Moral Science (or Value Education, as it is now called) is a challenging subject taught to school children from both secondary and high school.
Moral Science classes can either become lively enthusiastic classes where moral and ethical values are appreciated intrinsically or if not handled properly, they can degenerate into classes where the students aver that the teacher is trying to be put on a "holier than thou" mask of hypocrisy. If one wants to know how to make one's moral science classes come to life in a more practical and tangible way.
Several students are influenced by the media and everyday scenarios where they elicit that very often it is the `street smart' rowdy - and not the principled person - who wins the day. This precept should necessarily be changed by the discerning teacher who proves by clever stratagem and subtle teaching technique that any day following ethics is more feasible.
Interestingly, it should be discerned by the average teacher that the approach to moral science should be done very carefully as high school students are averse to being always told to "Be good". Why? Because this smacks of being a "goody-goody" or as it was called in my school days, "a Holy Joe".
Instead, students want to be known as leaders who emulate their peer groups and people who are hip, hep and "movers and shakers". It is often thought by several misguided youth that cunning should take precedence in this "survival of the fittest" world and that ethics and morals should take a backseat. This mould of mistaken perception should necessarily be broken by the teacher.
How can this mould be broken? First, I think that in order to break stereotypes of "macho" images being best, moral science should be made practical by the teacher by approaching the subject very subtly. Consistently harping on ideals like "be good", "be honest", "be hardworking" can be counterproductive. So, instead of directly and in a straightforward method "telling" the student to be a good person, it can be "shown" through vivid and interesting examples.
Movies and morals
A practical modus operandi of "showing and not telling" is to have students watch subtle "feel good" movies where goodness triumphs. Perhaps, this can be shown in movies where the actor falls in love with the actress for the goodness in her character which ultimately wins him over. Examples of movies of this type are "Two Weeks' Notice" starring Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock and the hindi movie, "Milli", starring Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bhaduri.
Also, meaningful serials like "Life goes on" can be shown where the protagonist, a boy named Corky suffers from Downs' Syndrome but yet wins everyone's hearts because of his inherent depth of character. After watching a few heart warming episodes, the moral science teacher can ask the students, "Wouldn't you all like to be like the feel-good Corky?" and I sure that she will get a unanimous resounding "Yes!" Showing movies and serials with messages may make the student more receptive to the whole concept of being good.
Secondly, teaching moral science classes can be done by giving the students practical examples of ethical and principled leaders, writers and religious persons who achieved what they did not so much because of talent but because of their elevated morals. Akkamahadevi's example can be cited for a historically spiritually enervated person who has also written some of the most beautiful poetry. Other famous people like, for example, Florence Nightingale, Helen Keller, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, can be cited as really great people whose lives should be studied and emulated.
To make the Moral Science class meaningful, interesting facts and pieces of information can be cited. For example, it can be shown that when the letters of Florence Nightingale's name are rearranged, they can form the words, "Flit on, Cheering Angel". Other interesting facets to the lives of great people can be discerned. For example, when teaching about Helen Keller and her devoted teacher, Anne Sullivan, a parallel can be drawn to the Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie, `Black', which has the protagonist Rani Mukherji acting as a blind person.
In colleges, too, there are classes that encompasses the same ideology of teaching morals and values. Like school children, college students, too, are adverse to be always being told "Be good" all the time, and therefore the above guidelines for school children can be followed for college students as well.
Students should be moulded into responsible, caring, kind, compassionate and principled future citizens of our country, and moral science should definitely never be regarded as an irrelevant, outdated and "time pass" subject in education.
(The author of this article is a Value Education teacher in a school)
Moral Science classes can either become lively enthusiastic classes where moral and ethical values are appreciated intrinsically or if not handled properly, they can degenerate into classes where the students aver that the teacher is trying to be put on a "holier than thou" mask of hypocrisy. If one wants to know how to make one's moral science classes come to life in a more practical and tangible way.
Several students are influenced by the media and everyday scenarios where they elicit that very often it is the `street smart' rowdy - and not the principled person - who wins the day. This precept should necessarily be changed by the discerning teacher who proves by clever stratagem and subtle teaching technique that any day following ethics is more feasible.
Interestingly, it should be discerned by the average teacher that the approach to moral science should be done very carefully as high school students are averse to being always told to "Be good". Why? Because this smacks of being a "goody-goody" or as it was called in my school days, "a Holy Joe".
Instead, students want to be known as leaders who emulate their peer groups and people who are hip, hep and "movers and shakers". It is often thought by several misguided youth that cunning should take precedence in this "survival of the fittest" world and that ethics and morals should take a backseat. This mould of mistaken perception should necessarily be broken by the teacher.
How can this mould be broken? First, I think that in order to break stereotypes of "macho" images being best, moral science should be made practical by the teacher by approaching the subject very subtly. Consistently harping on ideals like "be good", "be honest", "be hardworking" can be counterproductive. So, instead of directly and in a straightforward method "telling" the student to be a good person, it can be "shown" through vivid and interesting examples.
Movies and morals
A practical modus operandi of "showing and not telling" is to have students watch subtle "feel good" movies where goodness triumphs. Perhaps, this can be shown in movies where the actor falls in love with the actress for the goodness in her character which ultimately wins him over. Examples of movies of this type are "Two Weeks' Notice" starring Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock and the hindi movie, "Milli", starring Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bhaduri.
Also, meaningful serials like "Life goes on" can be shown where the protagonist, a boy named Corky suffers from Downs' Syndrome but yet wins everyone's hearts because of his inherent depth of character. After watching a few heart warming episodes, the moral science teacher can ask the students, "Wouldn't you all like to be like the feel-good Corky?" and I sure that she will get a unanimous resounding "Yes!" Showing movies and serials with messages may make the student more receptive to the whole concept of being good.
Secondly, teaching moral science classes can be done by giving the students practical examples of ethical and principled leaders, writers and religious persons who achieved what they did not so much because of talent but because of their elevated morals. Akkamahadevi's example can be cited for a historically spiritually enervated person who has also written some of the most beautiful poetry. Other famous people like, for example, Florence Nightingale, Helen Keller, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, can be cited as really great people whose lives should be studied and emulated.
To make the Moral Science class meaningful, interesting facts and pieces of information can be cited. For example, it can be shown that when the letters of Florence Nightingale's name are rearranged, they can form the words, "Flit on, Cheering Angel". Other interesting facets to the lives of great people can be discerned. For example, when teaching about Helen Keller and her devoted teacher, Anne Sullivan, a parallel can be drawn to the Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie, `Black', which has the protagonist Rani Mukherji acting as a blind person.
In colleges, too, there are classes that encompasses the same ideology of teaching morals and values. Like school children, college students, too, are adverse to be always being told "Be good" all the time, and therefore the above guidelines for school children can be followed for college students as well.
Students should be moulded into responsible, caring, kind, compassionate and principled future citizens of our country, and moral science should definitely never be regarded as an irrelevant, outdated and "time pass" subject in education.
(The author of this article is a Value Education teacher in a school)