Personal Values Development

Personal Values Development

Personal Values Development
By Yolanda Pabon
This is a personal essay written for and ethics class for the University of Phoenix.

Personal Values Development
Specific Values
Specific values stressed as a child were many important personal beliefs that as children one learned and respected. Honesty was an ethical value that was stressed when growing up. Essential principles were very important when one was growing up Hispanic in an American culture. Focus was given to respecting ones elders and figures of authority. One was never to speak when elders were speaking. Children spoke only when spoken to and interrupting an adult conversation was frowned upon in most Latin American cultures. Mom and dad were never Sylvia and Carlos. Calling ones parents by their names was much too personal and considered disrespectful.
Manners were taught at an early age and carried through to adult life, when leaving home for college or marriage occurred. Behavior was often rewarded or punished based on what parents felt was right or wrong. Children learned by example and if parents were good role models, the children grew up as respected citizens of the family and the city or town in which they lived.
As I grew older, any misbehavior became more noticeable. When in school had a difficult time since we were taught not to look parents in the eyes when being scolded. Growing up Hispanic in America, made this problem when a teacher in class would reprimand me since teachers in America expected children to look at them when they were spoken to and the opposite was upheld in the Hispanic traditional view. As female in her teenage years, I was never permitted to date at any age. Going out with a boy or a young man at any age was disallowed unless the teenager was promised in marriage and very few went anywhere without a chaperone.
The role of the mother was to ensure that her daughters grew up to be respectable young women until they married. Young girls were never known to...