalization process that involves the import and export of said values.
Therefore we find ourselves with an infinite number of values, all of them legitimate but many of them contradictory to each other, which means that the actions and feelings of the same person may not be in line, giving rise to cases in which a well-known discomfort occurs. psychology as cognitive dissonance, and making it very difficult to be politically correct in almost any official or social situation.
This being so, it is difficult not to fall into a postmodern relativism that leads us to the conclusion that everyone and no one is right, and further, to a moral war where I can admit being wrong but I will fight stubbornly to defend my values, which is why I have chosen them.
Fight relativism
In extreme cases, the erroneousness of some values is usually justified by resorting to human rights. However, from this relativist perspective, these rights are still the fruit of a consensus dependent on a specific culture and time which would call them arbitrary after all.
That is why many sectors are aiming for a solution, and we are fortunate to have an entire educational framework, with buildings, professionals and politicians fully dedicated to this regard, which gives us an unparalleled opportunity to instill positive values. in the young minds that will make up the majority of our population in just 15 or 20 years. We have achieved an education in content and we are on the path to achieving an education in competencies, it may be time to enter an education in values.
Should values be taught at school?
Analyzed from a pragmatic point of view, the function of the school is to guarantee students all those skills necessary in the society to which they are going to join that are not assured by non-formal educational environments. Taking into account the political and social conflicts of the world in which we live, we would say that values are fundamental and that they are not working like a charm, so, following this logic, yes, it seems that the responsibility falls again on the schools.
The million dollar question is: what values do we choose? If we do not want to fall into relativism, we must define what the optimal values are for our society… Respect, camaraderie, fraternity…? I wish it was that easy!
Obviously, we face several problems. On the one hand, values should be defined through behaviors and ideas associated with them, but we cannot be sure that those in charge of defining these values do not do so subject to certain interests, not to mention instilling predefined values. to malleable youthful minds it is still an indoctrination whose dangers are evident in history books. Finally, since we do not control what happens in schools in other states, we are still not safe from relativism
However, there is a tool for citizens to respond adaptively to their moral environment without falling into interventionism. Be skeptical of the information provided by interested parties, contrast it consider the reasons that lead other people to take opposite solutions… That is, develop critical thinking.
The importance of developing your own criteria
Developing critical thinking in our society is vital to form values without entering into indoctrination, and education is a tool at our disposal with incalculable power. Maybe if we start following that path we will stop seeing the crisis of values as a danger and we may see fewer and fewer conflicts between groups that are only separated by such trivial elements as colors, geographic location… or flags.
