MODULE 2

The Human Person and

The Filipino Value System

INTRODUCTION:

The task of education is to help the Filipino develop his potential to contribute to the growth of
Philippine culture. By controlling the environment and making use of human and non-human resources,
he builds appropriate structures and institutions for the attainment of a “just and humane society”. Thus,
the person can become more human through education, for this would aid him to know and appreciate his
purpose as a human being.

OBJECTIVES:

At the end of Module 2, students should be able to:

 Understand that the human person undergoes growth in different phases

 Appreciate the human person as a multi-dimensional being
 Take pride of our identity as a Filipino
 Uphold Filipino Values in the contemporary times

CONTENT/DISCUSSION:

A. Understanding Self Concept and Its Dynamics

1. Definition. Self-concept refers to our conscious or unconscious perceptions and feelings
about ourselves with regard to our worth as persons.
2. Early Development. Self-concept begins during our early development, how we are told
about who we are and what worth we have. In the process, we acquire a picture of
ourselves and we begin to qualify our experiences according to this view of ourselves.
3. Inferiority and Superiority Complexes. These are symptoms of a poor self-concept.
A person with superiority complex tries hard to “exhibit” his worth to others by
overstressing his strength. In truth, he is not really sure of his worth. A person who
believes in his worth does not feel the need to prove himself to others.
A person with an inferiority complex overstresses his weaknesses. He suffers from
extreme feelings of negative self-worth. These feelings are so strong and deeply etched in
his personality that he is unable to recognize his strengths and potentials.
4. Significant Roles of Self-Concept
i. Self-concept serves as a mirror because it reflects the picture of ourselves, either
positive or negative. We are happy or miserable depending on the mirror image
that our self-concept presents to us.
ii. Self-concept filters our experiences so that we interpret them according to our
pre-existing perception of ourselves.
5. Steps to Take toward a Healthy Self-Concept. Three Dimensions of Self-Concept
i. Self-Image refers to all our perceptions and feelings about our worth with
regards to physical and social appearance. Our physical appearance includes our
genetic inheritance, such as sex and race, and our physical attributes such as
height, build, weight, and others. Our social appearance includes our name, roles,
status and titles. A person with a positive self-image recognizes some of his
physical and social limitations but does not all these to deter him from feeling
 good about how he appears. He has learned his limitations and therefore, feels at
home with himself.
ii. Self-Confidence refers to all perceptions and feelings about our worth with
regards to our capabilities. This involves our ability to do things, to achieve, and
to develop more competencies. Self-confidence paves way to productivity
because the person believes in his potentials. He allows these potentials to
develop by trying. He is not afraid of making mistakes. He does not fall into the
trap “being perfect”. The development of his abilities is measured within his own
standard of development.
iii. Self-Esteem refers to all our perceptions and feelings about our worth with
regards to our lovability. This relates to our basic ability to love and be loved. A
person with high self-esteem believes he is lovable. He does not reject and put
down himself even when others seem to reject him. He does not subject his
lovability to conditions. If other persons love him, he celebrates in it. But he does
not let the love of others be a factor in determining his lovability. A person with
high self-esteem can love more freely and spontaneously.

B. The Human Person as a Multi-Dimensional Being. Individual is distinguished between the

person as self and the person in the community.
1. As an individual/ self. He is not just body and soul, but he is an embodied spirit.
i. As physical (made of matter), man must maintain health and harmony with
nature.
ii. As intellectual (gifted with mind, the faculty of knowing), he must constantly
search for the truth. He seeks knowledge that would transform society and the
world.
iii. As moral (endowed with the faculty of freely choosing and loving), he must go
out to others and, in fact, to all humanity in love.
iv. As spiritual (capable of higher concerns and of rising above the material), he
must cultivate a sense of spirituality in consonance with his nature and respond to
God in faith.
2. As person in the community
i. As social (living in community), he must cultivate the sense of social
responsibility, aware of his unique participation in the pursuit of the welfare of
the family and the common good of the larger society so that society can, in turn,
look after the common good and well-being of the inhabitants.
ii. As economic (bound to concerns of livelihood), he has the obligation to help
achieve economic efficiency for the community.
iii. As political (member of the nation). He must foster the sense of nationalism and
patriotism, by which he identifies with the people and joins hands with them in
the pursuit of common goals. As a member of the world community, he must
cultivate a sense of global solidarity for the emerging concerns and problems of
one country can no longer be considered in isolation of others.

C. The Filipino and His Value System

1. Definitions.
A value is something that is freely chosen from alternatives and is acted upon; that which
the individual celebrates as being part of his creative integration in development as a
person.
A value clarification is the process by which we help a person to discover values through
behavior, feelings, ideas and through important choices he has made and is continually, in
fact, acting upon in and through his life.
 A person is continually developing his values; values can never be static but must be
continually re-chosen as the person grows in his world. As a person grows in his identity
and interdependence, he is continually choosing values and fashioning his hierarchy of
values
2. Categories.
i. Choosing.
1. The value must be chosen freely, there must be no coercion, the person
makes a free choice and is totally accountable for the choice he makes.
2. The choice must be made from alternatives.
3. The consequences of each of the alternatives must be judged.
ii. Prizing. This means that a person who chooses a value must be happy about
what he has chosen and hold it as something dear to him.
4. Cherishing and being happy with the choice
5. Willing to affirm the choice publicly
iii. Acting. There must be a commitment-in-action which would change one’s
behavior and which would make evident to other people that there is a value
present. If something is really a value, it would be acted upon and acted upon
repeatedly.
6. Actually doing something with the choice
7. Actually repeated in some patterns of life
3. Value-Ranking. It is the process whereby a person examines, as comprehensively as
possible, all of his values and then ranks them, prioritizes them, or put them within a
hierarchy of values. Value-ranking is a conscious, deliberate, well-articulated, well-
thought-out ranking of chosen values. Growth and personal identity are accomplished
when an individual has the opportunity to clarify his attitudes, weight the priorities
operative in the formation of these attitudes, and come to chosen value-rankings which
please and enhance him as a person.
4. Primary Value. This helps a human being develop to the best of his capacity, and
therefore, he has a goal beyond normal functioning in society to exceptional function.
This is basic and necessary for development to take place.
1. Self-value. This is the ability to accept that “I am of total worth to
others.”
2. Value of others. This is the ability to accept that “Others are of total
worth, as I am.”
5. Related Values. The Value Education program of the Department of Education, Culture
and Sports (DECS) identifies human dignity as the supreme values that characterize
education: the human person is of infinite value. Human dignity is the overarching value;
all other values are pursued because of the inner worth of the human person.
i. Health implies physical fitness and cleanliness.
ii. Truth implies the tireless quest for knowledge in all its forms. It is not enough to
discover data and know facts, but one must develop creative and critical thinking
to meet the challenges of the modern world.
iii. Love implies the quest for personal integrity and the development of self-worth
or self-esteem, honesty, and personal discipline which are marks of a mature
person and a useful citizen.
iv. Spirituality is the cultivation of faith.
v. Social responsibility means strengthening the family as the “foundation of the
nation” and “a basic autonomous social institution”.
vi. Economic Efficiency is achieved by man through work, the exercise of human
mastery over the resources of nature and creative imagination in the solution of
complex problems.
 vii. Nationalism and Patriotism means the love of country and the people as a
distinct political unit bound by a common history, committed to a common cause,
and share a common destiny.
6. Value Orientation of Filipino Adolescents. According to Wilma Reyes in his study on
the Adolescent’s Value system
i. The values of the subjects cluster around six value themes: pananampalataya sa
Diyos, buhay, pamilya, saril, kapwa and edukasyon.
ii. Youth consider faith in God as the most important value in life because this is the
center of life itself. This is the animating force of life.
iii. The family is considered as a significant part of their own life. Self and life are
not complete without the family.
iv. The self is seen not as a separate entity but always related to other people.
v. From the values of pananampalataya, buhay, pamilya and sarili spring the love
for kapwa. Everything is meaningless unless it is shared with the kapwa.
vi. Education is considered important because an educated person is well respected
in our society and social mobility is directed towards having good jobs and
economically stable conditions.
LEARNING TASK/S:

Answer every question briefly in at least 5-10 sentences.

1. Make an assessment as regards your development as a multi-dimensional being (elaborate each

dimension). Reflect on your limitations and weaknesses and provide practical ways to improve and over
come them.

2. Think of the best Filipino Value that you have acquired in your family. How does this affect you as an
individual? How can you share this in the community?

RUBRIC:

5 points- content
3 points- organization
2 points- mechanics