Education in Crisis: A Value-Based Model of Education Provides Some Guidance

Modern education is in a state of global crisis partially because of the absence of a value-based design of its strategic functions. Education affects the whole spectrum of human values, namely, creative, experiential, aesthetic, material, instrumental, ethical, social, and spiritual values. A student whose educational experience involves this portfolio of human values will emerge with a virtuous integrated personality (VIP) as it combines both intellectual and moral virtues (Aristotle. 1988). The search for excellence through education can also be realized if education is value-based, for education is also a moral enterprise in addition to being an academic enterprise. If education imparts this portfolio of core values it will also enhance the meaning of one's education, commitment to academic tasks, civic duties, and the essentials of an ethical culture. These observations are expressed in a number of focal perspectives.