The Importance Of Positive Values In Today's Youth

It is widely known that today’s youth have to face more issues and challenges than any other past generations. It seems that the youth does not have the correct values or morals to be able to combat the issues they experience (Kristo, 2012). ue is a belief, a mission, or a philosophy that is meaningful in life. Whether an individual is consciously aware of it or not, he/she has a core set of personal values that can range from the commonplace, like belief in hard work and punctuality, to the more psychological, such as self-reliance, concern for others, and harmony of purpose (Feather, 2005).

Without values and principles, human beings have no directions in life; they become mechanical-like beings, driven here and there by the vicissitudes

Individuals who are committed and applying positive values will release fresh energies that will surely attract success, and well-being (Posner, 2008). People can achieve the whole potential of their lives by implementing positive values they have absorbed. Once they identify their positive values that are useful to them, they can modify strategies and techniques that can ensure success for them. As Dr. Lourdez Quisumbing, the former Secretary of Education (2004) stated, values are a powerful motivating force in one’s life, for they have the power to translate knowledge and skills into practice. They enable the student not only to know and understand the norms and rules of conduct, but to accept and treasure them as a guide to decisions and life’s choices. They do not prescribe or dictate, but lead the learners to discover and commit themselves to chosen ideals and values. They teach people how to prioritize, to reflect on the consistency between one’s values and behavior, to evaluate, to reinforce or to

Students who violated rules of the school were suspended for one to five days for their violations. A number of students who violated the rules have been suspended for more than once. The most committed major offenses are non- wearing of prescribed school uniform, failure to wear ID inside the campus, lending to or borrowing the ID of somebody, entering the campus under the influence of liquor, discourtesy and abusive behavior towards school personnel and to their fellow students, lying and quarreling with a person in authority, forgery, vandalism, cheating during examination, physical assault, participating in melee which disgraces a fellow student, watching porn movies inside the classroom, smoking inside the school campus and sporting long hair for men (NPCMST Student Service Office Record Book, 2014).

The value system of students, as based on the data presented may have influenced their academic, social and psychological performances. At the end of the school year, many fail to reach the minimum standards. It shows that there was an increase in the number of cases just like the SY 2012 – 2013 where there were 66% who scored low in the extraversion and reasoning factor of 16 personality test while 69% in the SY 2013 – 2014. This is also supplemented by intelligence tests where a lot of students scored low. Most of the students were below average and