REFLECTION

By: Michelle P. Mijarez

1. Why are ethics and morality important to children?
The Importance of teaching values to your children today will determine how they will behave when they
become adults. It is our responsibility as parents to provide moral education to our children as early as
possible. It may seem that it is too early to teach the importance of ethics to students. Children learn ethics,
but teaching from childhood the sense of fairness, sense of honesty and other good values will help them to
follow in their life as they grow and it will stay with them forever. Remember kids are like sponges, they will
absorb everything from their environment. So make sure to set a good environment at home where they see
or hear good things.

2. Characteristics of moral values

In the book The Ten Commandments, morality is “knowledge based on human experience, reason, and God’s
revelation that discovers what we ought to be and what we ought to do to live fully human lives”. To me, values
are the things I hold in high regard, like honesty, kindness, friendship, integrity, nature. Humans may value
different things, and these are not necessarily right or wrong, good or bad. However morality is concerned with
right and wrong behavior, and is based on laws of God. A person may not be morally wrong for not
appreciating the beauties of nature, but to willfully destroy it and abuse it through wasting resources might be
morally wrong.

3. Moral Values in Education

Every individual has a set of his or her own personal values that dictates how he or she reacts to situations in
life and these values also define who he or she is. Values are significant and lasting viewpoints and principles
shared by most people in society in regard to what is morally right or wrong. Some examples of values are
integrity, loyalty, honesty, virtue, love, selflessness, and zeal. Values can sometimes sway an individual’s
actions and can act as general rules for every circumstance. Individuals in society will often have his or her
own set of values that serve as an individual blueprint that defines who he or she is and is the influencing
factor in how he or she lives, behaves, speaks, and believes. My core values are honesty, love, trust,
spirituality or prayerful life, family, accomplishment, respect, and perseverance. My most important value is
family, no matter where an individual is or what an individual goes through in life I believe that family
should always be first. Every family has ups and downs and I firmly believe that a family should always help
each other and should not become enablers. The second most important value to me is love; a person must
first love his or herself before others can love him or her. I love myself first and my love for others is very
true and does not falter if someone does me wrong. I truly believe an individual can still love a person ifthe
person hurts him or her in any kind of way, but the individual can love that person from a distance. My faith
is very strong in my life because without God I would not be here and I know that his love will take me
further than what man can. I also believe in honesty because if I am honest with people they will trust me.
One cannot have honesty without trust. The other values that I have added to my value system are time and
confidentiality or absolute secrecy.

4. Teaching morals and values in Education

It is an irrefutable statement that all law is a reflection of morality. Morality preserves our sense of humanity
and binds us to a common goal to distinguish right from wrong. It shapes our decisions from the most
mundane daily actions to the most momentous historical dilemmas.
Values need to be taught at home and at school as well; children spend more time at home than they do at
school. Teaching values, not just rules allow children to make ethical decisions, they teach them personal
responsibility, and they also promote moral integrity. Leading by example is important in justifying the
subscription of values and moral education. Teaching values is important. Values allow children to make ethical
decisions, they teach them personal responsibility, and values promote moral integrity. Values define an
individual’s behavior, ethical or unethical.

5. The roles of moral values in everyday life.

In my opinion, everyone that lives today in this modern day should plant good values of morals inside each
individual. Moral is what define a person everyday actions and decisions and those are related by our
conscience. Furthermore, because it is the only way to have a chance at having self-respect. We can only have
self-respect if we respect who we actually are, we can’t if we only respect some false image of ourselves. So,
self-respect requires self-knowledge. And only people who can make just and fair self-assessments can have
self-knowledge. And only just and fair people, good, moral people can make just and fair self-assessments.

Finally, to end this question i’ve conclude that if everyone practices good moral in their daily life we would be
living a peaceful and harmonious life which also able to improve us human beings to evolve into a better
species this is because being good lets you see what is truly of value in the world. Part of what being good
requires is that good people know what is good in the world and what is not. Bad people have bad values;
good people have good values. Having good values means valuing what deserves to be valued and not valuing
what does not deserve to be valued. Quotes saying from a philosopher, ‘A man without ethics is a wild beast
loosed upon this world.’

6. Ways to inculcate moral values

The children of today are the future of tomorrow. They’ll shape the world so they should have
all the requisite knowledge and qualities to build a strong world. It is vital to inculcate good
values in them as then only they will nurture into citizens with strong character who can make
this world a better place. Thus, moral values hold significance in the development of children
into well-balanced individuals. That is why moral values and character development classes
should be included in the schedule of a school. Along with parents, a school plays a major role
in inculcating moral values in the students. Students spend nearly 6-8 hours in school and they
have a strong influence on their teachers. They listen to their teachers more than anyone else. So,
if teachers start giving them moral lectures, then it will surely result positively in the child’s
development. Peer-pressure matters a lot in the childhood days. Children think that their friends
are smarter than anyone else so they follow them. If one of the students learns moral values in
school, then he/she can impart it to other friends. In this way, it will be a prosperous growth in
society. Many parents cannot spare time for their child’s development so they look upon the
school to develop their child holistically. Thus, it becomes necessary for the school to provide
proper upbringing to the students by inculcating moral values in them. If the students learn
moral values in schools, then they’ll be able to discern the difference between right and wrong.
Moral values taught in school also teach the children how to react in different situations. Every
student has a role model in school in the form of a friend, senior or teacher. Many children find
their role models in their seniors. So, if the seniors are disciplined, they will set the right example
for their juniors to follow. Moral values are taught in school through activities such as sports,
games, prayers, special assemblies, etc. These have such an impact in the student’s mind that
they get stuck in their mind for a lifetime. They may forget some of their Math and Sciences
concepts after a few years but they will never forget these moral lessons. If a child commits
anything wrong and is punished for it in the school, then it will have a positive effect on his
mind. This is because the child will always think about the consequences of wrongdoings so
he/she will refrain from committing any mistake.

7. Gratitude Honesty and Sympathy

Not everyone is born a grateful person. Gratitude is a choice, attitude, and blessing to move through every
aspect of life. Since I was a child, I lived in a state of gratitude. Much of which I learned from my mother. I
grew up in an environment in which society would label us “poor”. However, the label “poor” was never a
feeling or emotion felt in our home. My mother showered my little sister and I with so much love and joy. I
was loved, clothed, fed, and happy. Certainly, we experienced tough times, such as coming home to no
electricity. Even within that situation we made do with what we had and were grateful for those resources.
We said “thank you” to the Divine source for providing us with those resources and one another. When the
lights were on the next day, we said “thank you” again with the same level of praise.

By society’s standards, we were “poor”, but within I felt “rich” because of the abundance of love, gratitude,
and joy toward what we had as a family, not on what we lacked (which is interesting to think about, because
this where many people fall short, is that they look at what isn't there instead of what is present.). As an
adult, I sit back and count my blessings every single day. Blessings are all around, and within all
circumstances. The choice lies within each of us to see those blessings. Where one may see blessings, another
may not. That is a choice. Gratitude isn’t about being in denial of a situation and only see good, rather it is
seeing the entire situation and being a peace with what it is, not for what it is not. Having this perspective has
helped me to stay connected with myself, people, and experiences.

My definition of honesty is being true and sincere in what you are saying and/or doing. Honesty is not
necessarily equal to being a good person, however, honesty is a matter of being truthful towards your actions.
For my one of my classes, I had an assignment where I had to be honest about questions according whether or
not I am a good student; such as whether or not I write papers the day before they are due, or whether or not I
cram the day before an exam, etc. Being honest in this assignment was hard, due to the fact that honesty about
whether or not you crammed an easy the day before it was due, is not something you want to tell your teacher.
Doing this assignment, I was very mindful about being honest, despite the fact that it would lower.

According to the dictionary, empathy is defined as “the understanding of another’s situation, feelings, and
motives”. I find it difficult to understand that a person could lack such consideration and compassion for
another living creature, but, clearly, I have seen otherwise. On many occasions, I have witnessed
disconcerting behavior both aimed at myself, or other individuals and have questioned our society's
complacent moral standards. For as long as I can remember, my ability to treat others with kindness has
been second nature, and a vital part in my moral practices and beliefs. Faced with many challenges during
my childhood, my empathetic disposition was not only enhanced, but, undoubtedly, the strongest building
block in my ethical

8. Compassion, Cooperation and Respect

In a world filled of pain and suffering, compassion is arguably one of the most important qualities to hold.
Compassion is the ability to be conscious of the suffering that other people may be experiencing, along with the
desire to alleviate others from such suffering. Although there is debate about whether compassion involves
literal action to alleviating suffering, being compassionate allows for one to understand the pain.
Specifically, in Western philosophy there are three main components to compassion: suffering is legitimate, pain
is not self-inflicted, and we must be able to see ourselves in the same unpleasant situations. Simply, the
legitimacy of suffering lies in the truth that we all suffer. As humans, suffering is a part of our lives.
Cooperation is looked upon favorably because it connotes collective economic organization without duress or
exploitation. This conceptualization may underlie most thinking about the place of cooperative organization
in today’s society and the modern economy. Cooperation organizes economic activity on terms of equality at
any stratum in the vertical sequence of producing and marketing farm products. Cooperatives’ government
must no only be viable and functional but must incorporate democratic values. Boards of directors must be
attuned to their members and effectively in control. The only valid defense of cooperatives is that they give
reality to all that is good in cooperation.

Respect is an entity that has been held high over the course of time. The idea of respecting someone comes
from acquiring forms of admiration and acceptance of the person who one might be gaining respect for.
It’s something that means a lot because it takes a progressive nature to really respect someone. Respect is
something that can’t be given, but has to be earned.

Respect means a great deal to me because of the path that has to be taken in order to respect someone. For
myself, respect is important because it shows the significance of the positive qualities that one might have
that can be deemed as qualities that one might aspire to have. Respect can come from admiring someone’s
work ethic, determination, etc. People will respect you if you set examples that help lead them on the right
path. The path to respecting someone starts with noticing the qualities or actions of the person that stand
out from other individuals. The next step for me would be that you pay attention to the differences in how
I am when handling situations to how the individual I’m gaining respect for does. The best notion of
respect comes from understanding how you can learn from the individual.

9. Acceptance, Generosity and Responsibility

“Jesus’ death, he said, broke down the temple barriers, dismantling the dividing walls of hostility that had
separated categories of people. Grace found a way”. Throughout this class I was constantly reminded of this
undeserved gift of grace that we receive on a daily basis, and how we play a role in extending grace to others.
I have been challenged to become more flexible in situations where it is hard to extend grace to the
undeserving, but this class has helped me understand grace through a new perspective, one that puts my own
desires aside in order to be the creation God intended me to be. Grace is not only something we receive as a
gift but it’s a gift that I can give to others.
Acceptance of self and of others was a topic that becomes clearer to me as we spent time in discussion and
conversation. I always thought that once we can learn to accept those around us we are able to accept
ourselves, however I had learned it’s much harder that way.

Generosity doesn’t measure or take accounting. Generosity doesn’t want to be repaid or cashed in at some
opportune moment. True generosity is giving simply to give, loving simply to love, uplifting simply to
uplift. When we consider whether we practice generosity in our day to day lives, it’s important to reflect
and ask ourselves why we give and what do we expect to receive through giving. Only we can answer that
very difficult question. We are all interconnected and the skills, talents, connections we have are not meant
to be hoarded, they are meant to be shared. We are in fact meant to open our eyes, our hearts and our
minds to solve this puzzle we call life.

Responsibility can be defined differently by a variety of different types of people and by the context in which
they are using the word. When I think about responsibility I think about a number of different
characteristics that can fall into the category of responsibility. The first characteristic that comes to mind is
time management. I also think about dependability, effort, trustworthiness, and dedication as factors that
can be tied into responsibility.

10. Equality, Justice and Courage

When people jump into the question of whether or not the world knows equality, I find myself listening to
people who believe that our society has become one that includes everyone. However, I wasn’t able to create
an answer to this question for myself. Growing up as a closeted and eventual openly gay teenager in a world
where hetorsexuality dominates society has had me teetering on whether or not I actually felt equal to the
one’s around me. Shifting views from others caused me to wonder where I actually fit into this world.
Throughout my life, these experiences eventually allowed me to form my own opinion on the topic. From
Kindergarten to late elementary school, kids have the wonderful advantage of not knowing stereotypes.

Justice in a way can and will be a way of revenge, a punishment, payback or whatever you want to call it, but
It is the satisfaction of seeing someone who caused us hard, being punished. We all grew up with an ideal set
of mind of our governments and how they work, but that also depends in the country which you reside in.
depending in the country you were raised in you have your own opinions of what justice is and how the
government works. All those opinions will be based on the reflection of the government and the society your
 part of. Justice won’t be distributed the same way in every country, corruption, extortion, duress, and so
many other factors are taken in consideration while talking about the justice system of each country.

When people jump into the question of whether or not the world knows equality, I find myself listening to
people who believe that our society has become one that includes everyone. However, I wasn’t able to create
an answer to this question for myself. Growing up as a closeted and eventual openly gay teenager in a world
where hetorsexuality dominates society has had me teetering on whether or not I actually felt equal to the
one’s around me. Shifting views from others caused me to wonder where I actually fit into this world.
Throughout my life, these experiences eventually allowed me to form my own opinion on the topic. From
Kindergarten to late elementary school, kids have the wonderful advantage of not knowing stereotypes.

11. Perseverance, Self-control and Integrity

I have often been told that I am self-aware, mature, and a compassionate person. All of these traits are likely the
result of immersing myself in the community and school. I love helping people and creating positive change,
which has lead me to take on a variety of leadership roles throughout my life. I still remember the first role I
took on for my school. It was fourth grade and I volunteered to be an office monitor, someone who would stay in
the office during lunch to take calls and assist those that came in, so the secretaries could take their break. It
was something new and exciting that I had never done before and helped instill a sense of responsibility in
myself and a new sense of appreciation for helping others.

Self-control is the war between impulsivity and doing what's right or beneficial. It's the ability to control
emotions, impulses or behaviors to achieve a greater goal. A common example of this is people attempting to
maintain their New Year's Resolution and lose a few pounds.

Integrity is a word I will never forget so far as I live and continue to learn. My understanding of integrity is
doing the right thing regardless of the consequences. Integrity is not about being honest or staying true to
oneself, but also being honest with other people. I also believe that integrity command respect to others
property, regardless of the value. When we admit our mistakes, and stay away from committing the same or
similar mistakes we establish trust. The most important thing is to remain transparent and do what is right to
gain trust and maintain integrity among peers and subordinates.

12. The School and Community Relations

School-Community relations rely on a planned two-way process that involves internal and external publics. The
goal of the communication is to understand the organization, its rules, procedures, and needs. A two-way
communication process involves giving information to the community, as well as receiving it.

13. Self-discipline, and Professional Responsibility

My discipline and studying habits are ones that I have picked up and tweaked in early high school and in the
years since. I have learned what works best for and I am aware of the physical and mental space I need to be in
to ensure that I get my work done in the best way I can. Taking this time to reflect on my self-discipline and
commitment I have as a student will help me identify where I may need improvement and help me to learn more
about myself as a student and as a leader.

Regarding developments to my professional practice; to improve my role and responsibility, I must continue to
strive for further investigation into students and continue to follow my instincts, regarding an incident. It is my
responsibility to ensure that students are safe and I must be able to adequately identify concerning behavior
exhibited by a child. The significant role of safeguarding as displays the effect that can occur by disregarding
certain behaviors. This could have long term impacts and could help facilitate neglect that may be experienced
outside of the educational environment, if concerns are not raised by staff.

14. The Family and Human Fellowship

In many cases, people are judged by their beauty, intelligence, economic status, or ethnicity, forgetting that
the very condition of being a human person is worthy of the utmost dignity and respect. The human condition
should be embraced by all people, because God chose to be present to the world in the form of a human
being. Because of the interdependency of all persons in the Catholic social tradition, we are responsible to
care for all persons. Recognizing that people with AIDS are still people and thus deserve to be treated with
respect is critical; this disease robs the individual of health, a livelihood, and other rights essential for the
preservation of human dignity.
The Catholic social teachings provide a powerful argument for assisting Cambodians with AIDS in this
globalized, capitalistic society. Perhaps the vision statement for the Maryknoll Mission Association of the
Faithful best encapsulates the theological reflection presented here: "We strive with (the poor, marginalized
and oppressed peoples of the earth) for justice, peace and fullness of life. We celebrate the holiness of
everyday life and even amidst sin, suffering, and death, we proclaim the hope of resurrection." Our status as
human beings and creatures of God gives each individual an inherent dignity that must be preserved. AIDS is
not a moral punishment by God, but another example of suffering on earth in which God and Christians can
find solidarity in brokenness.

15. Non-violence Education

Core values of nonviolence and social justice are central to peace education. Nonviolence is manifested
through values such as respect for human rights, freedom and trust. Social justice is realised by principles of
equality, responsibility, and solidarity.

16. Religion and Hospitality

In my understanding, to be religious, to have a religion, or to be an active participant of a religious

organization are all different matters. To be religious, one simply needs to have a certain awareness in
Creator or Creating Force and/or to acknowledge a spiritual aspect to human existence. To have a religion,
one actually has to accept a pre-set system of beliefs, a way of life, and a certain purpose of life as it is taught
by that certain religion. To be an active participant of a religious organization, one not only has to accept
what a certain religion teaches, but also has to join a community of people who share the same sets of beliefs.
In other words, anyone can be religious as long as one has an understanding and conscious awareness of the
inner depth within their apparent reality, while to have a religion or to be an active participant of a religion is
often an active practice of choice in accepting an institutionalized system of beliefs and rituals, which are
often invented by humans and are subject to human modification.

Hospitality comes from the love of God and that all the things we do in life should bring honor to God. During
the lecture, the speaker talked about hospitality. It’s not a personal gain but a connection that we have with
God. When he said this it resonated with me. I’ve always seen hospitality as small acts of kindness and
attempting to make others feel good. After hearing this lecture, that’s not the only way to be hospitable, it’s
about showing people Christ through our acts of kindness. not for personal gain. I now view hospitality as a
service to Christ and others. Being hospitable is not a service