REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

REGION IX
PROVINCE OF ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR
PAGADIAN CITY
ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT COLLEGE
POBLACION, AURORA ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR

COURSE PACKET
IN
Educ. 201 TEACHING PROFESSION
 LESSON 3: THE FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES OF MORALITY AND YOU

What is morality?

As defined by one textbook author, morality refers to the quality of human acts by which we call
them right or wrong, good or evil. Your human action is right when it conforms to the norm, rule, or law
of morality. Otherwise, it is said to be wrong.

What is meant by foundational moral principle?

The word principle comes from the latin word princeps which means a beginning, a source. A
principle is that on which something is based, founded, originated, and initiated.

A foundational moral principle is, therefore, the universal norm upon which all other principles
on the rightness or wrongness of an action are based. It is the source of morality.

Where is the foundational moral principle?

It is contained in the natural law. So, what is natural law? (click and watch the video on this link)

Link on natural law: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_UfYY7aWKo

Thus, the foundational moral principle is “Do good; avoid evil”

Teacher as a person of good moral character

As laid down in the preamble of our Code of Ethics of Professional Teachers

(http://teachercodes.iiep.unesco.org/teachercodes/codes/Asia/Philippines.pdf), the word moral values
are mentioned twice, to accentuate on the good moral character expected of you, the teacher. When
are you of good moral character?

Four ways of describing good moral character:

1. Being fully human – you have realized substantially your potential as human person
2. Being a loving person – you are caring in an unselfish and mature manner with yourself, other
people, and God
3. Being virtuous person – you have acquired good habits and attitude and you practice them
consistently in your daily life.
4. Being morally mature person – you have reached a level of development emotionally, socially,
mentally, spiritually appropriate to your developmental stage.

Activity A
Directions: Answer the following with a YES or NO. If your answer is NO, explain your answer in
a sentence.

____________ 1. Is morality for persons and animals?

____________ 2. Is the natural law known only by the learned?
____________ 3. Did the primitive people have a sense of the natural law?
____________ 4. Is an animalistic act of man moral?
____________ 5. Is it right to judge a dog to be immoral if it defecates right there in your garden
____________ 6. Is the foundational moral principle very specific?
____________ 7. Is the foundational moral principle sensed only by believers?
____________ 8. Is the foundational moral principle the basis of more specific moral principles?
____________ 9. Is the foundational moral principle so called because it is the basis of all moral
principle?
____________ 10. Are the Ten Commandments for Christians more specific moral principles of
the foundational moral principles?

Activity B. Journal Entry

1. “Do good, avoid evil” is the foundational moral principle. List at least 5 good things that you
have to do as a teacher and 5 evil things you have to avoid doing.

Good Things Bad Things

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2. The Golden Rule for Christians is: “Do to others what you would like others do to you.” Give
a concrete application of the Golden Rule as you relate to a learner, to a fellow teacher, to a
parent or any member of the community and to your superiors.

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 LESSON 4: VALUES FORMATION AND YOU

In this lesson, our discussion on values formation is based on the premise that there are
TRANSCENDENT VALUES. Most Filipinos, if not all, believe in a transcendental being whom we call by
different names: Bathala, Apo Dios, Kabunian, Allah and the like.

What is Transcendent Values?

- Is an unchanging and universal values of an idealist group in which the values of

love, care, and concern for our follow men are values for all people regardless of
time and space remain unchanged amidst changing times.
- Transcendent because they are beyond changing times, beyond space and people.
They remain to be value even if no one values them. They are accepted as value
everywhere.

Are values caught or taught?

 Our position is that values are both taught and caught. If they are not taught because
they are merely caught, then there is even no point in proceeding to write and discuss
your values formation as a teacher here!

Values are also caught. We may not be able to hear our father’s advice “Do not smoke” because what he
does (he himself smokes) speaks louder than what he says. The living examples of good men and
women at home, school and society have far greater influence on our value formation than those well-
prepared lectures on values excellently delivered by experts who may sound like ‘empty gongs and
clanging cymbals.”

Values have cognitive, affective and behavioral dimensions

A. Values have cognitive dimension

 Understanding the value that we want to acquire. We need to know why we have to value
such. We need to know how to live by that value.
B. Values are in the affective domain of objectives.
 For instance, it is not enough to know what honesty is or why one should be honest. One
has to feel something towards honesty, be moved towards honest as preferable to
dishonesty.
C. Values have behavioral dimension
 In fact, living by the value is the true acid test if we really value a value like dishonesty.

Max Scheler’s hierarchy of values

 Appear only in regard to objects
intentionally given as ‘absolute objects’
 Belief
 Adoration

Values independent of the whole sphere

of the body and of the environment
 Aesthetic values
 Values of right and wrong
 Values of pure knowledge

Values pertaining to the well-being either

of the individual of the community.
 Health
 Vitality

The pleasant against the unpleasant

 Sensual feelings
 Experiences of pleasure or pain

Based on the Scheler’s hierarchy of values, the highest values are those that directly pertain to
the Supreme Being while the lowest values are those that pertain to the sensual pleasures. We act and
live well if we stick to Scheler’s hierarchy of values.

After introducing transcendent values, let me introduce you to the process of value clarification 

Values Clarification

When we do not know what we really value or when we are not clear on what we really value,
we end up lukewarm or uncommitted to a value. The advocates of value clarification assert that we
must clarify what we really value. The term value is reserved for those individual beliefs, attitudes and
activities that satisfy the following criteria:

1. Freely chosen
2. Chosen from among alternatives
3. Chosen after due reflection
4. Prized and cherished
5. Publicly affirmed
6. Incorporated into actual behavior
7. Acted upon repeatedly in one’s life

This means that if you value honesty you have chosen it freely from among alternatives and
after considering its consequences. You prize it and you are proud of it and so you are not ashamed for
others to know that you value it. You practice and live by honesty and have made it your habit to act and
live honestly.

Activity A

Read the following questions and answer each on a separate paper.

1. Do we have such a thing as unchanging values in these changing times?

2. What do we mean when we say transcendent values are independent of time, space and
people?
3. Should values be taught? Why?
4. What are the three dimensions of value and value formation? Explain each.
5. Based in the Scheler’s hierarchy of values, what is a life well lived?
6. According to advocates of value clarification, how can you test if a value is really your value?
Activity B

Read the following and in the context of value formation write down your response to each as proof
that you accept continuing personal value formation.

 “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul”?
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 “Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value” - Albert
Enstein

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 “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
– The Little Prince by Antoine Exupery
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 “Di baling mahirap, basta may dangal.”

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