We all believe that ethics are equally, if not more, important than the academic knowledge. Most of us appreciate that the process of education should not be limited to imparting knowledge and developing skills; it should also aim at evolving the individual as a complete person, who can think rationally and behave responsibly. One of the fundamental objectives of education is to help children build a strong character and develop a balanced personality.
But then, fostering the desirable ethical code has become a secondary issue in our present education system. While there is widespread understanding of the role and value of values for the betterment of humanity, the role of our education system to inculcate values during a child’s shaping years is woefully deficient in scope and approach. Even when we occasionally teach ‘moral values’ to children, we try to test them to see if they got the spelling right without bothering to check whether they got the essence right or not. We conveniently forget that it is not important what is poured into the pupil, but what is planted that really matters in the ultimate analysis.
Children are like wet clay, whoever touches them, makes an impression. They can be moulded in any way. What’s more, children are quick learners and naturally absorb the world around them. They intuitively imbibe values from their environment. That’s why they say that values are more ‘caught’ than ‘taught’.
If you have seen cartoons, you may recall a tiny red devil who sat on the shoulder of many characters. This little devil whispered bad advice and nasty ideas into the character’s ear – prodding him to do the wrong thing. Believe it or not, we all have a devil sitting on our shoulders. And he can really mess up our thinking if the white angel sitting on our other shoulder doesn’t control the devil.
We all have two sides, good and bad. And what we choose to follow defines who we really are. God does not have much influence on whether good or bad things happen to us. God gave us free will, and we are creators of our own destiny.
One of the key objectives of this book is to strengthen the good side and encourage a healthy debate between the good and the bad side whenever young, impressionable minds are tempted by the bad side. And it is important since the bad side is gaining strength from the onslaught of screen culture in the lives of children.
A young mind is highly sensitive and susceptible to negative influences assailing it from outside. Now-a-days the role and scope of these negative influences is assuming alarming proportions owing to ever-increasing penetration of the newer synthetic mediums in the lives of children. The evolution of screen culture and the rapid decline in moral values may not be a mere coincidence. The earlier laid-back approach may have worked in relatively static and less complex times, but it could prove quite damaging in these rapidly changing environments where newer technologies are penetrating the protective walls of homes and schools.