Joint family system and Character building

The joint family system, that was in vogue till the 70’s had many virtues as far as a child was concerned. The elders in the family took care of developing the character of the younger generation. The virtues of good value system and the need to be truthful were drilled strongly in the minds of the children.

Invariably the child, more often than not, had many brothers and sisters. This developed a sense of responsibility on the older children while the younger ones had ready made role models in either their brothers or sisters or the innumerable cousins. They had children of their age group to play with in the family. This led to the development of their group and inter personal behaviour.

Also, the influence of the society was strong. The children were taught to respect elders, engage in village activities, given specific responsibilities during functions in the villages and encouraged to work as a team. There was no place for children who could not adapt as they were ruthlessly ostracized by the society and the family.

Thus the joint family system played an important part in creating a society of ethical, value oriented people and the family compensated for the lack of Soft Skills development curricula in the schools.

Can the fall in the overall value system in the society be attributed to the disintegration of joint family??