When I was in the fifth grade, my Moral Science teacher gave us a little exercise. She asked us to write our names on a sheet of paper and divide it into two halves labeled good and bad. Then came the tough part. We had to pass these sheets around. When a paper landed in front of us, we were supposed to write one good and one bad quality about that person. At the end of the class when our sheets were returned to us, the teacher told us to carefully read what our classmates had written about us and then to rip up the ‘bad’ part and throw it away.
On the surface, this activity seemed simple enough. The point was to teach us that people will always have good things and bad things to say about us. While we should pay attention to both, it is important to not take the bad to heart. As you may have guessed, the lesson was not entirely successful. You see, the teacher could not have predicted that this small experiment could create such a lasting impact. To this day I remember that someone believed that I was ‘annoying’ and ‘too talkative’. I am pretty sure that my classmate who cried when she saw that her bad column had more entries than her good one remembers it too. If this does not seem like a big deal, think about how Sarahah and Ask.fm were based along the same lines. Both services allowed people to send messages and ‘constructive feedback’ anonymously which eventually lead to bullying and mental health issues in teenagers.
This, unfortunately, was not the only time ‘Value Education’ strayed us wrong. While it was supposed to inculcate values of compassion, empathy, and goodwill, the book prescribed for the subject perpetuated some outrageous stereotypes. We were taught to bring our fathers glasses of water when they came home from a long day at work and to help our mothers out in the kitchen. In a chapter about puberty, homosexuality and masturbation were described as sins. The book mentioned the terrible consequences of searching sexual images on the internet, but it never addressed where one was supposed to look for information about sex in a society where the topic is still taboo and the sex education curriculum is faulty. Another issue with the way the subject is taught across India is that schools seem to follow a theological approach to teaching moral values. Although there is nothing wrong with expressing one’s devotion, the book unfairly assumes that everyone believes in God. More importantly, it makes the existence of an omnipotent figure and karmic payback seem like the sole motivation for doing good deeds.
This subject often ends up creating the myth of the ‘perfect student.’ This student does no wrong, gets good grades, is always punctual, respects elders, works hard, helps the poor, and prays every day. For any child to be able to match up to this student is unrealistic and frankly, unnecessary.
Teachers often use this class to talk about their own lives and experiences, imparting lessons along the way. While this attitude results in candid conversations and inspirational stories, it comes with its own set of problems. Whether it is debates and discussions about caste-based reservation and the existence of the LGBTQ+ community or the constant uniform policing and slut-shaming, educators cannot help but let their prejudice affect the way they deal with a certain topic.
There are a lot of things I wish Moral Science had taught me. How to deal with academic failure, cyberbullying, the importance of recognizing and acknowledging my privilege, and most importantly, how to raise my voice against injustice. The New Education Policy aims to teach students “ethics, human and constitutional values like empathy, respect for others, cleanliness, courtesy, democratic spirit, spirit of service, respect for public property, scientific temper, liberty, responsibility, pluralism, equality, and justice.” How far it will be successful in doing so, only time will tell.
Morality is not an exact science and cannot be taught as one. All we can hope is that it is taught in a manner that encourages students to become kinder, non-judgmental people who can make the world a better place.