GS Paper 4 (Ethics)Role of family and teachers in ethics
If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful mind, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference, they are fathers, the mothers and the teachers. - A.P.J. Abdul Kalam analyse
Based on 32 evaluated answers to this question on CollectorBabu: here is what aspirants most often missed, the mistakes that cost marks, and a model answer.
What most aspirants missed
- Explain why these three specifically: they are the primary socialisation agents who shape early values that carry into adult choices about bribery and rule-following.
- Treat father and mother as distinct roles, with a concrete example such as a father refusing a bribe or a mother teaching a child not to cut queues.
- Link beautiful minds to creativity, curiosity and critical thinking, and explain how integrity enables innovation.
- Address challenges such as working parents, digital distractions and commercialised education that weaken these roles.
- Cite a real Indian initiative such as NEP 2020 value education, teacher training or parental education programmes, with a policy implication.
- Give a counter-view: peer groups, media and weak institutions also shape ethics, so family and school must work alongside systemic reforms.
Common mistakes
- Generalising the three roles into parents and teachers, losing the father and mother distinction Kalam makes.
- Asserting that family values prevent corruption without explaining the mechanism of everyday behaviour.
- Ignoring the beautiful minds part of the quote or treating it as a passing phrase.
- Using generic or outdated statistics and filler lines such as the need of the hour, and ending without a policy or counter-view.
What the better answers did
- Answers that tied each role to a specific anti-corruption behaviour, such as refusing bribes, honest tax compliance and fair exam conduct.
- Answers that used a real example of a teacher or parent shaping a person, including Kalam's own life, and linked it to nation-building.
- Answers that showed how the three roles reinforce each other, for example father modelling honesty, mother nurturing empathy and teacher guiding reasoning.
- Answers that ended with a balanced view, acknowledging peer and media influence and calling for institutional reform alongside family and school.
Introduction
Open by stating that corruption is a character failure before it is an institutional one, and that Kalam locates the cure in the earliest socialising relationships.
Conclusion
Close by linking the three roles to a corruption-free, creative nation and add one line on the policy support needed, such as teacher training and value education under NEP 2020.
Model answer
Kalam's formulation places the making of a corruption-free nation in three people: the father, the mother and the teacher. Corruption is first a failure of character and only then a failure of institutions, and character is shaped in the years when a child learns what is ordinary and what is wrong.
Why these three
- They are the primary agents of socialisation. A child absorbs values more from what elders do than from what they say.
- Early habits such as honesty, patience and fairness carry into adult choices about bribes, queues and tax.
Distinct roles that reinforce each other
- Father: models workplace integrity and professional ethics, such as refusing a bribe or insisting on a receipt, and shows that fair dealing is a source of self-respect. Kalam often credited his father's simplicity and self-respect.
- Mother: builds moral courage and value-based decision making, teaching that a child should not cut queues or cheat in small matters, and nurturing empathy.
- Teacher: develops critical thinking through ethical dilemmas and case studies, and uses counselling rather than punishment to correct wrongdoing.
Beautiful minds
- Curiosity, creativity and reasoning flourish only in an environment of trust and honesty. Integrity is the precondition of innovation.
Challenges and policy support
- Working parents, digital distractions and commercialised education weaken these roles.
- NEP 2020 emphasises value education, while parental education programmes and teacher training can strengthen the ecosystem.
Peer groups and media also shape ethics, and systemic reforms remain essential. Yet Finland, which invests heavily in teacher training and public trust, consistently ranks among the least corrupt countries, showing that a strong family-school ecosystem builds the foundation that institutions need.
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Evaluate my answerMore GS Paper 4 (Ethics) questions
- Discuss the role of ethics and values in enhancing the following three major components of Comprehensive National Power (CNP) viz. human capital, soft power (culture and policies), and social harmony.
- Mindless addiction to Form, ignoring the Substance of the matter, results in rendering of injustice. Examine the above statement with illustrations.
- For any kind of social re-engineering by successfully implementing welfare schemes, a civil servant must use reason and critical thinking in an ethical framework. Justify this statement with suitable examples.
- You hold a responsible position in a ministry in the government. One day in the morning you received a call from the school of your 11-year-old son that you are required to come and meet the Principal. You proceed to the school and find your son in the Principal's office. The Principal informs you that your son had been found wandering aimlessly in the grounds during the time classes were in progress. The class teacher further informs you that your son has lately become a loner and did not respond to questions in the class, he had also been unable to perform well in the football trials held recently. You bring your son back from the school and in the evening, you along with your wife try to find out the reasons for your son's changed behaviour. After repeated cajoling, your son shares that some children had been making fun of him in the class as well as in the WhatsApp group of the students by calling him stunted, duh and a frog. He tells you the names of a few children who are the main culprits but pleads with you to let the matter rest. After a few days, during a sporting event, where you and your wife have gone to watch your son play, one of your colleague's son shows you a video in which students have caricatured your son. Further, he also points out to the perpetrators who were sitting in the stands. You purposefully walk past them with your son and go home. Next day, you find on social media, a video denigrating you, your son and even your wife, stating that you engaged in physical bullying of children on the sports field. The video became viral on social media. Your friends and colleagues began calling you to find out the details. One of your juniors advised you to make a counter video giving the background and explaining that nothing had happened on the field. You, in turn posted a video which you have captured during the sporting event, identifying the likely perpetrators who were responsible for your son's predicament. You have also narrated what has actually happened in the field and made attempts to bring out the adverse effects of the misuse of social media. (a) Based on the above case study, discuss the ethical issues involved in the use of social media. (b) Discuss the pros and cons of using social media by you to put across the facts to counter the fake propaganda against your family.
- The Doctrine of Democratic Governance makes it necessary that the public perception of the integrity and commitment of civil servants becomes absolutely positive. Discuss.
- Explain how ethics contributes to social and human well-being.