Moral Values for Students: A Necessary Part of the Curriculum

By Paul Richard Kuehn

Teach Moral Values

When most people talk about a school curriculum, they think about math, science, social
studies, and language courses. Seldom do I hear or read about moral values as being part of
the curriculum. The problem is that the neglect of teaching moral values in schools is hurting our
students and causing problems in society. If a person has never learned any moral values, how
is she or he able to discern the difference between right and wrong? That is basically the
essence of moral values education.
Why Moral Values for Students?
As parents and educators, we should all advocate the teaching of moral values in our schools
for the following reasons:
1. Preparing Our Children For Future Roles In Society:
Knowledge gained in school is only one goal of education. The primary goals of education
should be enabling students to gain knowledge and moral values. Our kids will need both in
preparing themselves to be good parents and citizens in society.
2. Many Parents Aren't Teaching Moral Values:
If all parents were teaching their children moral values in the home, it would not be necessary
for the schools to do this work, The sad fact is that a lot of kids are not learning from their
parents the difference between right and wrong. This is because most mothers and fathers in
their busy work days spend only a few hours with their children. In many families there is only
one parent and no other role models for kids to follow.
3. There is Too Much Violence and Dishonesty in Society:
Every day students are exposed to violence, dishonesty, and other social problems in the media
and the real world. How many times have we heard about school shootings? What about other
times when students are caught cheating on exams? Then, too, we read about bullying in
school and fights between gangs. If moral values were taught in schools, we would have fewer
of these problems.
4. To Counter Bad Influences in Society:
Unfortunately, many of the role models of young people are setting bad examples. These bad
examples range from sexual promiscuity, degrading of women, advocacy of violence, and the
condoning of dishonesty in order to succeed.
5. Moral Values Will Stick With You For Life:
It's amazing the amount of math and science knowledge I have forgotten since my school days.
I haven't, however, forgotten moral value lessons learned in school. One of these moral lessons
was learned while I was a varsity football player. Our team had just lost a tough game, because
the referee had ruled we were stopped inches away from scoring a touchdown. When our

school principal had heard a lot of my teammates complaining about how the officiating had
caused us to lose the game, he came on the team bus after the game and said that in life the
referee never beats you.
Top Seven Moral Values:
It would serve society well if the following seven moral values for students were taught in
educational institutions:
1. Unconditional Love and Kindness:
In most cases, if you love someone, he or she will love you back in return. This, however, is not
the real meaning of love. Love should be unconditional. With more love in the world, kindness
will follow and replace cruelty.
2. Honesty:
Students must be taught that dishonesty and cheating is wrong, and will get you nowhere in the
future. As a student, one is only hurting himself or herself by cheating, because this action will
eventually catch up to you in the end with bad consequences.
3. Hard Work:
When I was young, I learned that success was one percent inspiration and 99 percent
perspiration. Nowadays, so many students want to cheat and cut corners in their studies,
because they are lazy and don't place any value on hard word. This thinking must change.
4. Respect For Others:
Unfortunately, in our highly competitive dog eat dog society, many people will trod on others to
get ahead in life. Respect for others should include respecting different religions, races, sexes,
ideas, and life styles.
5. Co-operation:
To achieve a common goal, it is necessary for all people to work together. If this is not done, a
few people may profit, but the end result for everyone will be a failure. I still believe in the motto,
"united we stand and divided we fall."
6. Compassion:
Compassion is defined as being sensitive to the needs of people. If there were more
compassion in the world, there would be less homeless, hunger, wars, and unhappiness.
7. Forgiveness:
Jesus Christ taught us to forgive our enemies or people who hurt us. Anger in most cases is caused by an
unwillingness to forgive. There would be less violence and fighting in school if students could learn this moral virtue.
I taught English in a Catholic school in Thailand for more than six years, and learning moral values was built into all of
our lessons. Actually, ten percent of the student's grade was based on how well she practiced moral values inside
and outside the classroom. This would be an excellent policy for other schools to adopt.

Importance of Moral Values in the Present day Situation

Modern mass society presents a sharp contrast, as the young grow up. They are faced with
confusions, delays and discontinuities. Adolescents in particular are uncertain about
themselves. Some are in conflict with themselves, bewildered an insecure.
Values are usually influenced by the changing philosophical ideologies, cultural and religious
perspectives, social, political and geographical conditions. In modern emerging society, there
has been a revolutionary change in the field of values due to many factors in addition to the
influence of modern culture, industrialization, modernization, urbanization, globalisation and
multinationals.
Values are the guiding principles, decisive in day to day behaviors as also is critical life
situations. Values are a set bring of principles or standards of behavior. Values are regarded
desirable,important and held in high esteem by a particular society in which a person lives.
Value education means inculcating in the children a sense humanism, a deep concern for the
well being of others and the nation.This can be accomplished only when we instill in the children
a deep feeling of commitment to values that would build this country and bring back to the
people pride in work that brings order, security and assured progress.
Value education refers to a programme of planned educational action aimed at the development
of value and character. Every action and thought of ours leaves an impression in our mind.
These impressions determine in our behavior at a given moment and our responses to a given
situation. The sum total of all our impressions is what determines our character. The past has
determined the present and even so the present our present thoughts and actions will shape our
future. This is a key principle governing personality development. The human values are
resolved having lasting impact necessary for bringing about change in thought and conduct, in
the 21st century.
"If there is righteousness in the heart there will be beauty in character If there is beauty in
character There will be harmony in the home When there is harmony in the home There will be
order in the nation When there is order in the nation There will be peace in the world"
At the boyhood state, individual physical development is concerned, during manhood and old
age intellectual and spiritual values start dominating the corporal values. Therefore while
imparting moral education educators must keep in mind that the young must be educated.

Prizes may be given to the deserving persons for showing honesty, bravery, truth etc. The
award should be given during school gathering. Contests may be organized on values of life.
According to Father of Indian Nation M.K.Gandhi
"If wealth is lost nothing is lost"
"If health is lost something is lost"
"If character is lost everything is lost"
Best of all things is character.
Name : Naraginti Amareswar Reddy Father Name : N.M.Reddy Sex : Male Date of Birth: Oct
25th 1981 Edu Qua : M.Sc., M.Ed., Research Scholar in education ( Ph.D.- on progress)
Country : India e-mail ID : amareswaran@yahoo.co.in

TECHNOLOGY LEADING TO MORAL DECLINE OF YOUTH

Its a shame that technology is such a sharp double-edged sword. Like it or not, we
are a digital society. In the age of cellular phones, video games, and computers, it is
important to explore whether this abundance of technology has helped or harmed
childrens mental and emotional development.

Experts disagree on the answer. I argue that modern technology has had negative
effects on children such as Nomvuselelo in some areas of their development.
Technology has definitely caused a moral decline in society. It negatively corrupts the
youth because inappropriate content such as porn is easily obtained through
downloading.

Apart from what happened to this child, we also have to look at the amount of
violence our children are exposed to while playing video games or watching
television. Many TV shows now possesses poor role models and expose our children

to things they may be too young to see while video games allow children to play with
fake guns. By the time a child finishes elementary school, statistically they will have
already witnessed 8 000 murders through TV and video games. Young children, as
Nomvuselelo was in high school, are more easily impressionable as they have a harder
time distinguishing between fantasy and reality. The good thing is that she has turned
to Christ and he will never judge her.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
There are many factors that contribute to the moral degeneration among youth. This is an incredibly complex
question and requires a proper response from a social psychologist.
I'll get the ball rolling with my personal opinions and invite discussion.
For one, there are too many media images, movies and games that not only neutralize violence but often glorify
it, so kids develop a sense of fun from all of this, rather than being horrified or afraid.
There is not enough tough love from parents and guardians to help youth understand there are consequences
to actions and that there are boundaries we must maintain to keep our society somewhat healthy.
Some of us want our children to grow up being 'individuals' who can follow their dreams so we give too much
leeway and responsibility without expectations or guidance.
Some of us have no time to spend with our kids since we either work too much or we are busy following our
own dreams. Our kids grow up learning boundaries and rules from social media and games.
Some of us ply kids with electronics and electronic media without any monitoring and where kids find social
acceptance or even glory from intangible actions which builds a confidence that is removed from reality.
Some parents and guardians are just so dysfunctional they shouldn't be allowed to raise children.
______________________________________________________________________________________

How the decline of moral values promote

the failure of civilizations
How declining Morals cause Civilizations to Die
Great civilizations are not timeless. During their lifespan, they produce great
innovations, stunning technological advancements, and archive vast caches of

knowledge, but inevitably they will collapse and die. The reasons for civilizational
decline are varied and hotly debated. In general though, there are but a small
number of common requirements for a civilization to thrive and only a handful of
reasons why they inevitably collapse.
For some ancient civilizations, we have little or no records documenting the
religious or moral state of the empire immediately preceding their collapse but even
for those, there are clear clues that morality declined before the nations collapse.
For most dead civilizations however, we have sufficient documentation to
demonstrate that religion and moral values are a requirement not only for the
success of a civilization, but for its very survival.
Why Civilizations Fail
Throughout history, great civilizations have come and gone with the end of one
great civilization often overlapping the beginning of a new great civilization. Great
nations cease to exist in one of three ways: (1) They may be slowly absorbed and
assimilated into another, more thriving civilization. (2) They may be forcefully
conquered by another nation. (3) They may slowly, but methodically, degenerate
into a collapsed state.
In many cases, the first two causes (assimilation and conquest) often follow a long
period of slow, drawn out degeneration of moral values. In the third case (slow
degeneration), a decline in moral values is always present. Hence, it is important to
understand how a great empire can fall into disarray and find themselves unable to
make the needed corrections. But before we understand why societies degenerate,
we must review what it takes to form and function as a great civilization.
Requirements for a civilization to thrive
Civilizations are extremely complex entities with enormously complicated and
intertwined methods of operation. There have been many models developed in an
attempt to define the requirements for a nation to prosper and to delineate the
precarious balance that must be maintained between each requirement in order for
the civilization to thrive. The balance of requirements necessary to thrive is very
important and often difficult to maintain. For instance, a centralized population is
required for efficient productivity. If the population is too lean, maximum productive

capacity cannot be achieved. Alternatively, if a population is too large it can exceed

production capacity causing a shortage of resources. The civilization must maintain
a balanced population in order to succeed.
A basic model for an ideal civilization consists of six requirements.
Large, centralized population for productivity
First, a civilization must have a large, centralized population to drive the economic
engine. Production centers can be spread throughout the nation but localized
population centers, situated near the production centers, are required to provide
efficient production capacity. The size of the population should be large enough to
provide efficient productivity but not so large as to exceed the available resources.
Extraneous factors, such as war or disease, can throw the population out of
equilibrium. Similarly, a society dependent upon expansion will eventually run out of
conquests required to fuel the growth. To further complicate matters, there are
numerous external factors that can cause a shift in the population, throwing the
population out of balance and eliminating one of the basic requirements for a
civilization to thrive.
In modern civilizations, technology has allowed the population to remain connected
even if they are not geographically located near each other. In these instances,
some part of the population can remain distant from the general population and the
society may still thrive.
Surplus of resources or excess production capacity
Secondly, a civilization requires a surplus of resources or production capacity. The
smaller the surplus of resources, the more efficiently the civilization must process
those resources into the final product. Depleted resources, a common problem in
thriving civilizations, can lead to collapse, especially when leaders are unaware
of the problem or unwilling to rectify the situation (usually due to greed).
Centralized government for infrastructure and protection

Thirdly, a civilization must have a centralized government supported by an

appropriate level of taxes. The tax rate must be high enough to maintain the
societys infrastructure and to provide protection for its citizens but no more.
Excessive taxes can result in poor citizen morale and decreased productivity and in
many past civilizations, have been a precursor to collapse.
Effective, fair division of labor for efficiency
Fourth, a civilization must have an effective division of labor separated between
leadership and productive workers. Effective leadership is required to motivate
workers and coordinate their labor activities and must be fair to earn and retain the
respect of the workers.
Immigration can cause an imbalance between leadership and workers as migrant
workers rarely operate in a leadership capacity. As migrants are made available,
leadership use them as a source of cheap labor. This leads to a lower average labor
cost which can create an earnings disparity between the two classes. As the Nation
progresses, strife between the classes, prompted by an ineffective or unfair division
of labor, is often a precursor to collapse.
Ability and motivation to innovate for revenue generation
All great civilizations are born in an environment that allows them to produce
innovative solutions to problems. Many great empires began their ascent from a
particularly useful innovation while others continued or accelerated their growth
through a new ground-breaking achievement. In an environment that allows and
promotes innovation from its citizens or government institutions, major
advancements are realized and those achievements can propel a civilization well in
front of competing nations.
Religious or moral framework for social unity
Lastly, a civilization must have a religious or moral framework that promotes unity
and provides a model for cooperation and social cohesion. In most instances, a
popular religion emerges that attracts a majority of citizens and serves as the
anchor for the societys moral guidelines. As historian Will Durant pointed out,

There is no significant example in history, before our time, of a society successfully

maintaining moral life without the aid of religion. The importance of religion to a
civilizations continued existence cannot be underestimated. History has shown that
when a society becomes morally corrupt, civility is destroyed, the society becomes
unstable, and inevitably the nation slides towards collapse.
The lifecycle of a civilization
Surprisingly, all great civilizations move through a common lifecycle beginning at
their inception and continuing to their collapse. In some instances, the civilization
runs through this lifecycle multiple times, each time stopping just short of total
collapse. In all cases though, the cycle will eventually be completed and the
civilization will cease to exist. As strange as it may sound, history has shown us that
the start and end of the civilizational lifecycle begins and ends with bondage.
Freedom from bondage
Most great civilizations can trace their origins to a period of bondage. Controlled
and restricted by ruthless leaders, the citizens dream of freedom and unhindered
lifestyles. After some time, they inevitably develop the faith and courage needed to
forcefully obtain the freedom they so desire. Courage leads to action and liberty is
at last achieved.
Liberty leads to great accomplishments
Operating in a liberated environment that allows free thinking, the civilization
achieves great accomplishments. The freedom to innovate leads to creative
solutions even though sometimes the creative solutions that are discovered are self
destructive (either knowingly or unknowingly).
An abundance of riches leads to indulgences
The great accomplishments achieved by the society lead to an abundance of riches
which ultimately leads to the decline of morality. Immigrants eager to experience
the success of the empire, migrate to the area, introducing different customs (some
prove beneficial to their new society) and religions (some in direct opposition to the
currently established religion) and diluting the labor pool. With luxuries obtained

and all desires fulfilled, carnal indulgences soon follow. Morals break down and an
obsession with sex and violence takes hold. Citizens see the degradation of morals
as an emancipation from the stringent constraints that restricted their behavior.
The decline in morals is often slow and subtle and unrecognized by the civilization.
Greed and selfishness leads to laziness
Over time, the rich and poor become greedy, selfish, and self indulgent. With morals
in decline, the self-centered rich and poor alike begin to take advantage of the
system with the rich seeking unfair tax advantages and government favor while
the poor take unfair advantage of freely available social benefits. With all their
needs met, they become lazy leading to declines in productivity and a stifling of
innovation.
Complacency and short sightedness leads to apathy
The society become complacent and short sighted seeking quick fixes where long
term solutions are required. The riches achieved by their predecessors are no longer
sought after, but rather, expected. They may recklessly consume their resources
with no regard for environmental collateral damage. Laziness has led to
complacency which is followed by apathy. The society has become indifferent,
disconnected, and self-centered.
Manipulating the System leads to Dependence reinstated
The gulf between the classes continues to widen. The rich seek more government
favor in order to rule over the poor and the poor begin to steal to survive and
prosper. The rich and poor alike continue to take advantage of the societal system
as both classes begin to resent each other. Both classes become dependent on the
government in order to prosper.
Government weakens
With all classes seeking to work the system, legal systems become impotent and
government is weakened. Both classes begin to view the government as the enemy
who itself may be powerless or unwilling to promote corrections to the societal

systems deficiencies. Strife between the classes may lead to revolt which further
destabilizes the government.
Collapse leads back to bondage
With selfish citizens and a powerless or corrupt government, the Nation begins to
collapse. A weakened government can no longer protect its citizens. The civilization
is conquered or absorbed into a more efficient or desirable civilization which leads
them back into bondage. The cycle begins again.
Why is the decline not corrected?
Simply put, a collapsing civilization will typically fail to recognize the stage or
severity of their decline until it is too late. If by chance they do recognize the
problem in time, those in power may be unwilling to make corrections or are
powerless to do so. This is difficult to comprehend given the openly-available
historical record and simplicity of the requirements needed to develop and maintain
an empire: stable and sufficient population, conservation of resources, centralized
government, equitable distribution of labor and wealth, emphasis on innovation,
and of course, maintenance of a religious moral backbone. Regardless, as George
Santayana once said, Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to
repeat it.
Factors that precede a civilizations collapse
The cycles described above lead to three types of decay that precede a fallen
civilization. History is replete with examples of fallen civilizations and inevitably, all
suffered from (1) social decay, (2) cultural decay, and (3) moral decay.
Social decay is evidenced by a societys loss of economic discipline often brought
about by a rising bureaucracy that instills so much red tape that the civilization is
mired with inefficient processes. The bureaucracys resulting loss of power often
gives way to a crisis of lawlessness.
Cultural decay results in a loss of respect for tradition, a weakening of the cultural
foundations of the society and an increase in materialism as the civilizations

successes provide riches beyond what is needed. This rise in materialism shifts
important factors, such as education and innovation, to the side.
Moral decay occurs as the excessive materialism produces a rise in immorality. As
traditions are pushed aside, religion is often neglected and in some cases, restricted
by the civilizations leadership. Violence increases as the civilizations worth of
human life is devalued. In nearly all cases, the decline in morality goes
unrecognized as citizens see the degradation of moral values as an emancipation
from the constraints morality placed on them.
Great Civilizations of the Past
There have been many notable civilizations to date. Innovations produced by these
civilizations are typically well known due to their magnificence and more
importantly, the historical accounts of their achievement(s). The management
methods of their leadership is typically well documented too. Sadly, societal and
moral conditions are often not documented, except occasionally by outsiders. Still,
we are able to consolidate enough information about their history to allow us to
paint a fairly clear picture of their ascent, and decline.
Hittite (1800-1100 BC)
Situated near modern day Syria, what we know about Hittites decline is derived
from bits and pieces of fragmented historical sources. Assembling these
disconnected historical references, we find that wars and conflict were frequent and
historical records easily destroyed. Hittites were originally thought to be a fictious
invention of the Bible but later archaeological discoveries (particularly Egyptian
hieroglyphics) proved that this nation did indeed exist, just as the Bible stated.
We know that the Hittites operated under a centralized form of government with
Kings leading smaller cabinets beneath him. The Hittite society achieved great
advancements in hydrology and engineering. They were particularly adept at
military advancements and were known to have state of the art chariots in their
armies. Although the Hittites existed in the Bronze Age, we know that they
discovered the means to develop iron tools and weapons giving them an edge in
production and military might. The Hittites culture included a religion consisting of
multiple gods.

We can assume that Hittites rose to power after they discovered how to
manufacture iron tools and weapons. As their power grew, their leaders began
assuming more and more power. Rather than operate under a religion-based set of
morals, their culture drifted into a society whose morals were dictated by the whims
of their leaders. Leaders made bargains with influential citizens, often offering them
tax breaks, in order to retain their positions of leadership. Morals began to decline
as leaders began to assume the aura of a god. One king was accused of black magic
while another began to believe that his illnesses could be projected onto citizens
who were subsequently sacrificed in order to destroy the illness. Near their end, civil
wars occurred as citizens began to revolt against a corrupt and immoral leadership.
Babylonian Empire (1600-500 BC)
Arising from the ashes of the Sumerian dynasty, Babylonians reasserted their
independence in the north providing long desired stability for the citizens.
The Babylon Empire began as a religious and cultural center on the Euphrates River
located about 50 miles south of modern Baghdad, Iraq. As with other
civilizations,Babylonian society appears to have gone through several cycles of
prosperity and near collapse. Their optimal location provided them a surplus of
resources and a centralized government, operating under a code of laws, was
established to collect taxes and provide structure and support for its citizens. Their
invention of the steelyard scale allowed precious metals to be accurately weighted
providing the means to operate an economy based on coinage. This lead to great
economic advancements such as banking systems, loans, contracts, and leases.
They were excellent brick makers and master astronomers and clock makers. Their
love of science (all towns had public libraries) introduced basic concepts of medicine
including the concepts of diagnosis, physical examination, and medical
prescriptions. Babylon was considered a holy city with priests who acted as
agents of god.
The Bible tells us that Babylon was once proud but that their sins became blacker
than those of Judah. As riches were achieved through technological advancements
and economic trading success, large government sponsored building projects were
started. Resources were squandered building wasteful, unnecessary objects.
Buildings were designed with lavish decoration, some plated in zinc and gold.
Extravagant structures such as the Tower of Babel and the Hanging Gardens of
Babylon (one of the Seven Wonders of the World) were constructed utilizing their

newfound riches. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were reported to have been built
by King Nebuchadnezzar in order to please his wife. With walls 22 feet thick, it
required massive amounts of scarce water (8,200 gallons per day) to maintain the
complicated irrigation system required to sustain the plants.
As greed and selfishness took hold, there was a reduction in literacy and culture and
as expected, morals declined. Historical records reveal that kings were murdered by
their own children and people began practicing various forms of magic. The Tower of
Babel, intended to reach the sky, was never completed as unhappy, slothful
laborers refused to work. Historian Josephus noted that the people became an
affront and contempt of God. Citizen revolts broke out and civil wars erupted. As the
society collapsed, Babylon was sacked and the citizens put back into violent
subjugation.
Egyptian Civilization (3100-500 BC)
In less than a century, Egypt rose from barbarism to a major civilization. As with
Babylon, Egypt seems to have gone through several cycles of development and
near collapse. Around 3100 BC, as farming along the Nile River began in earnest,
the nation began experiencing a huge surplus in food and resources. Cities began to
grow along the Nile which provided a centralized source of labor for food production.
At the same time, a centralized government was developed with kings leading a
pool of national administrative leaders. As the society became more centralized,
innovation rose. Hieroglyphic writing was developed providing a means to transfer
knowledge. Engineering marvels (e.g. the Pyramids and Great Sphinx), many of
which still stand today, were constructed. Complex irrigation techniques and
innovative architectural methods were discovered. At the same time, religion took
shape in the form of Pharaohs and astronomical gods defining the morality of the
society.
As riches grew, the nations focus turned away from work and more towards
entertainment. A more sedentary lifestyle was adopted. Large scale building
projects that consumed massive amounts of resources were initiated which resulted
in shortages of timber and charcoal (which was used for iron smelting). Greed grew
and the Pharaohs became veritable living gods who could demand services and
wealth from their subjects. Citizens became complacent as evidenced by their
newfound interest in non-critical trade goods such as ebony, myrrh, frankincense,
and gold. Expeditions to faraway places were launched to discover and retain
quarry stone for needless royal monuments. Egypt soon became reliant on imports

from other nations. As social decay accelerated, lawlessness and violence spread
with historical documents revealing increased levels of crime including the
systematic murder of children. Citizens turned away from organized religion and
began to embrace cults. The wealthy became richer and the poor began revolting
against them. Internal conflicts and civil war broke out. Inscriptions on tombs noted
the pitiful state the country was in. Weakened and weary, Alexander the Great was
able to invade Egypt in 332 BC and take control. He restored order with martial law.
Greek Empire (800-146 BC)
Around 800 BC, Greece came out of a mini dark age and realized a rapid increase in
population. Battles between the rich and the poor allowed the mercantile class to
rise to prominence. This newfound freedom, combined with a much larger labor
pool, allowed for unimagined growth in commerce and manufacturing. Democracy
was introduced and living standards began rapid improvement. Soon its economy
became the most advanced in the world. Innovation in Greece spread as some of
historys greatest thinkers, such as Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato emerged and
introduced ground-breaking ideas such as geometry number theory, mathematical
analysis, and areas of advance science. A single religion dominated and a strict
moral code was followed by all citizens. Self-sacrifice was encouraged and
homosexuality was a capital offense.
As Greece experienced great economic success, immigrants poured into the country
and the rich quickly took advantage of the plentiful, cheap labor. History once again
repeated itself; power migrated from the middle class back to the rich and a
shortage of land and resources emerged as the rich began gobbling up resources
and land. The citizens once again became embroiled in conflict between the classes.
A decline in morality and virtue began to spread throughout the nation. There was a
loss of respect for discipline and calls for change erupted as the nations youth
became unruly. Music of the youth became wild and vulgar and Greece slipped
towards a lawless nation. Homosexuality became acceptable and was glorified in
lewd and violent plays. Gradually homosexuality progressed to pedophilia and it
became acceptable for older men to seduce and sexually abuse young boys. As
violence peaked, a disregard for human life was embraced and human slavery was
introduced. Soon it was required that every male had to kill a slave as a right of
passage. Civil war erupted and the nation was brought to its knees. Severely

weakened and vulnerable, Greece was conquered by the Romans who used their
military authority to impose discipline and order on the civilians.
Roman Empire (800 BC 400 AD)
As Greece collapsed, the Roman Empire began its surge towards dominance. Since
Romes system of government became the framework for modern republics such as
the United States, its history is quite relevant as a guideline for modern civilizations.
Rome produced a profound impact on the development of language, art, religion,
architecture, philosophy, law, language, and of course, forms of government.
The city of Rome grew from small settlements located around a ford on the river
Tiber, a crossroads of traffic and trade. Its prime location resulted in the phrase all
roads lead to Rome becoming a common metaphor. After rising from an unstable,
turbulent system rife with strife between the classes, their first two centuries were
times of peace and prosperity. Romans became excellent engineers, political
administrators and possessed an exceptional military structure. Religion was
widespread and citizens possessed high morals. Romans believed in honesty,
discipline, frugality, and self-sacrifice.
When Julius Caesar took office in 50 BC, Rome had reached its peak. Immigrants
moved into the empire bringing new religions and cults. Leaders began spending
the nations riches on large palaces, monuments, and public entertainment venues.
An emphasis on sports and entertainment exploded as work came second to
pleasure. The government supplied grain to its citizens with as much as one quarter
of the citizens food requirements being supplied by the government.
As riches grew, the people became greedy, self-indulgent, lazy and complacent as
arrogance and luxury infected the Roman people. Morals and manners fell away and
entertainment became bawdier and violent. Homosexuality and adultery became
the norm and soon afterward, it became acceptable for bestiality to be practiced in
the open. Roman families began to dissolve as Romans sought instant gratification.
Children became a needless burden and contraception, abortion, and infanticide
became common and in some cases, encouraged in order to control population
growth. Violence continued to grow and gladiators were worshipped by the citizens.

To fund the extravagant spending and consumption, Rome raised taxes and began
requisitioning property from the citizens to make ends meet. As oppressive taxes
were imposed on the people to fund the massive public expenditures, resources
began to dwindle. Rome began attacking other countries for their grain, metals, and
timber and farmers were forced to sell and move into the cities. The cities quickly
became crowded.
As resources tightened, citizens lost respect for religion and began stripping
churches and temples of their brick to use in building homes. Citizens began to
revolt and civil wars began to erupt in the various regions of the empire. A
weakened government had to fight off external invasions amidst a climate of
political chaos.
As the historian Edward Gibbon noted:
Leaders of the empire gave into the vices of strangers, morals collapsed, laws
became oppressive, and the abuse of power made the nation vulnerable to the
barbarian hordes.
Romes leadership clearly defined the attitudes and morals of the day. When the
playboy Caesar took office in 50 BC, Rome had reached its pinnacle. Augustus took
over in 27 BC and splurged on fancy buildings and expensive monuments. August
had many affairs with his slaves and his daughter Julia was known to drink, stay out
all night, and participate in casual one night stands with many men. By the time
Tiberius took over 50 years later, Rome had already become obsessed with sex and
instant gratification. Tiberius build a special villa for his wildest fantasies with walls
decorated in pornographic images and bathing fountains full of boys who were
trained to swim in and out between his legs licking and biting at his body as they
passed through. Roman justice evolved in bizarre ways too. By law it was forbidden
to execute a virgin so Roman soldiers were instructed to rape the victim before
execution.
Setting the stage for perversion, Tiberius passed the torch to his son Caligula in 37
AD. The citizens loved Caligula and his violent, bloody, gladiator contests and
publicly demonstrated eccentric sexual preferences. Caligula would make love with

his sisters at public dinners and would often take other mens wives out of the room
to make love to them and then bring them back for a public critique of their
performance as their husbands played along, laughing and peppering their wife with
jokes. The public swooned as Caligula built large, lavish buildings for their pleasure.
His gladiator contests became more violent as man vs. animal contests evolved into
torture and executions.
Claudius took over five years after Caligula and continued the pattern of
degradation that Caligula had set in place. Although physically disabled, he held
mass, bloody executions for the publics viewing pleasure. His many wives had
insatiable appetites for sex and would voluntarily acts as prostitutes in local
brothels. One of his wives challenged Romes leading prostitute to a sex marathon
where she slept with 25 men in a row. Uncles began marrying nieces and halfbrothers and half-sisters were wed. The next ruler, Nero was as wicked as his
predecessors and extended the perverse sexual practices to Roman law Nero
himself was married to two men.
Subsequent rulers, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian allowed
the decay of Romes morals to continue while spending vast amounts of money on
extravagances. The lavish gladiatorial games accelerated and Romes leaders took
many lovers, their wives often joining them in orgies. When a lover became
pregnant, the baby was simply aborted. Life and death matches between men soon
became life and death matches between women and occasionally physically
disabled children. Homosexuality ran rampant and pedophilia soon followed as
rulers kept young boys with them at all times for their sexual pleasure. Commodus,
who ruled from 177-192 AD, put the final nail in the Roman coffin. Commodus
furnished the public with free food and expected to be worshipped as a god in
return. He had the empire combed for the most attractive women and formed a
harem 300 women strong. A homosexual himself, he took pleasure in watching men
and women have sex with children (he himself kept a pageboy lover with him at all
times). He began to practice human hunting as a sport and often used handicap
citizens as the prey. The citizens applauded as Commodus shut down the entire city
so citizens could attend the races and matches rather than work. His government
was thoroughly corrupted, operating using bribes and favors. As a result, Rome
began to run out of money. As Rome neared bankruptcy, and lavish entertainment

and gifts were slowly discontinued (to the publics discontent), the public began to
revolt and the once-great nation collapsed.
Persian Civilization (650 BC 637 AD)
Cyrus the Great lead the rebellion that freed the Persians from the Median Empire.
Upon taking leadership of the area, Cyrus introduced a centralized system of
government that included equal rights for all people (as long as they paid their
taxes). The system was unique in that it allowed satellite cities to develop their own
local customs and religions (some of which allowed bloody human sacrifices). This
created an empire that was disconnected and a central government that spent
much of their time trying to rule disjointed groups of people around the empire.
The Persians established an extensive road system that included military patrols to
ensure the safety of travellers and frequent relays of fresh horses. Convenientlylocated inns for travellers could be found all along the routes. The Persian
government established coinage and was active in the promotion of agriculture and
irrigation projects. They were masters at water management and transport. One
ancient Persian water delivery system was nearly 50 miles long.
Their system of religion included a good and evil doctrine similar to modern day
Christianity. Good people were rewarded with an afterlife spent in heaven while evil
doers were punished to an eternity in hell.
As the Persian nations experienced success, riches expanded and were shared
amongst the people. Taxes remained modest although those in leadership positions
still became very rich. Lavish building structures were constructed in the capitol, the
high costs of which burdened the nation with a higher level of debt. After some
time, taxes became more burdensome and oppressive which eventually lead the
Persian Empire into economic depression. As the depression deepened, greedy
leaders began hording gold and silver without circulating it amongst the people.
Citizens began to revolt which weakened the civilization further. A weakened and
struggling civilization, Persia was easily conquered by Alexander the Great.
Mayan Civilization (2000 BC 1500 AD)

The Mayan empire made dramatic breakthroughs in sciences such as astronomy

and left behind a rich library of books and knowledge. The economic success
realized from their innovations lead to the consolidation of riches into the hands of
the civilizations leaders. With more power in hand, the upper class began working
the peasants harder, building lavish entertainment venues and other non-essential
structures. It is theorized that the Mayans built their vast structures so quickly that
they stretched the capacity of their land and systematically destroyed much of their
natural resources (i.e. forests). The increased burden of work left little time for
anything else which caused the peasants to abandon church and their system of
moral values. Eventually they revolted and the civilization began a rapid decline.
Inca Civilization (1200 1533 AD)
The Inca Empire began much later than the Mayan empire but collapsed around the
same time. The Incas produced revolutionary changes in architecture and sciences.
Their religious framework was founded on the motto, Do not steal, do not lie, do
not be lazy. As they grew economically, the upper class began to utilize slavery
which weakened the nations moral fiber. Eventually civil war stressed their military
and destabilized the Inca Empire. While in the middle of a revolution, Spain, with
superior military weapons, including guns and full armor, invaded the Inca Empire.
What lies ahead Great Nations of the Future
Great nations of the future include China and the United States. Although China is
just beginning its ascent, the United States has a long history of prosperity.
United States
Professor Allan Bloom in his book The Closing of the American Mind, said,
This is the American moment in world history, the one for which we shall forever be
judged. Just as in politics the responsibility for the fate of freedom in the world has
devolved upon our regime, so the fate of the philosophy in the world has devolved
upon our universities, and the two are related as they have never been before.

The examples above demonstrate the path civilizations take from birth to collapse.
It is easy to align Americas path with the examples above, particularly Rome, the
civilization we have the most in common with (and which in many cases, was used
as the blueprint for American society). Morals continue to decline, slowly,
sometimes unnoticed, as generation after generation become willing to accept
lower moral standards. Given the past historical record, it is quite simple to predict
the ultimate outcome.