|
Ideals, principles or values are acquired and reinforced through a
process. First, a principle is accepted as “good” by the general
population, then passed on to others through indoctrination or
“brainwashing.” From this point onwards value acquisition is in
the hands of each person: acceptance, interpretation, commitment and
actions or decisions. If the decision or action leads to
satisfaction, the principle or value is reinforced. If the action
leads to dissatisfaction, the principle is no longer valued.
Thus, while society accepts that honesty is the
best policy, I become dishonest if I acquire a comfortable lifestyle
through dishonesty and get away with it, no matter how society
(parents, school, the legal system, Church, etc.) indoctrinates the
value of honesty. For principles or ideals to be sustained,
structures must be in place to reinforce their value—structures
such as laws and effective rewards/punishments.
The process of acquiring values involves man’s
cognitive, conative and affective abilities. Values are freely
chosen (cognitive), deeply cherished (affective) and influence
behavior (conative). Guilt and fear of punishment are some of the
mechanisms that ensure congruence of our behavior with our cherished
principles.
Ideals are best inculcated when a person is
young. Indoctrination takes place through formal or informal
education. I believe the latter is more effective, especially for
young and impressionable minds. Thus, myths, nursery rhymes, and
folk tales—all play a role in shaping values of a generation or a
people. In his book The Achieving Society (1961), David McClelland
discovered that nursery rhymes and old folks’ stories that
Americans are exposed to as children have a strong achievement
bias—the so-called Protestant ethic that values activity over
leisure. In contrast, when we examine the legend of Juan Tamad and
stories of Pepe and Pilar, we see that young Filipinos are exposed
at an early age to an ethic of leisure and enjoyment. The song
“Planting rice is never fun” predisposes Filipinos to avoid work
if possible, reminiscent of Douglas McGregor’s Theory X (1957).
One simple and practical way to develop ideals
is to write stories for children. When I read that current US First
Lady Laura Bush plans to do this, I was filled with admiration for
such a worthy task. This could be a subject for a longitudinal
research: rewrite books that young Filipinos read to include values
like thrift, discipline, industry, love of country, obeying rules
and regulations, etc., then see the change in the ethos and
behaviors of succeeding generations of Filipinos, as well as growth
in GDP.
Other institutions must reinforce this
longitudinal development. When my wife and I accompanied our
seven-year-old granddaughter to purchase textbooks for her Primary 2
schooling in Australia, I noticed that textbooks and workbooks for
all grades include coherent development exercises for IQ (cognitive
intelligence), EQ (emotional intelligence) and SQ (social
intelligence). Civics, good manners and right conduct and other
lofty ideals are repeated every grade with increasing complexity to
suit the age and experiences of the youngster. I do not see the same
approach in the social science textbooks and workbooks in the
Philippines.
Is this a policy issue for the Department of
Education? Can this be an entrepreneurial endeavor for concerned
adults to write textbooks and workbooks that address the total
development of the Filipino—his cognitive, emotional and social
intelligences?
___
The author teaches at the Ramon V. del
Rosario Sr. Graduate School of Business of De La Salle
University-Manila’s College of Business and Economics. He can be
e-mailed at raulmmirasol@yahoo.com
|
