This document discusses values and ethics. It defines values as ideas and beliefs that guide our actions and identities. Moral values concern right vs wrong for oneself, while aesthetic and performance values are personal standards of beauty and achievement. Values can be intrinsic ends or instrumental means to reach goals. The document suggests assessing one's values to ensure they will help with college success and life. It discusses forging values of participation, integrity and service. Challenges to values like new perspectives or conflicts are addressed. Changing societal values are noted. Self-reflection on one's important values over 28 days is proposed.

1. Values and Ethics
 What do you believe in?
 Who do you care about? Let’s take a
look at
 What motivates you? what really
matters to
 Are you a spiritual person? you.
 Why are you really in college?
 How do you tell the difference
between right & wrong?

2. What are
values?
 They are the ideas and beliefs about life
that guide us to do what we do and be
what we are…
 They can be about:
Politics Family
Sex Friends
Religion Dishonesty
Being of service Taking Risks
Education Respect
Money Leisure
Career And so on…

3. Different kinds of
Values
 Moral Values:
– Values you hold for yourself but
don’t force on others such as right
vs. wrong, honesty vs. dishonesty,
being of service to others
 Aesthetic Values:
– Personal standards of beauty as seen
in nature, art, music, personal
appearance
 Performance Values:
– Benchmarks you set for yourself
such as accuracy, speed, reward for
achievement, self-discipline and
overall accomplishment

4. Means & Ends
Values
 Instrumental Values (the means):
– Objectives used to reach goals such as being
responsible, obedient, loving, ambitious,
independent, honest
 Intrinsic Values (the end):
– Personal happiness, a comfortable life,
personal freedom, true friendship, a
successful career

5. Values
 Checklist freedom and
Having good friends
Having 
independence
 Having a positive  Being well educated
relationship
 Serving others
 Having self-respect & the
respect of others  Having peace of mind
 Being financially secure  Getting recognition
 (being famous)
Being spiritual
 Being a good citizen
 Making a meaningful
contribution to mankind  Being healthy
 Being a moral person  Being intelligent
 Being a great athlete  Having strong family ties
 Being physically attractive  Being honest & having
 integrity
Being creative
 Being dedicated and
 Being personally responsible committed
 Getting along well with
people in general

6. Values for College
Success
 Connecting your personal values to being successful in
college:
– Clarify your values to be sure you really understand
them-
• As strange as it may seem, many people operate on
values without thinking them through.
• Truly understanding your values is key to applying
them successfully in college, in a career, or in life.
– Make a forthright self-evaluation-
• Are your values workable in college?
• Do you need to change or re-figure them?
– If necessary, change your values to make them more
productive and effective…

7. Forging Academic
Values:
Participate Fully
 College takes much more time and work than
high school.
 You also have much more freedom which
requires much more personal responsibility.
 Avoid being unnecessarily frivolous, make
yourself stay “on-task”!
 And, unless you honestly have no choice,
DON’T SKIP CLASS!

8. Forging Academic
Values:
Participate Honorably
the #1
 Let’s be frank: If you cheat or plagiarize, you are side-stepping
real reason you came to college: to get an education.
 Academic dishonesty myths:
– The risk of getting caught is small.
• It only takes getting caught once and you could be out.
– There is no other way to be “successful.”
• No? Then dishonesty should be the hallmark of all
human endeavor.
– It doesn’t matter in the long run.
• Not if you don’t have a conscience.
– The penalty for getting caught won’t be severe.
• Is this something you want to find out the hard way?

9. Forging Academic
Values:
Participate Honorably
 If, on the other hand, you honestly give it your “best
#2
shot”:
– Practicing academic integrity builds moral character.
• There’s nothing like having your conscience tell
you did it right!
– Choosing moral actions builds others’ trust in you.
• Having people believe in you is a major plus.
– Making bogus grades masks real feedback about
learning.
• How will you ever know what you are really
capable of?
– Improving integrity in the classroom can rebuild
national character.
• The college classroom is an excellent place to begin
stemming the tide of corporate greed and
corruption.

10. The Eleventh
Commandment
Thou shalt not get
caught!

11. Challenges to your
Values
 At college, you are going to meet new people whose
values may be quite different, if not totally opposite, to
your own.
– You may be politically liberal and find yourself
befriending a staunch conservative.
 Are you going to pass judgment and walk away?
 Or are you going to be tolerant and try to see the person
in a new way?
 Tolerance is a very positive trait, but even it can be
carried too far.
 If you see your new friend show a really self-destructive
tendency, like excessive drinking, it is probably best not
to aid and abet them in their weakness, but rather to tell
them what you really think.
 Your challenge is to balance your personal welfare, your
tolerance for diversity and your freedom of choice.

12. Values in Conflict:
Dualisms
 Values of a society are often in conflict:
– Poverty vs. “Rugged Individualism”
– The Death Penalty vs. Deterrence of Major Crimes
– And so on…
 An individual’s values can also be in conflict, often
personal values reflect the two-sided nature of our
culture’s unresolved contradictory values.
 Who is right? Who is wrong? – These are a matter of
individual choice, based on both conscience and careful
critical thinking.
 Think on this duality:
– Earning excellent grades in college is critical to
success in life.
– The most important decision you make in college is
about the kind of person you want to be.
 “Grades?” Or “Who do you want to be?” How do you
resolve this enigma?

13. Changing Society, Changing
Values
 American values are changing, caused by:
– Demographic changes caused by much immigration from other
countries
– Globalization of the world economy
– Growing environmental concerns
– Political polarization
– Breakup of the family
– Computer technology and the Internet
– The Feminist movement
– Federal intervention in state’s rights
– Terrorism
– And on and on…
 All of these, and many more, will greatly affect the values of the
individual.

14. Service Learning and
Values
 Service Learning is a teaching method that
combines meaningful service to the
community with curriculum-based learning.
– Serving: To be effective, it should serve a genuine
community need, seen by a student-led
assessment and it should serve a real need.
– Linking: The program needs to have a strong link
between the community need and classroom
goals.
– Learning: Reflection is a key element in service
learning. The instructor sets time and methods
for students to reflect on and analyze their
service experience.
– It includes the best of both worlds into one:
community service and internships into one
learning experience.

15. Think about your
legacy…
 In order to aid you to understand if you are truly
living up to your values, Stephen Covey, author of
the bestseller The 7 Habits of Highly Successful
People, suggests you ask yourself this question:
– Imagine that you are attending your own funeral,
looking down at yourself in the casket.
– After you sit down, four people:
• A family member
• A friend
• A co-worker
• Someone from your church or community organization
give a eulogy for you.
– What would you want them to say about you?

16. Value Assessment Web
Resources
 College Success Factors Index
– http://www.csfi-wadsworth.com
 Steps to Successful Career Planning
– http://career.asu.edu/S/careerplan/selfdiscovery/ValuesAssessment.htm
 Journal of College and Character
– http://collegevalues.org/center.cfm
 Rutgers Value Assessment
– http://careerservices.rutgers.edu/OCAvaluesassessment.html
 Ohio Learning Network: Values Assessment
– http://www.oln.org/student_services/plan_your_education/assess_values.php

17. Values & Ethics
 In the preceding presentation about values, the
words morals and morality came up regularly.
 Is there a connection between morality and
ethics?
 Generally, the words are used interchangeably.
There is, however, a difference:
– Morality is usually more theoretical; it is a
philosophical concept.
– Ethics are the practical application of morality in daily
life.
 The difference is that of theory and practice.
 If a person has a moral character, he or she will
generally deal with other people in an ethical
manner.

18. A 28 Day Project
 In order to determine what you believe is the most
important personal value of all, here is a method
originally developed by the ancient Greeks for
determining something really important.
 At the same time every day (for instance, upon rising in
the morning or at bedtime) for 28 days, keep a journal
and write down: “The personal value I consider most
important is ______” Try to keep it to as few items as
possible. One thing is best, but if you have several items,
write them down. Limit yourself to no more than three.
 At about the 25th or 26th day of the procedure, one
particular value should emerge as the predominant one.
 Enjoy, learn and grow!