How important are moral values in our society?

Moral values are defined as standards of what is right and wrong which governs the behaviour of an individual. One’s moral values can come from family, society, religion or self.

However, in this competitive society, I feel that it is not uncommon that some people sacrificed their moral values for one’s benefit, for example, lying in order to protect one’s interests. The foundation of a society where people value themselves beyond the good of the society would be weak. When one is only concerned about oneself and not the good of the society as a whole, one would only do things that benefit oneself and disregard the society. It would ultimately harm the society if people become self-centered. This is due to the fact that usually the good of the society would mean the good of each and every individual in the society. However, as this group of people is blinded by their self-centeredness, they would be unable to see that and become only interested of the short-term gains. Therefore, it is crucial to establish a strong moral foundation in the society.

I feel that moral education must begin when the child is young, as it takes time for the child to internalize it. Both families and schools should be responsible in bringing up children with moral values. There has been over emphasis on academic subjects and neglected moral education as a result. Parents are the first teachers that children encounter and emulate, therefore parents have to set a good example for them. In schools, teachers can come up with interesting ways to impart moral values and life skills to students.

This also applies to a government, where high-ranking officials with good moral values would mean that their subordinates would also follow suit and thus would be able to form a solid foundation of good governance. Corruption would be minimized to the minimum, the country and society as a whole would be able to prosper.

Quite recently, in the field of science and technology, there has been an issue raised on moral values in the society with the birth of Dolly, the cloned sheep. I personally feel that it is not morally correct to extend the use of cloning to human beings. This would cause a lot of unrest in our present society, for example, the police rely on fingerprints to determine and nab criminals. However, if totally identical people exist, then it would be extremely difficult to determine the identity of the real criminal.