Spiritual Values in the Modern Education

Nowadays, education plays increasingly more important role. In fact, education is the basis with the help of which an individual may develop his/her personality, future professional life and social position. It should be pointed out that education historically meet the needs of society and dominating ideology that prevailed in society and defined practically all aspects of life of people. The present epoch is not an exception. In such a situation, the current trend to the dominance of materialism is really disturbing since spiritual values, such as basic Christian values, gradually decline giving in to the ideology of material prosperity which makes individuals susceptible to the influence of material values while spiritual ones are practically ignore. In this respect, such notions as soul are often turn to be quite strange to the modern system of education and I, being a college student, do not really feel that I am serving to my soul and myself as I study at college because I rather strive for my future place in society than really enjoy spiritual enlightenment and growth.
First of all, I should say that the existing system of education is repressive in relation to the spiritual world of students and I perfectly realize that my education it is a sort of tribute I have to pay off to society to occupy the respectable and stable place in the social hierarchy. In fact, it is not just the problem of our colleges or our education system but it is rather the problem of the dominant ideology when everything has its price from an ordinary good to human life, while, in actuality, there are some sacred concepts which cannot be valued in material terms, such as freedom, friendship, morality, life, and many others.
Obviously, the modern ideology propagates epicurean lifestyle which has nothing in common with spirituality and internal enrichment, while material and financial one practically determines all our actions, including our education. By the way, the latter simply prepares students to the future life in a severe material world where basic human values do not worth a sixpence, while high social position, wealth and prosperity are the most valuable concepts. Naturally, in such a situation, there remains no room for the soul. In actuality, I can hardly say that I serve my soul or myself at college. In stark contrast, I perceive my study rather as a kind of serfdom than the possibility to find my own way in my life since we are always focused on the material problems and, therefore, our materialism defines our life choices including those we made in our education.
In this respect, education contributed considerably to the dominance of materialist values. It seems to be obvious that the professional specialization that means the preparation of students for their future professional work starts at the earlier age that it used to be in the past. In fact, nowadays I, as well as other students, am simply a tool in the hands of the modern commercialized and materialistic society. Nowadays, the current situation in the labor market and future perspectives defines our choices while the need in well-qualified professionals in different spheres make educators think about the professional training and preparation of student whom they simply transform into a kind of living machines which are programmed by the modern education to fulfill certain functions in their adult life simply to survive and get at least elementary physical and material benefits. What is meant here is the fact that, as a rule, we study at college simply because we do want to get richer or take a higher social position. The richer or more influential you can become the better for you – this is the major principle modern student tend to follow.
Unfortunately, I, as a college student, do not have a lot of choices and, basically, I have to obey to the existing system. Otherwise, I would simply become a kind of outcast since the rejection of material values will be perceived by my social environment as something abnormal, while if I focus on my soul and spiritual development, I guess only a few people will understand me because nowadays it is rather ‘in dollar we trust’ than ‘in God we trust’. Moreover, even though I really dedicated my education fully to the development of my soul I would face probably the greatest problem, the problem of the lack of mentors. In fact, the modern educators probably view students as spiritually self-sufficient beings for there is practically no special programs that could really contribute to the broad spiritual education of students, such programs which could really make me feel that I serve to my soul and myself but not to the demands of the current materialistic ideology. It is not a secret that often some academic knowledge, certain set of skills and abilities turn to be more important than understanding of my self, my soul.
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that I cannot say that I am serving to my soul and myself since I study at college, where the material values totally dominate over spiritual ones. It seems as if nobody cares about my spiritual development but everybody concerns on my academic successes and my professional development as a future active member of our highly materialistic society. As a result, I rather feel that I am a kind of tool that is carefully prepared to fulfill its function, but not a really free individual, who has my own identity different from that imposed on me by educators and my social surrounding. What I mean is the fact that I need to ignore my soul, my spiritual development for the sake of material prosperity the way to which the college opens to me, while my soul remains a ephemeral concept unable to compete with the materialistic ideology of the modern world because I feel myself alone in this struggle and my soul is a kind of asylum where I can find the psychological and moral balance and which I have to abandon as soon as I have to contact with the real, material world being at college.

References
Russel, G. Introduction to Philosophy. New York: Random House, 2004.