My Identity, Values, and Strengths
Explain a situation where you have made an ethical decision. Discuss how you weighed up the values involved in that decision, the decision you made, and how you reflect on the decision now.
While I am fortunate enough not to have had to make any far-reaching ethical decisions, I always try to make sure that when I can I help 'the little guy', whether that's trying to source local food or rejecting chain stores like Starbucks, or helping new players in video-games I play instead of focusing purely on my own advancement. I feel that I should always be helping others, or more acurately, that everyone should always help others. There are only a few times where I regret making these choices, and each one was when I myself had been deceived in the process. I am honestly glad that I have not had to make large, sweeping decisions that have affected many people.
I'm unsure if it counts as an ethical decision, but when I lived in Japan, I would always try to be a model citizen and help others in what little way I could, like giving up my seat on packed trains or saying hello while walking around in the countryside. How people view me as an outside will colour the way they treat others like me, so I believe it is the correct decision to play my part.
Describe how your culture and the people around you have influenced your values and identity.
I grew up in Cymru (Wales), and learned through the medium of Welsh for the whole of Secondary School (11-18 years old). I couldn't really pinpoint what was Welsh until I moved to England for University and felt like an outsider despite only having moved a few hundred kilometers East. I feel that a lot of my culture shock was from being from a rural Welsh village and suddenly being thrust into an English city; so much was different from my normal. I still miss the simplicity of rural life where communal connections mattered more and it feels that time passes by slower.
From a young age I've been fascinated with history. I read non-fiction books from a young age and would love getting home to watch documentaries on the TV and play historical games on the PC. As I grew older and learned more, I grew to appreciate the complexity and breadth of the world's history. because of this, I like to think that I take a more open-minded view of events and peoples, understanding that people's morals and 'truths' are dictated by their upbringing and societies.
The more I realised that identity and peoples values are dictated in large-part by things outside of our control, whether we want them to be or not, the less I cared about thinking too deeply on my own values and identity. I realised that despite valuing honesty, I would lie if it became advantageous for me to do so. I respected other peoples' opinions until they became too outlandish. My value is that I reject my values when they are no longer beneficial. I'm not sure what to think about that though, so I try not to. I suppose the one thing I truly value in all people, including myself, is a commitment to work in my best interests and the best interests of the community. Free Speech and tolerance of non-radical views are, I believe, sacrosanct in ensuring we can all work towards our best interests.
Identify your strengths and how they will support you during your learning journey.
My number one strength is my sense of humour and the ability not to take myself too seriously. I can laugh at stupid mistakes instead of getting bent out of shape. If an error is funny, I won't mind having made it. It's impossible to learn without making mistakes, so its a lot better to laugh at it than cry over a speedbump.
Evaluate your limitations in terms of your learning and career development. How might these affect your learning journey?
My greatest limitation for learning is ADHD. Having been diagnosed last December, I've only recently begun to learn strategies and get medicine to help me concentrate for extended periods of time. Prior to this, I just assumed I was lazy, so the revelation that I've not just been lazy and bad at putting in effort my entire life is sort-of comforting, it doesn't change that I need to put in a lot of effort to sit down and learn properly.
I am worried about being able to get in at the ground floor to a company because of my lack of experience in tech so far. I'm hoping that I can use my fluency in Japanese to offset that in some way.
Share an example of when you were trying to work productively with others, but there was resistance or tension. Discuss strategies you tried at the time, how effective they were, and your reflections on what other strategies you would try now and why.
During my time in University, I had to participate in a group project with other international students (In this case, I was also an international student). There was tension between each of us because of the different working philosophies from each of our cultures. From the first meeting, myself and another student worked to focus on emphasising the similarities of each of our methods and debating how each person could best utilise their particular methods for each part of the project. As a whole, this worked very well as we all wanted to do well on the project and our logic-driven arguments were devoid of ego and welcomed open discussion; having input from each member was key in rounding out our group-work strategy.
Sadly one member of the group felt attacked as their particular working-style emphasised creating work that was "good-enough" and disliked our collective decision to do the best we could to create the best work we could. As the group project was graded on individual achievement and merit, after trying to get them to participate and put more effort in, we warned them abou the individual grading style and kept them in communications with the rest of the group. Despite further appeals to the professor to try to motivate the individual, we decided to let them lie and reap what they sowed. As a result of this, they achieved a far lower grade than the rest of us, which they would blame on us not shoring up their shoddy work.
In reflection, I feel that myself and the other members of the group did everything we should have correctly. I believe we worked efficiently and harmoneously, and were able to reach agreements and common grounds in all areas where tension arose. The common goal of achieving high marks and the satisfaction of creating work we could be proud of pushed us to do our best for ourselves and each other.