Personal and Professional Standards

I think our professional standards should reflect our personal standards. If our principles are inconsistent in just one aspect of our lives, our integrity is compromised. What is worth more to us: our character or career? Ideally we’d like to improve in both areas as much as possible, but that is difficult to achieve in the real world. Sometimes it seems like our standards could hold us back from advancing in our careers. What is unethical to us may be perfectly fine to a co-worker, and we fall behind because of it. The more frustrated we become with this injustice, the more tempted we are to compromise our standards. I believe that it's worth it to stick to your standards. At the end of the day, once your career is over, there will be more regret in going against your values than in missing an opportunity to get ahead.

Educate, Don't Shelter

Completely sheltering kids from the internet does not protect them. The internet is increasingly integrated into daily life, so if a child doesn't use the internet at home, they’ll surely encounter it elsewhere. Wouldn't you rather control how your child is introduced to it? I've lived in Utah Valley my entire life, so there are certain things I haven’t been exposed to very often. Sometimes when I visit other places and I encounter things I’m not used to, I don’t know how to handle them. It's not necessarily anyone’s fault that I'm not prepared for those situations; I just don't expect them. The internet is the same on one end of the country as the other, so parents not only have the ability but also the obligation to educate their kids. Of course, internet rules and filters should be used, but kids should ideally experience the internet in their own homes to be prepared.