This Artifact is a demonstration of the following objectives:
- Explore my own value system
- Understand that values are formed from external and internal drives of an individual
Here, this word speaks for itself. It is one of the most important and prevalent factors in my life for shaping my values.
After reading A Question of Values and responding to how we develop values, I created a list of my most important values. My top 5 values included faith, family, friends, enjoyment and integrity. I examined how those top 5 values influence my everyday activities and priorities. The deep analysis of these values helped me reach the objective of exploring my own value system. It is made up of my particular values that are results of the way I was raised.
This piece also helped demonstrate my understanding that values are formed both from external and internal drives. For example, my mother warned me not to touch a hot stove, but if I rebel and touch it, it is the burn and the heat from the stove that will remind me not to touch it again. Some values are caused from authoritative figures such as parents, and some are due to intuition. Both shape and mold the people we become. And in turn, we become authoritive figures for our own children and help shape their own value systems.
In his piece, Lewis describes this authoritive influence, “Because we are social creatures, we often utilize an indirect mental mode that allows us to rely on someone else or on something else in order to draw a conclusion without having to see or feel or think it through from the beginning on our own.” We often rely on other individuals such as teachers or parents to teach us right from wrong. We view these people as important, so we also view their opinions as important. These opinions mold our values at this point and later on in life.
You can view my artifact here: My Values
In the future, I hope to realize the authority I have over my childrens value system (way down the line). In the mean time, I will think deeper about how I feel about certain subjects, and explore why it is I feel that way, keeping in mind my own value system. I will also have a more open approach to others whom I disagree with and recognize that they may not be wrong, but they just developed a value system that differs from my own.
Bibliography