FIRST TERM TERM CIVIC EDUCATION LESSON NOTE WEEK ONE

(1)
According to the oxford advanced learned learners dictionary: Value is the quality
of being useful and important.it is the behavior of knowing what is right and wrong
Value can be defined as a quality or worth of something cherished in life.
Therefore, the societal values determine the worth people attach to certain issues,
beliefs, ideas and principles of life. Value determines how far a person or society
will grow and develop because it is value that builds people’s self-esteem and it is
self-esteem that drives people towards achieving their goals and dreams in life. So,
self-esteem means how you feel about yourself.
Definition of value: Value can be defined as the quality of being useful or
important or worth of thing that is very important or cherish in someone life.
Types of Values
These are some of values that are discussed for this level of academics
i. General Values: There are some societal norms, traits and behaviors which the
society sees as good and acceptable. These values are approve for general welfare
and best of interest for every member of the society. We call these values general
values.
General values are product of religious, traditional and culture heritage of the
society and are contained in the constitution of the country e.g.
honestly,selflessness,tolerance,diligence,equality,human
dignity,discipline,accoyuntability,commitment,contentment,sincerity etc.
ii. Personal Values: different individuals have different perception and ideology
about certain issues of life. Individual perception and ideology of life influences
how they make personal choice and decisions which often guide their mode of
behavior and their mode of behavior and their contribution to the society at large.
These individual ideologies are called personal values.
iii. Group Value: Group values are values which a group of people or gangs come
together to develop and is being upheld by every member of that group. Every
member of the group is expected to conform to the agreed decisions and behavioral
standard of the group. However, we the values of a group are in conflict with
generally accepted values, and then such group is likely to be a secret cult.
Examples of Good Values
a. Selflessness: To be selfless is to think more about other people’s happiness, joy
and progress. It is the ideology based on the fact that other people’s interest must
come first before own personal interest.To grow and develop a society,we need
selfless leaders who will see the society’s problem as their personal problem and
who will be ready to lead with passion and determination without being influenced
or manipulated by power.
Selflessness is a quality that helps you to avoid corruption. This is because
selflessness make you feel guilty when you try to accumulate wealth illegally. It is
the values that helps someone to be contented, honest and patriotic e.g. Nelson
Mandela in South Africa etc.
Qualities of Selflessness
i. Selflessness focuses more on creating happiness for other people
ii. Selflessness treats other people with respect, love and dignity
iii. Selflessness brings people that are delegated, responsible who ensure equal
participate in fulfilling the task by promoting team work.
iii. Selflessness gives and uses its time for satisfaction of other people’s need.
Selflessness is contented and generous, remember that selflessness is what make
life go round, because it allows for equitable sharing of resources.
b.Justice:-Justice is a values that is associated with fairness, absence of sentiment
and favoritism. Whenever an action is done by someone, government or
organization, everybody want to know if such action is morally right or not. They
want to if such action is based on the principle and
rationality,equality,equity,fairness and ethics .A popular terms connected to justice
in Nigeria is due process and it is concerned with how people and resources in a
society are properly ordered in line with the law of the land.
c. Honesty: This is the qualities you possess when people see you as being upright,
straight-forward, never cheating, never stealing and trustworthy is called honesty.
No relationship, be it friendship, family or society can grow and survive without
honesty. This is because the pillar upon which every relationship is built is trust.
Trust cannot be earn when people are honest to themselves.
Honesty is what makes you to find another man’s property and return it to rightful
owner. Honesty is what prevents a students from indulging in examination
malpractice, honest is what makes an employee not to steal from the organization’s
fund, honesty is what will make an employer of labour to pay commensurate salary
to his/her employee at the right time
Importance of Honesty
-It promotes mutual respect and conflidence
-It guarantees accountability and transparency in a society
-It makes people reliable
-It brings peace, unity and development in a society
-It enhances a good relationship in the society.
d.Integrity-The quality of being honest and upholding strong moral principles.
These moral principles include: discipline, self-respect, up-rightness and sincerity.
Integrity is value that makes a person to be transparent and sincere (straight
forward) in his/her dealing with other people. It helps a person to shin corruption
and avoid bribes.
Importance of Integrity
-It gives one a sense of uprightness of judgment.
-It inspires other people around you towards developing a high moral in our
country.
-It is a solution to corruption in our country
-It promotes hard work and dedication to duty.
e. Contentment: Is a virtue that helps a person to overcome greed.Greedness can
push you into social vices such as stealing, robbery, corruption, fighting etc.
Contentment is a way of satisfaction of what you have. A contented man
understands that what brings happiness and fulfillment in life is not material wealth
only.
Importance of Contentment
-It promote tolerance and peace in the community
-It promote hardworking and diligence in the work
-It discourage inferiority
-It creates self-confident, self-reliant and have respect for others
f. Discipline –Discipline is the ability to do the right thing at the right time whether
it is convenient for you to do or not. Discipline is a value we must promote our
personal life, schools, mosques, churches, and public places.This is because
discipline enhances orderliness and obedience to rules and regulations. Discipline
is a virtue and quality required for peaceful and harmonious living. That is
discipline is a value that helps everybody to do the right thing and it is when
everybody does the right thing then the community can experience peace, law and
order.Discipine starts from self-discipline is the training a person gives him or
herself in order to a pattern of behavior that is right and acceptable to the society.
g. Accountability-is the art of being responsible for an obligation you are
delegated to handle.
In public office, accountability require that you assume responsibility for every
decisions, policies and actions which result in either gains or losses from the office
you occupy. Accountability involves you giving the right report when and where
necessary to your superior in the office. In the case of any misconduct, an
accountable officer will be willing to undergo punishment the law stipulate for the
offense he or she has committed.
h. Tolerance: For peaceful co-existence among every member of a society, there
is need to exhibit the value of tolerance. Man is created in such a way that he has
different behavioral traits in terms of religion, culture, ideologies.values.beliefs
e.tc.However, tolerance helps us to accept the weakness of other people and to
embrace their strength.
Tolerance helps us to understand the need for us to see our differences as a
necessary factor for societal development.
Needs for tolerance in the society.
a. It promotes unity among various group and individuals in a society.
b. It is required for National development
c. It reduces and eradicates dispute and conflicts
d. It leads to corporation and communal work which leads to societal development.
i.Diligence: To be hard-working is to have passion and develop interest in what
you are doing. It is the art of been zealous, enthusiastic and energetic with either
your work or your studies as a student.
Diligence is handwork plus demonstration of skills, carefulness and thoroughness
in what you do. Diligence helps to eliminate damages, wastage and to produce
efficient high quality.