Moral decadence

March 2014, vol. 2(1), 63-70 ISSN: (print) 2350-1812 ISSN: (online) 2350-1995

MORAL MISCONDUCT AMONG STUDENTS OF HIGHER INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA: A CASE OF SELECTED HIGHER INSTITUTIONS IN IMO STATE, NIGERIA. Monsuru Babatunde Murainai, Eucharia U. Ugwumbaii i Department of Educational Foundations, Guidance and Counselling, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State ii Department of Educational Foundations and Administration, Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri, Imo State. Authors’ contributions The authors of this paper contributed equal scholarly endeavour to put this article together. All authors read and approved the final manuscript Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Muraina, M. B., & Ugwumba, E. U. (2014). Moral Misconduct among Students of Higher Institutions in Nigeria: A Case of Selected Higher Institutions in Imo State, Nigeria. International Journal of Educational Foundations and Management, 2(1), 63-70. Retrieved [Date] from http.//www.ijefm.com

ABSTRACT Purpose/Aims: This paper investigates the moral misconduct among the students in Nigerian institutions of higher learning. Methodology/Procedures: For the purpose of this study, three research questions were raised. A total of 180 respondents comprising 30 lecturers and 150 students were selected from three randomly sampled higher institutions in Imo State. Data were collected through questionnaire and interview. Thus, data collected were analyzed using simple percentage, frequency counts and multiple regression. Results/Conclusion: The result of the findings showed a number of factors causing moral misconduct among students and the strategies for restoring morality in higher institutions. The result further established the fact that the identified causes of moral misconduct among students contributed to students’ poor academic performance. Recommendations such as the need to include moral and religious education as general courses in higher institutions were suggested.

Keywords: Morality, Moral Misconduct, Students’ Academic Performance.

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1. INTRODUCTION Different societies have their own moral values which are considered normal, ideal and morally acceptable. Hence, the conduct of the people of a society is regulated and controlled by the moral values. The tendency and ability to identity what is right instead of the wrong ones and as well practice it, give it the moral virtue. According to Aristotle, moral virtue is the habit that is consciously acquired through practice. Thus, good moral conduct had been emphasized and echoed in the society right from the era of Socrates to Plato and through the Aristotelian philosophy. Perhaps, that makes Fredrick Herbert to say that the aim and indeed the total aim of education should be summed up under morality. Within the context of education therefore, public holds the schools and the teachers more accountable for students’ learning and behaviors. Unfortunately, the increased emphasis on reading, mathematics and science to prepare students for a global, technological and information based market place seems to relegate the general well-being of students to a more educational priority. In spite of the government attempts at promoting moral uprightness in Nigerian citizens through the inauguration of programmes like War Against Indiscipline (WAI), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to mention but a few (Muraina, Abdulkadir and Belgore, 2012), many Nigerian students and citizens are still morally bankrupt. In fact, conscious and deliberate efforts are made to do things that are not in line with the Nigerian moral values and virtues. Hence, there is high moral misconduct among youths and adults in Nigeria today. This extends to institutions of higher learning where students display many immoral acts. They lack respect for adults and generally lazy, unpatriotic, Occultic; cheat in examination, selfish, greedy, dishonest; callous and corrupt. The concern for a sound moral status is occasioned by the alarming rate of decline in the moral consciousness and conduct among the students in Nigerian institutions of higher learning. This decline has become a disease eating systematically into the very vein of the country and eroding away the qualities and potentials needed in the Nigeria future leaders (students). Students in Nigerian higher institutions engage in moral misconduct ranging from robbery, cheating, cultism, forgery; corruption, fraud, indecent dressing and disrespect to constituted authority. It is in this regard that this paper looks into the moral misconduct among students of higher institutions in Nigeria: A case of selected higher institutions in Imo state. 1.1 Research Questions For the purpose of this study, the following questions were raised:




What are the causes of moral misconduct among the students of higher institutions? Will there be any predictive significant joint contributions of the identified causes of moral misconduct to the students’ poor academic performance in schools? What are the strategies for restoring morality and good moral conduct among the students of higher institutions?

2. LITERATURE REVIEW Morality as a concept is elusive and highly nebulous to give a particular definition to. For instance in philosophy, the descriptive definition of morality is that morality is a set of conduct put forward by any actual group and acceptable by the members of that group or the society (Gert, 2012). Etymologically, morality comes from Latin word “mores” meaning manners or

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patterns of behaviors that confirms the standard of a group. Jimoh (2001) referred to morality as behaviour or actions that are considered by most members of s group to be right. Land (2001) saw morality as a set of principle or ideas that help the individual to distinguish right from wrong and to act on this distinction. In his own submission, Bill (1979) viewed morality as the generally accepted codes of conduct in a society or within a sub group of a society. It is the principles concerning right and wrong or good and bad behavior. It is also seen as the upholding and displaying of certain beliefs, ideas, rules and regulations or behaviors which are generally considered good, right and accepted by the society and to which every member of that society is bound. Moral misconduct is the process of behaving in a way that shows low moral standards. It implies diminishing in the moral values among individuals or a group of people in a particular society. Within the context of education, moral misconduct is the way of behaving in a manner that is low below the moral standards of the school, that is, it is the process of behaving in a way that shows low moral standards in the school. Moral misconduct is reported in Nigerian institutions of higher learning. Misconduct such as rape, sexual abuse, robbery, school violence; cultism, examination malpractice, corruption and killings among others have been common among students. For instance, school violence has been reported to rise in various countries of the world like USA, Germany, Kenya and China. For example, in Germany, the teenager of 17years killed 15 fellow students at school near Stuttgart (Dougherty, 2009). In the same vein, Poi Poi et al (2011) reported the prevalence of school violence in Kenyan secondary schools to include bullying, threats, physical assault and verbal harassment. Researches had shown that moral misconduct is connected to vast factors, such as genetic factor like inheritance of a difficult temperament, ineffective parenting and living in a neighborhood where violence is a norm, poverty, lack of education, family background; drug abuse, media, culture and technology (Santrock, 2005; ;Mbatia et al, 2009; Possi; 1996; Kumar, 2010; Rwenchugura, Olotu, Mathias, Minja & Goodluck, 2010). Studies have further indicated that teachers’ morality helps the students to develop basic academic skills. Tuis, teacher plays significant role in promoting, encouraging and controlling good conduct of the students. Teacher establishes moral climate which encourages students to respect one another and satisfaction with class work in order to achieve standard of excellence (Jawondo, 2006). No wonder, Akande and Jawondo (2008) summarized the attributes of moral educator to include:





He should put into practice what he/she teaches. That is, he should be a pace setter of morals. He/she must be versatile or well versed and well rooted in the content of what he/she teachers. He/she must have interest in what he teaches. He/she should not be aggressive to students.

3. METHODS This study employed descriptive research design. The population for this study comprised all the students and lecturers in all the higher institutions in Imo State. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select three institutions (1 University, I polytechnic and I college of education) in Imo State. In each of the institution, ten lecturers and fifty students were selected. On the whole, 180 respondents were sampled for this study.

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A self- designed questionnaire was used to elicit data from the respondents. The questionnaire contained two sections, A and B. Section A contained demographic data of the respondents like institution’s name, status, qualification, while section B is further divided into two parts, I and II. Part I contained 20 items on the causes of moral misconduct in higher institution while Part II comprised 10 items dwelling on the strategies for restoring moral conduct in higher institution. The responses to the items were ‘Yes’ or No’. Also, interview was conducted with the selected lecturers. The questionnaire was subjected to face and content validity. The instrument was pilot tested on a sample of 10 lecturers and 20 students. The reliability coefficient of 0.64 was obtained. The researchers administered the questionnaire to the sampled respondents and conducted the interview with writing materials through English language as a means of communication. Permission was taken from the respondents before data collected Data collected from the respondents were collated and coded. Hence, Simple percentage, frequency counts and multiple regression were used to analyzed the data in line with the earlier raised research questions. 4. RESULTS Research question one: What are the causes of moral misconduct among the students of higher institutions? Table 1: summary of respondents’ response on the causes of moral misconduct among the students of higher institutions (N=180).

S/N 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Causes Poor home upbringing (parenting) Pornography and immoral films Peer groups influence Broken homes Laziness Decline in religions training Hereditary factor Poverty Socio-economic status. Influence of western civilization Students over ambitious desire Lack of discipline Embezzlement of public fund. Emotional influence Emphasis on materialism Lack of devotion to duty on the part of the lecturers Moral laxity at home Non-challant attitude to learning Incompetence on the part of the lecturers Inadequate facilities in school 66

Yes 112(62.2%) 156 (86.7%) 148 (82.2%) 153 (85%) 98 (54.4%) 123 (68.3%) 47 (26.1%) 162 (90%) 136 (75.6%) 118 (65.6%) 108 (56.7%) 142 (78.9%) 92 (51.1%) 93 (51.7%) 96 (53.3%) 143 (79.4%) 127(70.6%) 131(72.8%) 124 (68.9%) 134 (74.4%)

No 68(37.8%) 24(13.3%) 32 (17.8%) 27 (15%) 82 (45.6%) 57 (31.7%) 133 (73.9%) 18 (10%) 44 (24.4%) 62 (34.4%) 78 (43.3%) 38 (21.1%) 88(48.9%) 87 (48.3%) 84 (46.7%) 37(20.6%) 53(29.4%) 49(27.2%) 56(31.1%) 46(25.6%)

As indicated in the table 1 above, the respondents vehemently indicated that all the mentioned factors are responsible for moral misconduct of students in higher institution except hereditary factor where 47 (26.1%) of the respondents indicated “yes” that it is one of the causes of moral misconduct as against 133 (73.9%) that indicated “No”. Research question two: Will there be any predictive significant joint contributions of the identified causes of moral misconduct to the students’ poor academic performance in school. Table 2: Multiple regression of the joint contributions of the causes of moral misconduct to students’ poor academic performance

R = 0.361 R Square = 0.116 Adjusted R square = 0.176 Model Regression Residual Total

Sum of Squares 2436.58 11321.14 13757.72

df 20 160

Mean Score 245.71 311.13

F

Sig.

5.314

0.000

As shown in the table 2 above, the multiple regression co-efficient (R) indicating the contributions of the identified causes of moral misconduct to students’ poor academic performance was 0.361, R square equals 0.116 and the adjusted R square equals 0.176. Implicit in this result is the fact that the identified causes of moral misconduct accounted for 17 percent students’ academic performance in school. Research question three: What are the strategies for restoring good moral conduct among the students of higher institution? Table 3: Summary of respondents’ response on the strategies for restoring good moral conduct among the higher institution students S/N 1

YES 103(57.2%)

NO 77(42.8%)

2 3 4

STRATEGIES Inclusion of moral education as a general Education course in all Institutions Encouragement of self-control Adequate home training Inclusion of religion studies as a general course in all institutions.

92(51.1%) 146(81.1%) 124(68.9%)

88(48.9%) 34(18.9%) 56(31.1%)

5 6 7 8 9 10

Good orientation programme for Students Adequate counseling and rehabilitation Services Stick penalty against moral misconduct Avoidance of self-centredness Law enforcement Good leadership and management in school.

131(72.8%) 116(64.4%) 128(71.1%) 104(57.8%) 133(73.9%) 146(81.1%)

49(27.2%) 64(35.6% 52(28.9%) 76(42.2%) 47(26.1%) 34(18.9%)

As shown in the table 3 above, all the respondents strongly indicated that the identified strategies can help to promote good moral conduct and morality among the students in higher institutions. This is evident in the table with the number and percentages of those that indicated “Yes” against “No” in each of the strategies.

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5. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS Based on each research question one, it was discovered that all the 20 identified causes except hereditary factors are responsible for moral misconducts among the students of higher institutions as indicated by the respondents. It is therefore obvious that the students themselves, the income (parents), the school; management and the society in general are directly or indirectly connected to contributing to moral misconduct of students in school. This finding corroborates with the views of Santrock (2010), among others who found ineffective parenting, family background, media and culture as the factors responsible for moral misconduct or moral decadence in the society. Through research question two, it was obvious that the identified causes of moral misconduct in school lead to poor students’ academic performance and achievement. By implication, this means that students with high moral standards and values such as punctuality in school, seriousness and others are more likely to achieve well academically while those students with moral misconduct tends to perform academically poor in the school. No wonder, Huih et at. (2009) submitted that it is undoubtedly that students with moral values such punctuality in performing tasks and obedience are more likely to achieve well academically than those with no moral values. Based on research question three, the various strategies for restoring morality and good moral conduct among the students were revealed. The respondents indicated that the identified strategies can assist to restore moral conduct in institutions of higher learning. This finding agrees with the views of Molagun, Taiwo, Opadokun and Sholagberu (2006) who posited that to improve morality in schools, the teaching of religions studies should be such that necessary moral lessons are drawn out of topic taught. 6. CONCLUSION This paper has dwell into the causes of moral misconduct among students of higher institution in Imo state. The study has examined the fact that the identified causes of moral misconduct contribute significantly to students’ poor academic performance. It can therefore be concluded that the persistent rise in moral misconducts among students of higher institutions paves way for their poor academic achievement and subsequent decline in the quality of students being turned out from these institutions of higher learning. 6.1 Recommendations






In the light of the outcomes of this study, the following recommendations are put forward. Lecturers in the various institutions, parents and the management of these institutions should always lay good examples for the students to follow. Religion studies and moral education should be introduced as general courses in higher institutions. This will help to further teach what can control the moral misconduct among the students. Rules and regulations that are drastically required for building the moral and character development and capacity of the students should be enforced in schools. Students through the teaching of religion studies and moral education should be encouraged to emulate the lives and practices of the Holy Prophets as recorded in the Holy Book (The Holy Quran and Bible).

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Religious and moral training activities should be encouraged and promoted in schools. This should include encouragement of religious and moral virtues promotion associations and groups within the school.

7. REFERENCES Akande, F. F., & Jawondo, A.S (2008). Moral education for Nigerian schools. Ilorin: Integrity Publications. Bill, A.C (1979). Moral decadence causes increase in abortion Rate. Journal of Educational studies, 2(1),79-81. Dougherty, C. (2009). Teenage Gunman kill 15 at school in Germany. The New York Times. Retrieved October 27, 2013 form www.nytime.com. Faustine, B.M (2013). Moral Deterioration: the reflection on Emerging street youth gangs in Musoma, Tanzania. Academic research International, 4(1), 123-125. Gert. B. (2012). The definition of morality. The standard encyclopaeria of philosophy, 2012, Edition. Huih, W., Huih, M, Monetti, D., & Humel, J. (2009). A Systems-Based synthesis of research related to improving Students Academic Performance. Paper Presented at the 3rd International City break conference, Athens, Greece. Retrieved October 27, 2012 from www.edsycieterative.org. Jawondo, A. S. (2006). Moral education Nigeria school. Ilorin : Integrity publication. Jimoh, K. I. (2001). Education and morality for national development. A paper presented at the 1st national conference of school of education, Kwara State College of Education, Oro, Kwara state between 2nd and 5th May 2001. Kamar, R. (2010). Media and Culture New Delhi: Summit Enterprise Landu, B. C. V. (2001). Moral decadence: its effect on national development .A. paper presented at the 1st national conference of school of education, Kwara State College of Education, Oro, Kwara State May 2-5, 2001. Mbatia, J., Jenkins, R., Singleton, N., & White, B. (2009). Prevalence of Alcohol Consumption and Hazardous Drinking, Tobacco and Drug use in Urban Tanzania and their associated risk factors. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public health, 6, 100110. Molagun, H. M., Taiwo, B. M., Opadokun O. A., & Sholagberu, O. (2006). Introduction to Sociology of Education. Ilorin: Nathadex publishers. Muraina, M. B, Abdulkadir, O.R. and Belgore, F.A (2012). Quality of Religion education in Nigeria primary and Secondary schools: policy, practice and implications for Government. Ataba International journal on contemporary issues, 1, 189-198. Poipoi, M. S., Agak, J. O., & Kabuka, E. K. (2011). Perceived home factors contributing to violent behaviors among public secondary school students in western Province. Kenyan Journal of Emerging Trends in Educational Research and Policy Studies, 2(1), 192-199. Possi, M. K. (1996). Effects of Drug Abuse on cognitive and social behaviors: a potential problems among youths in Tanzania. UTAFITI. 3(1), 142-149. Rwechumgura, C; Olutu S.R; Mathias, S Minja, S., & Goodluck, J. (2010). Life skills:moral values, CETA Journal, 8, 67-79. Santrock, J. W. (2005). A topical approach to life-span Development. New York: Mcgraw Hill.

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Monsuru Babatunde Muraina is a lecturer at the Department of Educational Foundations, Guidance and Counselling, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

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ii Eucharia U. Ugwumba is a lecturer in the Department of Educational Foundations and Administration, Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri, Imo State.

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