Support Strategies in Values Formation

Post date: Jun 21, 2017 1:41:34 AM

by: Sarah Jenn R. San Blas

Values Formation is not the sole responsibility of the school. The individual starts processing his values at home in the company of parents, siblings and significant others in the family such as grandparents, uncles, aunts, etc. The child’s thoughts, concepts, and feelings are largely influenced by the people he associates with from birth up to the time he starts formal schooling. The values that the individual has acquired are, to a large extent, a reflection of the values of the people around him in his formative years.

During his childhood days, the child is exposed to both home and school influences. He sees values at home and values taught in school and starts clarifying which ones he can live by in his life time. It is in this stage of values development among young boys and girls that the school plays a crucial role. It is during this stage where the child, using his experiences at home and in school, decides where he wants to go, how he wants things to be done and where his direction in life will be.

The school’s roles are two-fold: one of strengthening the positive and desirable values acquired at home and the second one, which is the more crucial and difficult one, is the restructuring of his thinking as a result of the negative values the child has acquired earlier in his life. The school’s role is critical and sensitive because it has to strengthen its capabilities to counteract the negative influences on the values system of the child brought about by negative values he may have acquired through tri-media --- the newsprint, the television and tapes and the broadcast media.

With the mushrooming of different religious sects and beliefs, the child is again faced by the different teachings on spirituality and morality which sometimes lead to confusion and weakening of moral and spiritual values among the youth. He now tries to find out which is the truth, which is moral and which is good for himself. While this is not the sole responsibility of the church, the school can do something to exert its influence in clarifying confusing issues and thereby achieving the development of desirable values.