Values in the Pandemic: Have They Shifted, and if so, How?

by Lynn Barendsen

What do we value, and how do we spend our time?  Both are key topics on the Good Project; it’s my hunch that responses to both questions have been considerably impacted by the pandemic.  In what follows, I review some research evidence and share my own reflections.

In my analysis, perhaps not surprisingly, values HAVE shifted. Perhaps more puzzling is the nature of the relationship between our values and how we occupy ourselves.  As we all know, the past two years have seen a remarkable change in our daily activities as we’ve adjusted (and readjusted, and then readjusted again) to the realities of life during a pandemic. So: have our values evolved because our activities have changed, or have we changed our activities because of what we value?

How we spend our time is clearly related to what we value.  Perhaps we do what we do because of what we value, or alternatively, perhaps we recognize our values—and whether or not they are being honored-- because of how we’ve been spending our time.  As this (link here) New York Times article points out, during the pandemic, individuals spent far more time alone, or only with close family members.  For some, this may mean a renewed appreciation of solitude (what they have); for others it may mean a recognition of the value of spending time with other family and friends (what they can’t have).

Two studies help to unpack these issues a bit more. A study (link here) of over 1000 Australians, ranging in age from 18-75, was conducted over several years (both pre and post pandemic);  the study revealed two sets of contact post pandemic (one at the beginning, and one 8-9 months later).    Using Shalom Schwartz’s (link here) categorization of values, the authors cite four sets of values: conservation values, openness to change values, self-transcendence values and self-enhancement values.  Three of the four categories (all but self-enhancement values) changed during the pandemic.  Conservation values (keeping safe, preserving order, stability and tradition) all became more important at the beginning of the pandemic, and as time passed, remained consistent at their new level.  Perhaps in this case, the actions related to “staying safe” and positive results reinforced the importance of the value of stability.

Openness to change values (independence, seeking adventure, creativity, change) decreased at the beginning of the pandemic, but later, increased.  At the beginning of the pandemic, individuals had less opportunity for adventure, certainly outside their homes; as time went on, perhaps adventure and creativity became increasingly important as individuals sought alternative modes of entertainment.  

Self-transcendence values (caring for others and for the world) were initially stable, but later decreased.  The authors suggest that perhaps as a result of being so focused on self-preservation, individuals had little capacity left for empathy. Importantly, many countries were more severely impacted by the pandemic than Australia, so it’s crucial to consider alternative, more extensive studies. 

Another study (link here) was conducted by the research agency Glocalities. Investigators interviewed 8,761 individuals in 24 countries, 9 months apart, at the beginning and end of 2020. The study sought to understand how the pandemic impacted individuals’ beliefs and values.

Not surprisingly, individuals increasingly value health and precautions, or taking care. As freedoms became more limited (i.e., as a result of lockdowns), they became more valued.  Additionally, a heightened awareness of economic disparities has led to increased calls for equity. The report concludes that although individuals are increasingly pessimistic and worried, they are simultaneously revisiting their values and thinking more about others besides themselves.  Interestingly, this contradicts the Australian study (which found a decrease in caring for others and the world). 

These are just a few examples of what will likely become an ongoing investigation into the impact of these past two years on individual values.  Clearly there are ambiguities that need to be resolved. Whether these initial trends are short or long term, whether they hold true across racial, cultural, socio-economic and other differences, is still to be determined.  But these are important questions, and we will continue to look for any emerging patterns.

Closer to home, over the course of the pandemic, our GP Team has had many conversations with colleagues (and ourselves) about values.  We consider ourselves fortunate. Although each of us have been impacted both personally and professionally by the pandemic, unlike many around the world, we have been able to keep working and able to do so from the safety of our homes. Of course there have been challenges (juggling parenting responsibilities with work responsibilities, for example), but for the most part, we have all appreciated supportive colleagues and work that feels important and timely. 

Additionally, we’ve remarked upon the fact that ethical dilemmas (a core component of Good Project resources) are in abundance these days. Constantly struggling with the best decision (as it’s not always clear that there’s one “right” answer) is important and exhausting. Often it comes down to values, and what we value most.  Or, as Michael Rozier explains, “our choices, individually and collectively, reveal who we are and who we want to be.”  In an article (link here) written relatively early during the pandemic (May 2020), this scholar asserts that the pandemic offers an opportunity to embrace previously undervalued virtues such as self-sacrifice and prudence.

Curious to consider whether – and, if so, how-- our own values have shifted over the past two years, four of us recently revisited the value sort (link here). Interestingly, three of us rated “creating balance in one’s life” and “rewarding and supportive relationships” in our top four values.  Three of us also had either “understanding, helping, serving others” or “social concerns, pursuing the common good” as one of our top 4.

I don’t want to speak for others, but for me the exercise brought about some useful realizations. I recognized that balance feels more important than it has before because the line between my personal and professional lives feels more blurred. For the bulk of the past few years, both my husband and I have been working from home, and for some of that time, our two college-aged sons were also working at home. We tried hard, for example, to make weekends feel different from the week and to establish boundaries.  Now that our sons have returned to college and it’s just the two of us, it’s easier to just keep working well into the evening, and balance becomes increasingly important. This was exacerbated during the lockdown when our usual exercise (regular martial arts practice at our dojo) was impossible. I recognize that I value balance more because I’ve missed it, and because I realize how essential it is to my peace of mind.

Additionally, both the pandemic and our current fraught political climate have made me more aware than ever of economic disparities. Financial status has had a major impact on how individuals experience the pandemic, and economic divides - previously substantial - have only increased. I feel more responsibility than I ever have before: to do work that’s important, to think about my neighbors, to be careful and responsible in my actions.  The impact of everything we do, of all our actions, feels real, and I’m constantly examining my decision making.  This is why “understanding and helping others” and “honesty and integrity” are in my top four. 

To return then to one of my initial questions: have my values shaped how I spend my time, or is it the other way around?  I’ll hedge and say it depends. There are core values that will always be a part of how I approach the world - “rewarding and supportive relationships” come to mind. No matter what the current climate, these will always be something I place high on my list of values. But other values may shift in and out of the top four depending on events. The momentary pause to reflect is helpful and serves as a check in the midst of an otherwise uncertain time. Am I still acting in ways that are true to me?  What IS important right now?

Have a look at the value sort (link here) and our video (link here) which asks you to consider how you spend your time.  We’d love to hear if you’ve noticed any changes in your own perspective, and if not, why you think your views have remained consistent over time.

Doing Good Work at School in the Midst of the Pandemic

A guest post by Hiya Jain

Hiya Jain is a recent graduate of the Riverside School in Ahmedabad, India. We invited Hiya to write a post about her experience at Riverside during the COVID-19 pandemic and the social good that was still possible during this year. Below, she describes how her understanding of “good work” evolved this year as a result of two programs:

1. The Inner Sanitation Experience (INSANE), in which graduating students engage in self-discovery and personal transformation during a two-day community. Held just two weeks before final exams, students share perspectives about how they are not meant to “compete” with each other but to “complete” each other.

2. Persistence, a community service program in which students partake in initiatives in the local community.

We thank Kiran Sethi, founder of The Riverside School and Design for Change, for connecting us with Hiya and for the opportunity to feature a student’s personal point of view.

---

I am Hiya Jain, a 17-year-old recent high-school graduate from India who wants to pursue Media, Politics, and Economics at an institution abroad later this year. After spending close to 15 years as a student at the Riverside School in Ahmedabad, where I was asked to take responsibility for my own education and allowed to make and learn from my mistakes, I am excited, not afraid, to see what the world has in store for me.  

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the single most difficult thing about lockdown was “perspective,” or rather the lack of it. Sitting in the comfort of my own home, I was almost completely cut off from social interaction, save for Zoom calls. This made my outlook on the world very one-dimensional. In essence, I was only speaking with people who had the privilege of owning an electronic device and had a steady Internet connection. This meant that while I heard of the disparities created by the pandemic, and I saw news reports of an extensive crisis so many people faced, it became so much easier to compartmentalize them away.

Add to the situation the perceived struggles of coping with online school and the many other comparatively insignificant problems of a senior year in lockdown, and doing “good work” became an afterthought. But at the end of the day, “good work” is a choice, as is making the “right decision,” and sometimes even the most well-intentioned people need a reminder of that. Thankfully, I experienced two particular processes at Riverside that served as a reminder for me to do “good work” in the world and that gave me much needed perspective.

First, there was INSANE (link here), an experience that truly lives up to its name. Two weeks before our final senior secondary leaving examinations, my entire class spent a day going through six carefully planned activities for the sole purpose of setting priorities before we graduated. The day started at about 6AM with a bunch of sleep deprived individuals, but by the end, we were more awake and aware than we had ever been. We spent time at a cemetery, picked up trash on the roads, rolled incense sticks, and reflected over our inability to convey the magnitude of our problems to others in the world.

Even with the challenges posed by the pandemic, even if we only got a modified version of the true “inner sanitation” experience, it was still worth it. Why? Because each one of us left asking so many questions, including, “What is stopping us from doing good work?”

The second process, one we undertook for the duration of the year, is called “Persistence.” The name is again fitting because it is something every student participates in during the entirety of high school at Riverside. In the simplest of terms, Persistence is student-driven community service. It can take lots of different forms, but the one that I lead was called “Inclusion,” an attempt to help students under the Right to Education Act reach their target class level academically.  

This was the first time I saw opportunity inequality during the pandemic. Each week, as my student buddy and I struggled through another session with poor technology connection, I realized the importance of the Internet in learning. Despite the challenges, she showed up every class ready to make it work, and I knew I had to at least attempt to match her efforts in doing my best “good work.” 

So, what does “good work” mean? Personally, I find it very difficult to explain or define it because I think that “good work” is often just the result of being a “good person.” And as I reflect on the processes I just described, it is clearer to me that the objective of both Persistence and INSANE was to help us become better people. INSANE showed us the purpose of making morally sound choices, while Persistence illustrated how our actions affect others, thus demanding quality “good work” from us.

In a funny and clichéd way, while I set out to write about learning during the pandemic, I think it turned out to be more like learning from the pandemic. I understand that “good work” is a choice, which seems more obvious and achievable when the little bit of empathy and whole lot of perspective I learned at Riverside.

September Wrap-Up: 5 Articles Worth Sharing

by Danny Mucinskas

With the arrival of autumn in the United States, the weather has been turning a little cooler, and a back-to-school season like no other has been underway. While this month was a difficult one on the national stage (COVID cases rising, wildfires ravaging the West, and the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg), we recognize that, oftentimes, tumultuous situations provide the impetus for people to do good work in the future. We are collecting here a few recent articles about ethics and good work that we found to be thought-provoking to share with our readers.

1.      Who Should Get the COVID-19 Vaccine First? In the race for the development of an effective COVID-19 vaccine, some nations like the U.S. seem to have embraced “vaccine nationalism,” whereby priority would be given to a country’s own citizens in distribution. Ethicists argue that resources should be shared internationally, but also draw a distinction between equal sharing of vaccines relative to population size, which the WHO recommends, and equitable sharing of vaccines in accordance with need.

2.      “The Social Dilemma” Director Says the Internet is Undermining Democracy. Several members of our team have watched Netflix’s new docu-drama “The Social Dilemma,” a portrayal of the dangers of social media, including addiction and mental health crises among users, as well as misinformation campaigns and resulting political instability, that are often overlooked when we focus on the positives of online communication. Jeff Orlowski, the director of the film, argues that social media may threaten democracy itself by creating a climate of outrage and engendering a lack of shared truths.

3.      Are You Lying More in the Pandemic? Some Certainly Are. Research indicates that people are not always honest with each other about their COVID status or possible symptoms. Experts believe the reasons people lie are complex and involve factors like desire for social contact when sick and mental calculus that takes advantage of excuse-making.

4.      Putting Common Sense Back in the Driver’s Seat. Much of the discourse surrounding the use of self-driving cars has focused on dilemmas that look a lot like the classic “trolley problem,” in which a car’s algorithm would have to decide between two groups of people to hit. Julian De Freitas, a Harvard doctoral student, makes the case that these types of dilemmas are oversimplified, unrepresentative of real-world situations, and would require algorithms to recognize ethical dilemmas in a way that is unlikely in practice in the first place.

5.      What is Good Teaching? Author Kristina Rizga presents the case for “good teaching” from The Atlantic’s “On Teaching” project, for which she spoke to a number of veteran educators around the United States in an effort to collect their wisdoms before their retirements. She finds that effective teaching involves navigating a world constantly in flux, addressing student needs with individuality and attention, and overcoming the challenges of funding cuts, inequalities, and a policy landscape that does not often invite teacher perspectives.

Encouraging College Students’ Responsibility During the Pandemic

by Shelby Clark

A few weeks ago, The Good Project researcher Kirsten McHugh wrote about “Parents as Educators: A Good Work Perspective”. But what about the other side of the story--the students? What does it mean for students to be good workers during a pandemic?

As college campuses have become the new “hot spot” for COVID-19 outbreaks, this question has become even more important. College students consistently encounter ethical dilemmas, but the pandemic has thrust new ethical dilemmas upon them, such as whether to “snitch” on fellow classmates holding gatherings, or even large parties where numerous people might become infected. Because of COVID-19 we are now asking young adults to think more and more beyond their own needs, and to be responsible as well to others in their community and society; yet, we know from past research that youth often have difficulty with such “beyond the self” thinking. With COVID-19 constantly throwing new dilemmas in young people’s ways, how can we as educators and adults help our students to think about their responsibilities to self and others during the pandemic? 

When trying to help youth handle ethical dilemmas, it is helpful to use a tool such as The Good Project’s Rings of Responsibility. This tool was originally designed to help individuals think about to whom or what they are responsible in their work. The rings of responsibility are five concentric circles that begin with responsibility to oneself, and then expand to wider and wider areas of responsibility. The second ring represents responsibility to others, like family, peers, and friends; the third ring represents responsibility to community, such as one’s school or neighborhood; the fourth ring represents responsibility to one’s profession, which, for students, indicates commitment to being a student and the rules and norms of being a student; and the fifth ring represents responsibility to the wider world or to society as a whole (see image). 

Let’s take the example of whether a student should “snitch” on their classmate’s unallowed party on a college campus in the age of COVID-19. Below, I consider how I might reflect on my own responsibilities if I were a student in such a situation. 

• Self: I would most likely feel guilty if I did not inform on my classmates. As such, “snitching” would be a way to ease my guilt and by doing so act responsibly towards myself.

• Others: Perhaps the classmate holding the party is a close friend; if so, I would think that my responsibility to “others'' would be to not tell on the friend in order to save my friendship. 

• Community: On the one hand, I can see that being responsible towards my community means informing on the party; in doing so I can protect the public health of other students on the college campus. On the other hand, I’ve seen as a researcher that when students are expelled for misbehavior, it can create stark divisions on campuses that lead to mistrust amongst the student body--it may therefore be better for the community’s mental well-being that I keep silent after all.  

• Profession: Are there codes of conduct for the students at their university regarding these parties? If so, informing an authority is likely the correct thing to do according to the student code of conduct. I would also need to consider whether doing so would promote or hinder student learning at the university, which is, ultimately, the “point” of higher education. 

• Wider World: In light of the ripple effect seen from a variety of parties held during the pandemic, it seems likely that informing on a classmate’s party could save lives. 

Ultimately, the choice becomes whether I would not inform on the hypothetical campus party and potentially save a friendship and campus dynamics, or whether I would “snitch” and uphold the college community’s public health, the student code of conduct, societal public health, and ease my own guilt. For me, as an adult, the choice is clear: the outer rings of responsibility should come first, and I would inform on the party. However, for youth the choice is often not as transparent. 

Given that youth often have difficulty thinking beyond their own self-interest, it is more important than ever that adults and educational institutions continue to find ways to help young people to think about, and make decisions in light of, their broader impacts on society. Certainly, considering the rings of responsibility doesn’t give a student the answer of what to do in a difficult situation. In fact, students might feel that it pits their responsibilities against one another--what’s good for them versus what’s good for others. Ultimately, though, it should help a student consider the pros and cons of a situation, and how they might weigh their various responsibilities to self and others when things become difficult. We know the pandemic will continue to throw new ethical challenges in the way of our students; as such, let’s give students the skills needed to become the socially responsible adults the world needs.

Visiting (or Revisiting) Solidarity

by Lynn Barendsen

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a conference dedicated to Service Learning.  The 23rd International Service Learning Conference was hosted by CLAYSS, the Latin American Center for Service Learning.  My fellow panelists and I addressed “The Importance of Educating in and for Solidarity.”

Prior to this plenary, I had not given much thought to the idea of solidarity.  In my North American mind, the word has vague political connotations, usually associated with unions, demonstrations and the movement in Poland started by Lech Walesa.  In preparation for our conversation, I unpacked the definition, which (according to Webster) is in fact about unity -- based on shared interests or objectives.  Not necessarily political at all (acknowledging of course that these days everything can be political),  the notion of  “solidarity” is in fact connected to three concepts that are central to good work and the Good Project:  alignment (or misalignment); responsibility; and meaning in work.   In this blog, I revisit the concept of solidarity as it’s been informed by conversation and reflection.

During the course of our time together, my fellow panelists and I touched on a number of ideas.  

• Joseph Puig, who studies Moral Education at Barcelona University, stressed that educating for solidarity is urgent.  As he describes it, we are confronting a series of crises: climate crisis, the excess of inequalities, attacks on democracies, COVID 19.  We have to find a way to collaborate because none of these crises will be solved with individual solutions.

  • On the Good Project, we often talk about alignment and misalignment.  Alignment happens when all of the various groups or relevant parties involved want the same things, or work towards a common goal.  Take just one of the crises outlined above:  it seems plausible to imagine that we all hope to end COVID 19.  However, how we make that happen, especially in the US, is not something we can agree upon.  We are horribly misaligned, and efforts to collaborate seem increasingly stalled.  Some states have had much more success than others, and yet the solutions that work in one state are not necessarily applied to others.  Of course for COVID (and climate change, and numerous other crises), we are not just concerned with agreement within a state or a country—unless there is global consensus, all efforts are destined to fail.

• Puig went on to emphasize that solidarity can bring with it a sense of belonging, a feeling of companionship, as people who are members of the group understand the same reality.   The group could be a nation, a team, a religion.  We have solidarity with those who are part of that reality. Puig emphasized that of course, this can be negative or can turn negative when turned into an “us vs. them” scenario.

  • Feelings of “companionship” or “belonging” can happen with individuals who are very different from ourselves.  I’ve observed high school students from 15 different countries and varied socioeconomic backgrounds working together on service learning projects. As part of the Global Citizens Initiative, rather than be separated by their differences, they gained a sense of shared community and purpose. They felt they “belonged” and as a result, felt a responsibility to one another.  We’ve learned from our Good Project research that sense of responsibility to something greater than oneself is unusual in US high school students (see, for example Fischman et al, Making Good).  Clearly service learning is not the only way to create positive belonging as opposed to confrontation and distrust;, but at its best, and at least in one powerful case, it may be that service learning can produce a  sense of community, or solidarity, and help to inform one’s own identity as a result.

• Alberto Croce, Director of VOX in Argentina, argued that there is an inherent activism in service learning, often teachers who embrace the “cause” go beyond a formal commitment.  As a result, Croce suggested that the service learning experience often becomes a collective, shared experience.

  • In our Good Work research, we spoke with many educators who were deeply committed to their students.  Their work often went “above and beyond” - beyond regular hours and beyond “formal” commitments.  The shared experiences between teachers and students can be positive experiences for both; teachers often describe learning from students, feeling a deep sense of meaning in their work; students identify teachers as role models for a lifetime.   And yet teachers who give too much of themselves (especially in these days of remote learning),  may well suffer from burnout and exhaustion.  Having a religious basis for work, or having colleagues that share the same mission, whether frankly religious or religious in spirit, can sometimes spell the difference between continuing and dropping out.  In any case, finding balance has perhaps never been more important—and rarely been more challenging.

These kinds of understandings about solidarity are in many ways foreign to citizens of the United States, who are sometimes all about independence, and to whom any reference of a “collective” starts to raise eyebrows. (Of course, this is much less true about Latin America, and even less true about Canada)  In fact, a heightened awareness about collective solutions and shared responsibility might well benefit our increasingly divided country. 

Perhaps we might also be able to consider the simultaneous weight and rewards of meaningful work as we think about issues of balance in today’s COVID working world.  If those involved in service learning express a strong sense of community, it may well teach us something about the third “E,” engagement, and how these service workers they find meaning in what they do.  They are engaged, at least in part, because they feel a part of something bigger than themselves.  They express a sense of belonging.  With that heightened sense of community comes an additional sense of responsibility, specifically, a responsibility to the community or communities of which they feel a part.  As we adjust to our new work realities, we can learn much from the concept of solidarity if we embrace rather than shy away from collective solutions.