Value-Oriented Education - Teaching-Learning Materials for Value-Oriented Education

Teaching-Learning Materials for Value-Oriented Education

The task of preparing teaching-learning materials is so enormous that various agencies have to come together to conceive of them and to execute them. In brief, the proposal that one could make is the following:

1. There should be, first, a new literature which can be produced with a special focus on various topics that are included in various programmes that have been suggested earlier in this report. This material could be called the resource material. This resource material should be addressed primarily to teachers. On the basis of taking advantage of this resource material, the teaching-learning materials which will be actually used at various levels of education can be produced by concerned agencies.

2. The resource materials that could be suggested may consist of certain specific topics, among many others, which have been identified in view of several considerations. These include:
a. The idea that value-oriented education should be exploratory in character and the teaching-learning materials should provide to the learners a growing experience of exploration.

b. Powerful inspiration to turn to value-orientation is provided by biographies, autobiographical accounts, personal anecdotes, epistles, short poems, stories of humour, interest, brief passages filled with pregnant meanings, reflective short essays written in well-chiselled language, plays, powerful accounts of historical events, statements of personal experiences of values in actual situations of life, and similar other forms of scientific, philosophical, artistic and literary expression.
Even a random collection of such material, if presented to students could be very useful and even inspiring.

c. As we all learn best by experience, personal or historical, it would be advisable to collect what can be called "lessons of history" or "lessons of culture”, and some kind of systematic presentation of these lessons could constitute a useful collection of resource materials.

 d. As the entire world is moving rapidly towards the synthesis of the East and the West, it seems obvious that our teaching-learning materials should foster gradual familiarisation of students with global themes, themes of universal significance, and materials should bring the students nearer to their own cultural heritage, but also to the highest that is available in the cultural experiences of all parts of the world.
 

e. It appears that there are three major powers that uplift human life to higher and higher normative levels, and these powers, if well illustrated through stories or real accounts of life or historical biographies or events, could be effectively conveyed to the learners for their upliftment. These powers are those of illumination, heroism and harmony.

f. An attempt should be made to select from Indian and World History such examples that could illustrate how these or some of them have a personality or an event and uplifted individuals or groups or even a certain historical epoch and contributed to the upward progress of humankind.

g. This upliftment could be one or many fields of human culture, physical, vital intellectual, ethical, aesthetic or spiritual. Thus the selected resource material could be multisided or even integral, and teachers can make use of this material in the manner and in the context which they need it in specific situations that might obtain or that can be created in respect of their students from day-to-day or from stage-to-stage.

In view of the above, it is suggested that the general title of the scenes of resource materials that can be proposed to be prepared could be:
Illumination, Heroism and Harmony

And sub-title could be:
Explorations in Value-Oriented Education

Certain selected topics are listed below:

*Lead me from the Unreal to the Real

Lead me from Darkness to Light

Lead me from Death to Immortality

*Story of Savitri: Life, Death and Immortality

*The Rishi and Brahmacharin (Ancient Stories of Teachers and Pupils)

*Vasishtha and Vishwamitra

*Story of Shakuntala: Beauty in Bloom and Victory over Catastrophe *Science and Art of Divine Life: The Message of the Ishopanishad *Story of Harishchandra: Tests of Truth

*Janaka: Liberated Kinghood

*Upanishadic Stories Yajnavalkya: Debate with Gargi and Dialogue with Maitreyi

*Tale of Nala and Damayanti: Chequered Experiences of Human Life *Virtues of Rama:
Dialogue between Narada and Valmiki

Rama and Sita Rama and Bharat

*Story of Hanuman: Surrender of Life-Force to the Highest
* Krishna in Brindaban: Life of Divine Play

*Arjuna: Crisis in the Battlefield of Life

The Human Disciple

* Story of Draupadi

* Vyasa and Valmiki  

*Amhnotep - Akenaton Gods and the World

*Zoroaster (Selected Stories: Eastern and Western)

*Abraham

*Moses

*Alcestis: Savitri of the West

*Perseus the Deliverer

*Siege of Troy and Birth Hellenism  

*Legends of Odysseus: Adventures of Heroism

*Homer

*Sophocles

*Search for Utter Transcendence:
Buddha as a Seeker

Buddha's Enlightenment

Buddha as a Teacher

Selections from Dhammapada

*Life of Lao Tse

*The Life of Confucius

*New Awareness and Instruction: Influence of Zen Buddhism

*Life of Mahavira

*Socrates: Heroic pursuit of Truth

Apology and Crito: Platonic Dialogues

*Virtue is Knowledge: The Socratic Doctrine

Learning is Recollection: Platonic Dialogue "Meno"

Platonic simile of Den. The theme of Knowledge of Reality

Platonic Utopia

*What did he really achieve? Ambition and Adventure of Alexander the Great

*Horror of War and Path of Peace — Life and Work of Ashoka

*The Ancient Experiment in Human Unity: Life and Work of Augustus Caesar

*Holy Mary

*Jesus Christ: His Life and Crucifixion

*Kalidasa: His Genius and Work

The Hero and the Nymph

Tapasya of Parvati (Kumarsambhavam)

*Vasavadutta

*Varahamihira

*Pursuit of Goodness: Nidshatakam of Bhartrihari

*Life and Work of Shankara: Brahman is Real, the World is a Lie

 *Prophet Mohammed: Submission to the Will of the Supreme

 *Charlemagne

*Haroun al Rashid and the story of Vizier of Basra

*A Story of Initiation and Stories of Sufi Wisdom

*Gengis Khan

*Search for Excellence and Perfection: Life and Work of Leonardo da Vinci

*"One can die later": The Life and Work of Elisabeth I

*The Poet of Life-Force: Life and Work of Shakespeare

Stories of Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, The Tempest

*Guru Nanak

*Life and Work of Akbar

*Rana Pratap  

*Joan of Arc

*Martin Luther

*Ecstasy of Divine Love: Life and Work of Sri Chaitanya

*Proofs of Existence of God and of the Human Soul

*Life and Work of Newton

*The Would-Be Gentleman: Life and Work of Molière

*Guru Govind Singh  

*Shivaji

*Spinoza's definitions of Virtues

*Holding the hand of the Pupil: Life and Work or Rousseau

*Danton and French Revolution

*Catherine of Russia

*Napoleon

*Kant and the Discovery of the Categorical Imperative

*The Cid

*Washington

*Industrial Revolution

*A Lover of Children: Life and Work of Pastelozzi

*An Illumined Teacher and the Brilliant Pupil :
Have Life and Work of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda Have you seen God?  

*Discovery of the Child: Life and Work of Montessori

*Piercing veils of Darkness: Sullivan and Helen Keller

*Queen of Jhansi

*Jagdish Chandra Bose

*Life and Work of Rabindra Nath Tagore

The Parrot's Training

Post Office

Stories from Lipika

*Lenin and the Russian Revolution

*Rimbaud and Jacques Lusseyrand

*The Little Prince

*Magister Ludi  

*Jonathan Livingstone Seagull: An Allegory

*A Few Letters from a Father to a Daughter

Life's Philosophy

*On Women

*Life and Work of Albert Einstein: The World As I See It

*Life and Work of Bertrand Russell: A Freeman's Worship

*Science and Values

*What the Educator Needs and what His pupils should Acquire.

*A Message to parents, teachers and pupils

Ascent to the Truth

Contemporary Evolutionary Crisis

Each of this above topics will constitute a monograph, which will have three parts:
i Introduction;
ii. Basic text on the topic (consisting of an anthology or selection from the writing of an author) and

iii. Explanatory notes, including explanations of important and difficult words, phrases, ideas, anecdotes, etc.

The monographs will also include illustrations, drawings, sketches, painting, diagrams, maps, etc.