STOP SLEEPWALKING - SELF AWARENESS AND HUMAN VALUES IN EDUCATION

While we have made tremendous advancements and innovations, the question still remains – are we satisfied with the state of affairs today? On looking into this issue, it becomes evident that we are still faced with serious problems at various levels.

There are two initiatives in India just now that address how to introduce “Value education” in technical universities:

Professor DevdasMenon (IITMadras) has introduced a pioneering course in Self Awareness at Indian Institute of Technology Madras. The course objectives are to enable students to understand and explore self-awareness, based on traditional Indian wisdom and modern approaches, and thereby learn to find inspiration, take responsibility for one’s inner life, live with integrity and contribute creatively towards the well-being of all.

At the same time Professors Gaur (IITDelhi), Sangal (IITHyderabad) and Bagaria (IITKanpur) has introduced a course and text book for a foundation course in “Human values and professional ethics. Presenting a universal approach to value education – through self-exploration”. This course has recently been introduced at numerous technical universities in India.

We could say that the overall purpose with education is to enable a human being to live a fulfilling life, in harmony with oneself and with family, society and nature. What is really valuable for a human being? How do we go about evaluating what is relevant, what is irrelevant for us? Are we satisfied and happy in our relationships? How do we understand relationships? What are my goals? How do I understand what is important for me? How do I use my education? What am I going to do after my education? What is success?

While technology is an important human endeavor, it is only means to achieve what is considered valuable for human beings. It is thus not within the scope of technology to decide what is valuable for a human being. The subject that deals with “what is valuable for a human being” is called Value Education. Values thus provide the basis for all our actions, and there is an essential complementarity between values and skills.

Shall we develop a new course in “Self Awareness and Human Values” for the new program in Materials Technology? Is there a need for addressing the human values as a part of the technology curriculum? I have now stayed a half year at IITMadras and followed the Indian initiatives closely.

Christian Thaulow Department for engineering design and materials, NTNU