The modern materialistic world raises our standard of living but declines our standard of life. The erosion of moral values in our society today has become a phenomenon. Morals are the acceptable standards of general conduct or behavior when judged by an average person or society at large. Morality creates a healthy synthesis between people, fostering cooperation, and understanding right from wrong, thereby making a value-based society. Morals are influenced by family, society, culture, and social values. Educational agencies such as family, school, and society play an important role in developing ethical and moral values among our youths. Unfortunately, due to several social and economic factors, many families are disoriented, disorganized, and confused, failing to play this vital role.
Our institutions of learning are preparing efficient individuals but not good citizens. Society today is marked by violence, greed, theft, drug addiction, and particularly crimes against women, including rape and other types of violence. Discipline is lacking among young children; they do not obey their elders and often disrespect them. The younger generation has become so self-centered that they are mostly busy serving their own interests. Thus, it has become a common belief that there has been a rapid erosion of ethical and moral values among the youth in our society.
The modern materialistic world raises our standard of living but declines our standard of life, i.e., the value of life. In the present society, due to the spread of greed, self-aggrandizement, gross injustice, abuse of human rights, misuse of power, callousness, insensitivity, deceit, dishonesty, thefts, bribery, smuggling, and corruption, man is wallowing in the low and dark dimensions of his consciousness. Religion and morality are being throttled, and the power of man is being misused. The growing influence of the negative aspects of Western culture on the younger generation has left them stranded at crossroads. To make youth conscious of such evils, education based on moral and ethical values should be provided to them so they become rational human beings and know what is good, rather than turning into beasts in human shape.
Undoubtedly, society is growing at a very fast rate materially, but if we analyze our moral and ethical progress, we are degrading day by day in every sector. Be it our religious institutions, our schools, our government offices, or any other institutions, practical examples of morality and ethics are missing everywhere. We see even our Ulmas wearing costly brands and living luxurious lives while delivering sermons about simplicity. Why don’t our Ulmas discuss the present scenarios and the moral degradation prevalent in our society in their sermons? Those with the supreme responsibility to help rectify the social crises in our society are unfortunately acting as mute spectators. The day is not far when, despite growing and advancing rapidly in technology, we will still be similar to wild and beastly animals.
We have doctors who consider patients more as customers rather than human beings in need. We have teachers who try hard to help their students achieve their dreams of becoming doctors, engineers, etc., but making them morally and ethically good citizens is never on their priority list. While analyzing our whole institutions from top to bottom, morality and ethics are casualties almost everywhere. There are various factors responsible for the degradation of moral and ethical values among our youth; some of them are:
Parental Behavior: In today’s society, the role of parents is crucial in developing the personality of the child. Parents are much more concerned about the education of their children than teaching them good moral values. Working parents fail to develop good discipline and manners among the children. Most are unaware of what their children do when they are not at home. Sometimes excessive freedom given to the youth allows them to engage in undesirable activities like gambling, loitering, and trafficking, which ultimately turn into grave crimes. Today’s parents fail to regulate their children’s activities, and some are unable to cope with their demands, compelling them to pursue immoral activities.
Influence of Mass Media: Undoubtedly, TV, print media, internet blogs and websites, cinemas, and role models (movie actors/actresses) play an important role in honing and shaping the youth’s personality. Many media platforms, images, movies, and games not only neutralize violence but often glorify it. There is so much violence and vulgarity in all these entertainment avenues, and if a majority of youth consume these, the impact on the next generation can’t be positive.
Higher Importance to Materialistic Achievement: Privatization of educational institutions is another major cause for the decline in ethical values in education. The government permits and recognizes self-financed private institutions, making education a marketable commodity where educational institutes act as traders and students as customers.
The creative mind of youth is diverted toward antisocial activities such as smoking in public places, teasing, misbehaving in class, drug addiction, misconduct in the household, and juvenile delinquency, to name a few. Social values are uprooted by commencing antisocial activities, leading to regional movement, conflict, bias, and enmity, which play a leading role in the overall downfall of society. The alarming percentage of criminality and antisocial behavior is increasing among youth with changes in social structure and individual motives. The invention of new modes of scams and frauds denotes that youth are becoming more interested in easy ways of attaining wealth, power, and fame, giving the least consideration to human values. This promotes identity crises and relationships with individuals or groups perceived as morally deficient.
In the modern era, ethical and moral values are degenerating. People are becoming self-centered. Our youth lack discipline and do not respect their elders. It is crucial for today’s youth to understand the meaning of moral values deeply. If we want to create a crime-free society, human values and professional ethics must be given due consideration. Morality is the most deterring factor of crime, antisocial behavior, assault, cybercrime, corruption, and other grave crimes. It is imperative to find out the major causes of the decline in morality in society. Moral principles hold the world together. There is a need for moral principles and values to be imparted to children to make them better and responsible citizens. Moral orientation of youths needs to be strengthened to build a moral and harmonious society.
(The views expressed above are the author’s own. Current Matters is not responsible for the same.)
