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Ronan Sanchez
Mrs. Nelson
Service Learning
October 17, 2014
Code of Ethics
Everyone has their own set of morals and values. People have their own unique view on
what is right or wrong. Each perspective should be taken into consideration because there is
always thought and reasoning behind them. For me, my ethical standards that govern the
decisions I make in my life include being loyal honest to your friends and family, keeping
promises that you make to others, being respectful not only to your elders but to everyone,
having a positive attitude about every situation, and being completely fair with everyone
including people you are friends with and people you may not like very much.
I can say that my parents have had the biggest influence in forming my view of ethics.
Growing up, I was always taken to church and I have always been taught to be obedient. I grew
up subconsciously thinking that if certain rules, such as being honest, being respectful, never
breaking promises, and being fair, were broken, I would face a consequence. As I got older, like
most people, I began to become less strict on myself with those rules. Sometimes I lie, am unfair,
or disrespectful, but I still value those morals and ethics and always try my very best to live up to
those standards. They are what makes me who I am. I always keep my promises that I make, and
I am loyal to my friends and family. Though I am not as innocent as I use to be, I can say that
Im honest even if I have to face consequences for my bad choices or tell someone something
they need to know that might hurt them, I am respectful at least most of the time, and I always

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try to be fair with everyone. My parents and my close friends have shaped my morality. My
parents always tell me what they think is right, and my close friends have been through a lot with
me and those experiences has influenced my reasoning. By using Kohlbergs theory of moral
reasoning, I have found that I, growing up, was in stage 1 (Obedience and Punishment Stage),
and now I am in stage 3 (Good Interpersonal Relationships Stage). I feel as though I need to live
up to these standards to not only appear to be a good person, but to feel like a good person and to
have respect for myself.
Having civic virtue is a citizens responsibility to contribute to their community and to
serve others rather than just themselves. A good citizen does what he/she can to ensure the wellbeing of others in society either by volunteering or simply being kind and generous to others. By
having civic virtue, we can all get along and even influence others so do the same to help out
their community. It keeps us all together rather than separated by our own selfishness which
keeps us from helping others rather than ourselves. One person can make a difference in their
community by spreading their generosity. This is what a good citizen should do, and it really
benefits a community as a whole.
I have been in an ethical dilemma before. Once I had a friend who was being betrayed by
another friend of mine. The friend being betrayed was not aware of it at the time, and these were
just rumors. I have not seen the betrayal with my own eyes, but many people were saying it was
true. The situation I was in left me with many choices on what to do. I wanted to tell my friend
about it, but they were just rumors. If they werent true, I would be hurting the other friend who
was accused of being dishonest. I did not want to fan the flames. I did not want to cause more
trouble. I struggled on deciding what to do. I wanted to keep both friends.

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It is important for each individual to have a code of ethics because they need good ones
to govern their decisions in life. Having these good values will help that person make smart and
good decisions, and can also help improve their community with the positive influence they will
have on it. If one does not have their own code of ethics, they most likely will get it the wrong
person, crowd, or bad experiences. Having their own would protect them from this by giving
them something to live by so that no matter what life throws at them or negative thoughts people
shove in their heads, they will stand firm in the good morals that they believe in.
This assignment has taught me a lot about ethics, values, and morals and how everyone
needs them and how each individual has their own set of beliefs that need to be respected. I also
learned more about myself by looking into studies, such as the Kohlbergs theory, and found out
the way people view right from wrong in different stages of thinking. Learning these things
helped me see what influences I have had growing up and that I have today. I will use what I
have learned in this assignment and apply it to my life so I can further reflect the values, morals,
and ethics that I grew up with in my life.