Influence of The Social Environment on Development of Students’ Morals and Characters: Future Issues and Challenges

Abstract

The principal pursuit of Islamic Education is to produce exceptional and faithful Muslims. Nevertheless, today’s mass media often demonstrates various issues involving teenagers and school students in social issues that harm society, which is worrisome. The social environment’s influence significantly impacts the younger generation, especially teenagers and students. Education is the ground of individual development and advancement and the primary platform for shaping the personality of noble morals. Morality and character are paramount in Islam and are the essence of understanding and practising Islamic teachings. Therefore, several social environment factors influence the development of students’ morals, self-identity and personality. Social environment factors can nurture and decide students’ morals if students can adapt well. Hence, this article intended to discuss the social environment that affects and influences the formation of students’ morals and the issues and challenges faced. This study employed the literature review methodology by analysing and discussing the content of the text thematically to identify the elements that impact the development of morals and the issues and challenges to form the student’s self-identity. Ultimately, this article concluded that the social environment was identified as having a substantial impact on developing students’ morals consisting of parents, peers, teachers, schools, residential settings and the mass media. One must prioritise the roles and responsibilities of parties related to each other to determine student morals. This article is relevant for teachers, parents, schools and interconnected parties to apply good values so that the country can produce a young generation with noble character and deliver awareness to avoid misconduct among this young generation to form individuals who are positive-thinkers for their future well-being.