Importance Of Education In Determining Proper Conduct
By Shareen Han

Bandar Seri Begawan - Cultural values have come under tremendous stress in these times of globalisation. Bombarded by the information explosion, youth have become its first `victims'. All over the world cultural values have undergone drastic changes and Brunei is no exception. The Brunei Times talked to a cross section of the society to ascertain how do Bruneians feel about it.

Cultural values - regardless of local or western - evolve and change rapidly, thus it is unavoidable for youths to practice other cultural values, said Ainol Kamaruddin.

The self-employed 28-yearold said that with advances made in information technology, youths are now exposed to more choices on what kind of cultural values can be applied to their lifestyles.

"I don't think that it's lack of understanding on youths' part because everyone makes a conscious decision of what they believe in," said Ainol.

He added that education is a crucial factor in determining that youths do not make decisions which lead to social problems, including theft, drug abuse and vandalism.

Youths need to be proactive in empowering themselves by getting involved- in various activities, so as to keep away from these social ills, he said.

Practicing western values do not necessarily mean that youths cannot determine what is right or wrong behaviour, commented a student of Universiti Brunei Darussalam.

"Even though it affects how they practice their local cultural values, they can still make up their own mind of what they want to follow," he said.

"Most youths these days tend to follow what is cool, so it does affect how youths practice their local cultural values," said the student who requested not to be named.

He went on to say that majority of youths were caught up in the Information Communication Technology age, but they were still conscious of actions which could bring negative consequences.

An increasing number of youths were not interested in learning their own cultural values nowadays, said a secondary English teacher.

She said that the media, including television and the Internet, have "indirectly" influenced youths' choices of how they want to lead their lifestyles. Friends were also influencing their actions because youths would try to fit into the "in group", said the 26-year old teacher from Anthony Abell College, Seria.

How youths are brought up in the family institution is an integral part of how youths can determine whether their actions constitute what is right or wrong, she added.

 -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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