Values and Character

The lessons at a glance

1. What values are and finding your own

Values are the quiet compass behind your choices: what you study, who you spend time with, how you treat people when nobody is watching. Knowing yours makes big decisions easier and small ones more consistent.

• Values are what you believe matters in how you live, not a list of rules.
• Values can conflict, so knowing your order of priority is as important as knowing the list.
• Use real memories (happy, proud, fulfilling moments) to discover values rather than guessing.
• Short personal definitions make your values usable when you are under pressure.

2. Integrity and honesty, including at school

Integrity means being the same person when nobody is checking. It is built or lost in small choices: a copied homework answer, a 'quick' white lie, an AI-written paragraph handed in as your own.

• Integrity means your actions match your values even when no one is checking.
• Small lies can escalate; the discomfort you feel early on is worth listening to.
• Plagiarism includes close paraphrasing, collusion and, at many universities, unauthorised AI use.
• Honesty and kindness work together: say true things in a respectful way.

3. Kindness, respect and tolerance

The UAE is home to people of more than 200 nationalities. Living well together depends on everyday kindness, respect for difference and the confidence to disagree without contempt.

• Kindness benefits both the giver and the receiver, and the NHS counts it as a wellbeing step.
• The Golden Rule appears across faiths and philosophies, which makes it a shared starting point.
• Tolerance means respect and dignity for difference, not agreeing with everything or accepting harm.
• The Document on Human Fraternity was signed in Abu Dhabi on 4 February 2019; that date is now the UN International Day of Human Fraternity.

4. Gratitude: what the research says and how to practise it

Gratitude is more than saying thank you. It is noticing the good in your life and the people behind it, and research suggests that regularly practising it can lift your mood, although it is not a cure-all.

• Gratitude means noticing good things and recognising that they often come from others.
• Journals and gratitude letters have research support for boosting mood, though effects can fade.
• Gratitude has only a small effect on depression and anxiety symptoms; it does not replace professional help.
• Specific, people-focused, written gratitude works better than vague lists.

5. Humility, patience and self-discipline

These three quiet strengths help you learn faster, keep friendships and reach long-term goals. The good news from research: they are less about being born with willpower and more about habits and smart planning.

• Intellectual humility, accepting you might be wrong, is linked to better learning and less susceptibility to misinformation.
• Patience is valued across many faiths and traditions and can be practised in small daily moments.
• Self-control depends a lot on environment and planning, not just inborn willpower.
• If-then plans and removing temptations are practical, evidence-based tools.
• New habits took an average of 66 days to become automatic in one UCL study; missing a day is not failure.

6. Responsibility and keeping your word

Being reliable is one of the fastest ways to earn trust from teachers, employers and friends. It is mostly about promising carefully, planning realistically and owning it when things go wrong.

• Reliability is built by promising carefully, not by promising more.
• The planning fallacy means your first time estimate is usually too short.
• Use past experience, smaller steps and if-then plans to set realistic deadlines.
• If you cannot keep your word, say so early, explain briefly and offer a new plan.

7. Courage and standing up for what is right

Most people want to help when they see something wrong, but they freeze, assume someone else will act, or do not know what to do. Knowing a few safe options in advance makes you far more likely to act well.

• Moral courage means acting on your values even when it is uncomfortable, while keeping yourself safe.
• In groups, people often assume someone else will help; knowing this helps you be the one who does.
• The 5Ds are distract, delegate, document, delay and direct.
• Direct confrontation is the riskiest option; distracting or getting help is often safer and just as effective.
• Do not join in with bullying, even passively, and tell a trusted adult.

8. Making ethical decisions

Some choices are not about right versus wrong but right versus right: loyalty to a friend versus fairness to others, honesty versus kindness. A simple framework helps you think clearly instead of going with whatever feels easiest.

• Ethical choices are often right versus right, not just right versus wrong.
• Six lenses (rights, justice, utilitarian, common good, virtue, care) help you see a choice from several angles.
• Follow five steps: identify the issue, get the facts, evaluate, choose and test, act and reflect.
• Pausing and looking for a third option prevents many ethical mistakes.

Talk about it, then try it

The real-life practice tasks from each lesson. Pick one or two a week and agree when you will check in.

1. What values are and finding your own
   • Do the six-step values exercise this week and write your final top five on a card or in your phone notes.
   • Write a one-sentence definition for each of your top three values.
   • Look back at one decision you made this month and ask which value it served, and whether you would choose differently now.
2. Integrity and honesty, including at school
   • Find your school's academic honesty or AI-use policy and write down three things it allows and three it does not.
   • For one week, notice any time you are tempted to tell a small lie. Write down the situation and what you did instead.
   • Practise one honest-but-kind sentence for a situation you find awkward, such as declining an invitation.
3. Kindness, respect and tolerance
   • Do three deliberate acts of kindness this week, one for family, one for a friend and one for someone you do not know well.
   • Ask a classmate from a different background about a tradition or celebration that matters to them, and listen without comparing.
   • Read a short extract of the Document on Human Fraternity and write two sentences on what it asks of young people.
4. Gratitude: what the research says and how to practise it
   • Keep a gratitude journal three times this week, writing three to five specific entries each time.
   • Write a gratitude letter to one person and arrange to read it to them, in person or by video call.
   • Each day this week, thank one person specifically for something they did.
5. Humility, patience and self-discipline
   • Write two if-then plans for a goal you care about and follow them for seven days.
   • In your next disagreement, ask one genuine question about the other person's view before giving your own.
   • Choose one 'patience practice', such as waiting in a queue without your phone, and do it three times this week.
6. Responsibility and keeping your word
   • For one week, write down every promise you make, big or small, and tick off each one you keep.
   • Before agreeing to your next deadline, estimate the time using a similar past task, then add a buffer.
   • Choose one household task to own fully for a month without being reminded.
7. Courage and standing up for what is right
   • Write down three situations you might realistically face and which of the 5Ds you would use in each, with one sentence you could say.
   • Next time you see an unkind message in a group chat, try one small step: do not react, or send a short 'not OK' message, or check in privately with the person targeted.
   • Find out who at your school handles bullying reports and how to contact them.
8. Making ethical decisions
   • Use the five-step process on a real decision you are facing, or on the leaked-test dilemma, and write a short paragraph for each step.
   • For your next tricky choice, apply the 'someone I respect' test before deciding.
   • Discuss one of the dilemmas in this lesson with a family member and compare which lens each of you found most important.

Quiz

Name: ______________________ Date: ____________ Circle one answer for each question.

Answer key

1. C: Mind Tools: values are 'the things that you believe are important in the way you live and work'. Goals and rules are different things.
2. A: Mind Tools suggests prioritising by comparing pairs and imagining a realistic trade-off.
3. B: International Center for Academic Integrity: academic integrity is a commitment to honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage.
4. D: Garrett et al., Nature Neuroscience: dishonesty escalated and the amygdala's response to it weakened over repeated decisions.
5. C: Vatican News: Pope Francis and Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb signed the document in Abu Dhabi on 4 February 2019.
6. A: UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs: the UN proclaimed 4 February the International Day of Human Fraternity. 16 November is the International Day for Tolerance (UN).
7. B: Greater Good Science Center: Emmons describes gratitude as an affirmation of goodness and a recognition that the sources of this goodness are outside ourselves.
8. D: Greater Good in Action: the gratitude letter gave the greatest boost at one month, but happiness returned to baseline by six months.
9. B: Greater Good Science Center: intellectual humility is 'the degree to which people recognize that their beliefs might be wrong'.
10. C: Wikipedia (Stanford marshmallow experiment): Watts, Duncan and Quan found smaller effects that shrank when controlling for family background and other factors.
11. D: Wikipedia (Planning fallacy): predictions about how much time a task needs show an optimism bias, first proposed by Kahneman and Tversky in 1979.
12. D: Wikipedia (Planning fallacy): about 30% of the 37 students finished within their predicted time; average actual time was 55.5 days against 33.9 predicted.
13. D: Wikipedia (Bystander effect): people are less likely or slower to help when they think others are present because they assume someone else will act.
14. C: Right To Be: Delay means checking in afterwards, saying you saw what happened and it was not OK, and offering support.
15. A: Markkula Center: the virtue lens asks which option leads me to act as the sort of person I want to be.
16. A: Markkula Center: 'If I told someone I respect (or a public audience) which option I have chosen, what would they say?'

General information only, written from the sources listed in each online lesson. Laws, numbers and services change, so check official sources. Life-Ready Society, https://lifereadysociety.com/values-character/