Moral Values and the Relevance of Swami Vivekananda

Polemic Paper from the year 2018 in the subject Didactics - Politics, Political Education, grade: 2.8, , language: English, abstract: This work focuses on Swami Vivekananda and on the relevance of his thoughts on the philosophy of education in the 21st century.

The 21st century technological evolution had contributed to globalisation of knowledge-based education, which has changed human lifestyle. Such change had led to a condition where moral values are left far behind. In fact there is gross erosion of values of individual to keep pace with the society and in order to fulfil one¿s desire to be at the top. The erosion of moral values of truth, co-operation, non violence, peace, love, respect for parents, elders, authority and hard work is leading to the decay of moral and social fabric of society at a speed never witnessed in the history of civilization. Our stress is too much on standards of living and not on standards of life. Though the problem of decreasing values extends to the whole range of human activities, education field is regarded as the proper place to inculcate positive values.

The Indian culture is deeply rooted in spiritual and ethical values, unless these values find their way into the life of individuals, education will lose its significance and will not fulfil its aim. Though we have made progress in knowledge but still we are not above the levels of our past generations in ethical and moral life. In some way we have declined from their standards. Today we have been successful in making professionals but not the human beings. Because the system of education made the learner to feel that there is nothing noteworthy and appreciable in traditions and moral. Therefore there it is a need to revisit the Swami Vivekanandäs philosophy to reform the present education system.