TEACHING VALUES CLARIFICATON AND SERVICE LEARNING

Emily Scholl
4/30/2014
EDPS 251
Sirota
Teaching Values Clarification and Service Learning

As adolescents mature, they begin to form ideas and make commitments to morals that play a key
role in their lives. This is a part of the adolescents personality, and is called moral identity (Santrock,
2012, p. 236). In order to aid in the moral development, many schools have implemented

programs to teach students ethical behaviors, but whether or not a school has a specific
programs aimed at moral development, the school has a hidden curriculum. A hidden
curriculum is a pervasive moral atmosphere that characterizes every school (Santrock, 2012,
p.239). While some schools promote a positive and enriching hidden curriculum, other schools
may be allowing students to walk away having learned unethical behavior. The four different
approaches to moral education are; character education, values clarification, cognitive moral
education, and service learning. The focus of this paper will be values clarification and service
learning.
Values Clarification
Values clarification is an approach in which the main focus is to help people clarify what
is important to them (Santrock, 2012, p. 241). This approach requires students to ask questions
like, Who am I and where am I going? and decide what is worth working for in their lives.
Instead of telling students what their values should be, values clarification enables students to
decide for themselves what they want their values to be, based on what they want to achieve in
their lives. It also encourages students to understand the values of others. On the Weber State

TEACHING VALUES CLARIFICATON AND SERVICE LEARNING

University website, there is a page dedicated to explaining how values clarification works, and
offering some activities to help people define their personal values. One that stood out was the
Plan Your Own Funeral activity. It asks us to imagine that we find ourselves at our own
funeral. If there were to be four speakers, what would we want each person to say about us? This
kind of activity is typical in a values clarification approach because it gives a person the freedom
to decide a set of values for themselves. There are both praises and criticisms of values
clarification. According to Santrock (2012), advocates of values clarification say that it is valuefree. On the other hand, critics argue that the content of such courses are offensive to
community standards and that it fails to stress the right behavior (p. 241).
Service Learning
The next approach to moral education is service learning. This approach is much more
hands-on, as it requires students to go out and provide service to the community. The definition
of service learning is: a form of education that promotes social responsibility and service to the
community (Santrock 2012, p. 241). Interest was sparked in service learning when John F.
Kennedy said, Ask not what your country can do for you- ask what you can do for your
country. This quote is an excellent way to remind students to stay grateful for all that their
country does for them, and that they should work to make it an even better place to live. Some
ways students can do service learning would be to tutor, help the elderly, work in hospitals or
child care centers, or to clean up around the community. A goal of service learning is to develop
adolescents who are not self-centered and who are motivated to help others (Santrock, 2012, p.
242).
Having done service learning projects here at the University of Nebraska, I have seen
first-hand how effective it is in helping people develop morals. Much like values clarification, it

TEACHING VALUES CLARIFICATON AND SERVICE LEARNING

allows students to define their own values based on what is important to them. Service learning
is even more effective when students are given the freedom to choose a service activity that
interests them. Because I am an education major, I chose to do my service learning at an afterschool program. Being able to pick where I wanted to volunteer increased the moral
development in which I took away from that project. Some benefits of service learning include
higher self-esteem, increased goal setting, higher grades in school, and an improved sense of
being able to make a difference for others. Not only does service learning benefit students moral
development, but the community as well. Students who participate in service learning are also
more likely to continue to volunteer in the community in the future (Santrock, 2012, p. 242).
Although Santrock does not offer much criticism of service learning, it can often be difficult for
students to find the time to volunteer outside of school, and for many students, finding a ride to
the site can be challenge as well.
My Method of Teaching Moral Education
I think service learning is most beneficial to adolescents in middle school. Young
adolescents usually accept their parents values as their own, but when they reach middle to late
adolescence, they begin to explore and define a set of values for themselves. Because the
adolescent is exploring what is important to them around the middle school age, they would
benefit greatly from service learning. A service learning project would allow the student to see
for themselves why altruism (concern for the wellbeing of others) is so important. Because I find
values clarification and service learning to be two of the best approaches to moral education, I
would try to incorporate both of these into my future classroom.
The main approach I would focus on would be service learning, but I would also put an
emphasis of values clarification. While service learning does put an emphasis on altruism, I also

TEACHING VALUES CLARIFICATON AND SERVICE LEARNING

think its important for students to figure out for themselves what is important to them. Teachers
are meant to educate students on a certain curriculum, as well as model ethical behaviors. They
should not take away the individuality of a student in an effort to make them conform to what
society says they should be. I believe one reason why adolescents have such a difficult time
defining a set of positive values, is because they feel as if the values that they are expected to
uphold are not relevant to them and what they want from life. While helping others may not be
an interest of all adolescents, it can be seen as an enriching experience even if the student
chooses not to volunteer after the project is over.
In my classroom, I would try out several activities similar to the ones on the Weber State
University website. Students would also be required to write a paper about someone they believe
to have high moral qualities. They would point out these qualities, and why they think having
those qualities is important. These activities would help the students get a feel for what kind of
values they appreciate. Next, the students would be required to do a service learning project.
Because not all students have the same interests, I would give them options as to where they
could volunteer. Also, because they are only in middle school, it would be important to make
sure the sites they volunteer at would be enjoyable places for them to go. Forcing a student to
visit a nursing home every Thursday, even though they dont like old people, would be useless;
the student would take nothing from the project except dreading each Thursday. Instead, the
students would be able to sign up for a site of their choice to volunteer at, and those students
would go to volunteer together as a group.
The next portion of the service learning would be dependent on different factors
regarding the community in which the school is. It would be important to know if the students
live in a lower income area, or a high income area. Also, the likelihood that the students would

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actually volunteer outside of school would be a detrimental fact to keep in mind. If it was very
unlikely that the students would actually go volunteer outside of school (or could get find
transportation to the side), arrangements would be made to allow them to go volunteer one day
each month or week, for the course of the service learning.
Conclusion
Whether schools purposely teach moral education or not, adolescents are always going to
pick up different behaviors and attitudes. Moral education is a great way to guide students in
developing positive morals, though I dont think schools should tell students which moral values
they need to have. With my plan for teaching moral education, students would be allowed to
make the decisions about what is important in their lives, and how they can be that positive
influence to help others realize what is important to them.

TEACHING VALUES CLARIFICATON AND SERVICE LEARNING

References
Santrock, John W., (2012). Adolescence (14th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Values, Decisions, and Inner Peace or Who Am I and Where am I Going? Values Clarification.
Retrieved from
http://faculty.weber.edu/molpin/healthclasses/1110/bookchapters/valueschapter.htm