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Santiago Mejia
Mrs. Nelson
Service Learning
17 October 2014
Unit 2 Assessment- Code of Ethics
Its pretty difficult to write about the five most important ethical standards about my life.
Ive never actually sat down and thought about each ethical standard individually. I know that I
dont lack in standards that I live my life by, its just that its difficult to try to think of five. Now
with my ethical standards, Im not trying to convince you to agree with me or to even believe the
same things that I believe. Im just stating my opinion. Dont try to take this as a persuasive
essay or something like that. Probably the most important one is to be kind to those that deserve
it. Most people would say, Always be nice to everyone. which I dont agree with at all. I think
that if someone is rude to you, and theyve consistently made it their mission to make your life
hard, then you shouldnt be nice to them. Be nice to those that havent done you wrong. My
second standard is to respect others choices. You shouldnt try to force your beliefs or opinions
unto other people. If they dont want to go to college or buy that chocolate bar, thats their
choice. Who are you to tell other people how to live their lives? You dont have the right to tell
people how they should think or act. My third standard is to be loyal to those that are your
friends. I can put it in one word, camaraderie. I think that camaraderie is one of the most
important virtues you can have. Even if someone did something that is against the rules, you
should always look for the best solution by talking to your friend first. You should never get your
friend in trouble without talking to them. Sacrificing your friends just to abide by the rules is
pointless because in the end, the rules arent going to be there for you, your friends are. My

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fourth standard is to take responsibility for your life. People complain every single day. They talk
and talk and talk, but in the end, the only way that something would change is if you make that
change yourself. I believe that people rely too much on things happening for them when people
need to make things happen for themselves. Also, people need to accept responsibility for their
lives. They need to accept their choices and live with them. You made your life the way it is. My
fifth standard is that you should always be mindful of your appearance. Whether people like to
accept it or not, when people see you, they are constantly assessing you and judging you. Some
people disagree with that, and some people agree with that. Either way, it doesnt matter because
it does happen. With that in mind, you should always think about how youre being perceived by
the other people. You should care about your self-image because that will carry you throughout
your life. If you act like a slob in public, people will think that youre a slob and wont want to
be around you. How you act in public has a tremendous effect on your life. I realize that a lot of
modern parenting books and self-help books encourage people to be unique and always be
however they want to be, but I disagree with that. You should act in a way that is most favorable
to you in that situation. It sounds very harsh and like Im almost trying to change your
personality, but its a standard by which I live my life. If Im doing a presentation to class of
students, Im going to be funny and act in a way thats not very professional because itll earn me
more social points. If I were to give a presentation to board of businessmen, then I would be
very serious and wear a suit and tie. That would help me look better in that particular situation to
those people.
My influences for my code of ethics has been my exposure to public education and the
internet. My dad is really strict about manners, so I learned my manners from him. That is why I
always try to be polite at other peoples houses. I never call any adult by their first name which is

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a sign of respect that I got from my parents. Whenever my parents call for me, I always have to
reply with Sir? or Maam? but in Spanish, not English. Having gone to public schools my
entire life, I understand social environments very well. I know when the appropriate time is to
say something and how to say it to gain the most amount of social points. I mention this term,
and it basically means how much the people in that situation will like you. So if you say
something funny, and people respond well to it, then those people will like you more. Social
environments in public schools are ruthless. Kids are the most judgmental people in the world. It
has to do a lot with sociology, but basically, due to my experience in being around judgmental
people, I have learned that being nice goes a long way. It also helps knowing when to be nice. If
youre nice all the time, it can backfire on you. Ever since I was in 8th grade, Ive been playing
video games online with my friends. I spent every day talking to them. I have learned so much.
Most people hate video games and say that there is no value in them, and I completely disagree
with that. Being on the internet has taught a lot of critical thinking skills and problem-solving
skills. A video game is basically a simulation where you can make choices and be in the shoes of
another person, depending on the video game. In most multiplayer games, you have to work
together as a part of a team. There are different roles that you can assume. There are the people
that focus on completing the objective. There are people who focus on preventing the opponents
from completing the objective. There are people who focus on defending a particular base.
Everyone has a task. If you fail at your task, there is no one there to pick up your slack. There
isnt anyone there to protect you and make it easier for you and treat you like a baby. If you want
to win, then you will figure out your weaknesses, and correct them. You will make that change.
No one else will do that for you. You assume responsibility. Based on Kohlbergs theory, I would
classify myself as a stage 5. Post-conventionalists view rules as changeable. They can be altered

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and changed according to the specific circumstance. They shouldnt be set in stone. I agree with
that. Every circumstance is different. Post-conventionalists live life by their own sets of ethics
and morals and dont always abide by societys pre-set morals. They are willing to be flexible.
Civic virtue is putting the communitys well being over your own. It is being able to
make sacrifices to better the community. A good citizen is someone who is willing to help out
and donate their time and resources to make a difference in their community. If you just sit
around all day and never do anything to better the community, your community will go downhill.
Itll be bad. It ties into my value of accepting responsibility. If something bad is going on in your
community, it is up to you to accept responsibility and make a sacrifice to better your society.
Society benefits from having good citizens by having those people who are willing to go above
and beyond to make the society a better place. All it takes is a couple people to build a house or
rebuild a fence or pick up trash to notice a significant improvement in the quality of the
community.
An ethical dilemma that I have faced is a time when I was caught cheating from my
friend. It was in my 7th grade math class. My friend Kyle was in the math class as me, and we
had this assignment due in class. However, I didnt do it. So I asked Kyle if I could borrow it to
copy it. He said that it was alright. As I was copying down the answers, the teacher came around
and caught me. He took my paper and Kyles paper. He decided that instead of just tearing both
papers apart, hed make an example out of me. He asked me if I had asked Kyle for permission
to copy or if I had just taken it from Kyle without him knowing. He said that if Kyle agreed to let
me copy his paper, Kyle would get his paper torn apart, but I would get an A on the assignment.
If I admit to stealing Kyles paper without his knowledge, then I would get my paper torn apart
and the teacher would call my parents, but Kyle would get an A on the assignment. Instead of

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telling the truth to save my grade, I said that Kyle didnt know that I took his paper. I took an F
on the assignment, but I didnt let my friend suffer for my own mistakes. I took responsibility for
my actions, and I also put my loyalty for my friend first instead of following the rules.
It is important for each individual to have a code of ethics because it provides a set of
guidelines that you can always refer to. No two situations in life are the same. Many times, you
are placed in difficult circumstances, and you dont know what to do. If you have a code of
ethics, you have clarity as to what you should do. It is almost a belief system. You believe in
those morals so strongly that you live your life following them. You need to live by your code of
ethics because they define you. They define what you do in certain situations. They determine
your actions.
This assignment has taught me a lot of things. I have actually spent time thinking about
my personal code of ethics. Ive never actually thought about that. Normally when I go into a
situation, I just rely on acting in the heat of the moment, and I usually get results that Im okay
with. However, having time to stop and think about why I make the decisions that I do helped me
out a lot. It helps me gain clarity as to who I am and why. Ive never stopped and thought about
why I always try to be nice to people or why I think that people should accept responsibility for
their actions. This assignment has taught me that its important to take time to really analyze
yourself. Its important to try to understand yourself. You learn a lot about yourself by doing this.
It made me believe in my morals a lot more. Now that I know why I have these morals, I can
stand by them more firmly. It has taught me your morals sometimes dont align with the morals
of a good citizen, but sometimes in order to make a positive impact on your community, you
have to make sacrifices. It has taught me that people get influenced by almost anything. It
doesnt always have to be from your parents or religion or your friends. It can be from video

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games to newspapers. Everyone is different and everyone thinks differently. Everyone can have a
different set of morals.