Values and Ethics
 What do you believe in?
 Who do you care about?
 What motivates you?
 Are you a spiritual person?
 Why are you really in college?
 How do you tell the difference
between right & wrong?
Let’s take a
look at
what really
matters to
you.
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
Sex
Religion
Being of service
Education
Money
Career
Family
Friends
Dishonesty
Taking Risks
Respect
Leisure
And so on…
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
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
Forging Academic Values:
Participate Honorably #1
 Let’s be frank: If you cheat or plagiarize, you are side-stepping
the 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?
Forging Academic Values:
Participate Honorably #2
 If, on the other hand, you honestly give it your “best
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.
Challenges to your Values
 At college, you are going to meet new people whose
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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.
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.
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.