THE QUESTION OF MORAL VALUES AND DISCIPLINE FOR HIGH AND MIDDLE SCHOOL MOROCCAN STUDENTS

Even though all the previous ministerial documents have stressed the importance of integrating values in school, there are still myriad obstacles. Numerous studies have alerted that the Moroccan school is experiencing an intense moral crisis. Thus, this paper was an attempt to tackle the centrality of moral values in education and its intrinsic role in promoting discipline among high and middle school students. Specifically, it investigated the reasons behind the deterioration of student's morals in the last few years. This paper seeks to answer two important questions concerning the prominent manifestations of the disintegration of the value system within the school environment and the basic causes of this phenomenon. To test the hypothesis that student's decreasing discipline recently inside schools is attributed to media influence through its daily outlets on teenagers and the lack of a real and effective curriculum that focuses on teaching moral values, an online survey was distributed to 200 middle and high school teachers across Morocco. The survey analysis showed an agreement with the previous hypothesis, and the respondents added more causes that result in the degrading level of moral values among students. Finally, it was concluded that the moral values crisis in the school perimeter has accelerated in the last few years due to different reasons, mainly social, educational, and others concerned with the curriculum. The phenomenon needs to be taken into account by all the intervening parties, especially with the rising spread of social media and its direct effect on students. Otherwise, this will have a huge impact on the educational system.