Unchanging Values in The VUCA World

Unchanging Values in the
VUCA World
Good morning Grade 9!
Learning Objectives:
o To learn how to analyze literature as
means of understanding unchanging
values in the VUCA (volatile,
uncertain, complex) world.
Task to do
Let us read and analyze the poem written by Alfred Edward
Housman, an English scholar and poet. Evaluate the
specific values embedded in the given text. Then, answer
and reflect on the questions that follow.
In-class Activity
Reflection Questions:
1. What is the theme portrayed by the poem?
2. What specific attitude of the young towards life is
shown in the text?
3. What specific advice was given by the wise man to
the young man?
4. Did the young man listen to the advice of the wise
man? Explain your answer.
5. Based on the text, how does the wise man perceive
life?
6. How will you explain the idea of ‘wisdom of elders’ in
the given poem?
Relate your answer to your personal experiences.
Thoughts to Remember:
It is said that literature serves as a pool of values. From
each literary work, readers can learn various lessons which
may help them in redirecting their lives.
Through the years, these positive values remain
unchanged in this changing world.
Essential Key points/Ideas
Values are passed from culture to culture, from generation to generation.
However, in this modern times, it is claimed by scientists that change in the
society has been happening in a pace they have never seen before.
Everything can change in just a snap. They refer to it as the VUCA world.
First used in 1987, VUCA is an acronym based on the leadership theories
of Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, that stands for volatility, uncertainty,
complexity, and ambiguity. In a VUCA world, the most important thing is to
anticipate the future and strengthen cooperation to come up with better
solutions to problems and challenges.
The work of Dr. Warner Burke and his research colleagues at Columbia
University provides us with scientific data that learning agility (ability to be
flexible and be open to change and thrive on new experiences) is made up of
nine
(9) dimensions or behavior patterns. They include:
9 Dimensions/Patterns:
1. Flexibility – willingness to try new things;

2. Speed – rapidly grasping new ideas;
3. Experimenting – testing out new ideas;
4. Performance Risk-Taking – taking on challenges;
5. Interpersonal Risk-Taking – asking others for help;
6. Collaborating – leveraging the skills of others;
7. Information Gathering – increasing your knowledge;
8. Feedback Seeking – asking for feedback; and
9. Reflecting – taking time to reflect on your effectiveness.
FYI
Literature provides us with a range of exposure and
experiences that may open doors into understanding these
unchanging values amid the fast-paced
VUCA world. Beowulf is a piece of literature that reflects
these values which still thrive despite the modern changes
in the society.
The following is a narrative summary of the epic, Beowulf,
a literary work considered to be the most famous literary
writing of Old English Literature. It tells the heroic deeds of
Beowulf who rescued the Danes from the monster,
Grendel, and his mother. Fifty (50) years later, Beowulf
died saving his own people, the Geats, from a fire-
breathing dragon. The anonymous poet who wrote the epic
captured the spirit of Germanic tribal life and language.
Beowulf
Summary by Ben Florman
Beowulf
Hrothgar is the King of the Danes in Southern Denmark. Through success
in battle, he has become rich and mighty. As a symbol of his power and
prosperity, he builds a magnificent mead-hall, called Heorot, in which he and his
loyal warriors can feast, drink, boast, and listen to the tales of the scops, the
Anglo-Saxon bards. But soon after Heorot is finished, the mirth of the men and
the music of the scop anger Grendel, a monster descended from Cain. Grendel
raids the hall, snatching men and eating them, then returns to his home in the
marsh. He repeats his nightly raids until no one dares sleep in the hall. Heorot,
once the symbol of the Scyldings' greatness, is now a place of shame and terror.
This continues for twelve years, until Beowulf, a young warrior of the Geats in
Southern Sweden, hears about Grendel and, determined to fight the monster,
sails to Hrothgar's lands with fifteen companions.
Hrothgar, who knew Beowulf's father, Ecgtheow, accepts Beowulf's
offer to fight Grendel and gives him a feast, though Beowulf and
Unferth, a warrior loyal to Hrothgar, exchange insults. That night,
the warriors sleep in Heorot, with
Beowulf keeping watch. Grendel arrives and consumes one of the
warriors, then reaches for Beowulf. Beowulf, famous for his
powerful grip, which is as strong as the grip of thirty men,
struggles with Grendel, tearing off the monster's shoulder and arm.
Grendel returns to the fens to die. His arm is hung as a trophy
under the roof of Heorot.
There is another celebration in Heorot with more gifts and promises of
friendship. Hrothgar says he feels like Beowulf is his son, and weeps at Beowulf's
departure. Beowulf and his men return to Geatland, the land of the Geats, where
his uncle the king, Hygelac, and Hygelac's queen Hygd, greet Beowulf, accepting
the treasure Beowulf gives them, and in turn rewarding Beowulf with a sword,
praise, and land. Hygelac is eventually killed by the Swedes; his son Heardred,
though young, takes the throne with Beowulf's support. At Heardred's death,
Beowulf takes the throne of the Geats, and rules in great prosperity and fame for
fifty years.
In Beowulf's old age, a thief finds a passageway into an old barrow.
Inside, a dragon guards a treasure trove left there long ago by the
last survivor of an extinct people. The thief steals a cup, but the
dragon discovers the theft and burns the land, including Beowulf's
mead-hall. Beowulf, knowing his death is near, decides to fight the
dragon. Accompanied by his kinsman Wiglaf, ten warriors, and the
thief, Beowulf sets out to confront the dragon. But when Beowulf
and the dragon fight, all of Beowulf's men flee except Wiglaf. With
Wiglaf's help, Beowulf kills the dragon, but not before he himself is
terribly wounded.
Before he dies, Beowulf tells Wiglaf to rule after him, and to build
him a funeral barrow that overlooks the sea. Wiglaf chastises the
men for abandoning their lord. A messenger sent to tell the Geats
of Beowulf's death also warns of hard times for the Geats, now that
Beowulf is dead. The Geats build a pyre and cremate Beowulf, then
construct a barrow overlooking the sea, burying the dragon's
cursed treasure with him.
Hrothgar gives a second feast to celebrate Beowulf's victory. At the feast,
Hrothgar generously rewards Beowulf with treasure. The scop sings again, and
Beowulf is praised until nightfall. That night, Grendel's mother comes to the hall
from her home at the bottom of a lake, seeking revenge for the death of her son.
She grabs Aeschere, a favorite warrior and adviser of Hrothgar's, and consumes
him, then returns home. In the morning, the warriors follow her tracks to her
lake, where they see Aeschere's head. Beowulf enters the lake, and swims for
hours before reaching her cave at the bottom. He fights with Grendel's mother,
but the sword Hrunting, which Unferth lent to Beowulf in a sign of fellowship,
fails for the first time. From the treasure hoard in the cave, Beowulf seizes a
sword forged long ago by giants and kills Grendel's mother. He sees Grendel's
body, and removes the head, and takes it and the hilt of the giant's sword (the
blade melted on contact with the monster's blood) back to Hrothgar.
Learning Task 1
Directions: Having read the epic Beowulf, answer the
following questions on a separate sheet of paper.
1. Why did Beowulf decide to free the Danes from Grendel?

2. Why did Beowulf fight Grendel with his bare hands?
What does this reveal about his character?
3. Why was it harder for Beowulf to kill Grendel’s mother
than Grendel himself?
4. What were the qualities deeply esteemed by the people of
those times? Would
those qualities be equally esteemed in our times?
5. Complete the story below.
Learning Task 2
Analyze the characters in the epic Beowulf, by providing significant
information about them and relating them to the present time. Do this
on a separate sheet of paper.
Thank you for listening!
See you next meeting!

Unchanging Values in The VUCA World

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Unchanging Values in the

1. Flexibility – willingness to try new things;

1. Why did Beowulf decide to free the Danes from Grendel?

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