Evaluation of Value System and Its Effects on Nigeria Education: A Philosophical Approach

Abstract

This study concentrates on the evaluation of value system in Nigeria and its
effect on education, using the philosophical approach. It employed the
logical inference and ideal statements. The work was guided by four
axiological questions: (a) Are values extrinsic or intrinsic? (b) Are values
subjective or objective? (c)Are values relative or absolute? and (d) Is there
hierarchy of values?. In order to answer the above questions raised, the
various theories of moral values were therefore explained. Furthermore, the
value situation in the Nigerian society and its effect on education were
vividly x-rayed. Finally, the writer focuses on the Renewed Hope for the
Nigerian Education. It is the writers’ opinion that values are standards of
conduct, efficiency or worth that the society endorses, maintains and
transmits to future generation. The failure of the Nigerian education
subsector is to a large extent caused by the subjectivity and relativity in
which values are treated in the country. No society in the author’s view can
achieve its target if its values are left at the mercy of the individual’s
situation, circumstance and time.