Student Success: Are Certain Values & Principles Essential?
Student success is extremely important, but what do we mean by success, and what values and principles shape how students pursue it? This reflection invites us to think critically about the values and principles we encourage as we support students in becoming not only accomplished, but also responsible and trustworthy members of society.
Student Success: Are Certain Values & Principles Essential?
Values and Principles Shape Action
Our values and principles profoundly influence the actions we take, often without our full awareness. This raises important questions for our work with students: Are some values and principles better guides for action than others? Is it judgmental to say that a choice is right or wrong? Who are we to make that judgment?
In a January 2026 interview with Jake Tapper of CNN, Stephen Miller (White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor) stated:
“… we live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world...”
Regardless of one’s political views, statements like this invite reflection. Are these the values we want students to internalize as guides for how to live, lead, and succeed? Could these values possibly be enacted for positive change? Can values and principles be meaningfully evaluated, or are they entirely subjective?
Testing Values in Everyday Life
One way to examine any set of values is to imagine applying them consistently. If strength, force, and power were our ultimate guides (rather than tools in service of other values and principles), would it be acceptable to take from others simply because we could? What if everyone acted this way? What would the consequences be for individuals, groups, and society as a whole?
These questions help make clear that values and principles are not abstract; they shape real behavior and real outcomes for ourselves and others.
Right vs. Right, Right vs. Wrong, and Going Beyond Good Intentions
Some decisions are largely matters of personal preference or cultural context. For example, reasonable people may disagree about which flavor of ice cream tastes best or about whether it is better to move away from family for an opportunity or to stay close to home. Ethicist Rushworth Kidder describes these as “Right vs. Right” decisions. Right vs. Right decisions involve preferences or competing goods rather than clear harm.
Other choices, however, involve “Right vs. Wrong.” History illustrates why ethical reasoning cannot be reduced to personal preference or cultural tradition alone: the United States did not allow women to vote until 1920, and in Afghanistan, the Taliban has denied girls and women access to education and much more. If right and wrong were merely matters of opinion or perspective, we would have no basis for calling women’s suffrage progress or the Taliban’s restrictions unjust.
This distinction matters deeply for our work with students. Is it enough to help students achieve any goal they define as success, regardless of how that success is pursued or whom it affects? This is not a call to impose a single definition of success, but an invitation to examine how different definitions of success shape real-world impact.
Consider a few student-related examples:
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What if success for a student means winning a student government election at any cost, including intentionally sabotaging a rival campaign?
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What if success for another student means abruptly stepping away from important commitments when a better opportunity for their “personal success” appears; knowingly or unknowingly placing an unfair burden on others who depended on that commitment?
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What if success for another student means becoming a social media influencer without pausing to consider how their content may negatively affect others’ body images or mental health?
In many cases, the ethical challenge is not a lack of ambition or good intentions, but a failure to pause and reflect on the impact on others. Harmful actions do not need to be intentional; well-meaning people can drift into unethical outcomes when they do not slow down to consider how their personal definitions of success affect others.
At the same time, research in behavioral ethics reminds us that ethical behavior is shaped by more than reasoning alone. Unconscious biases, social pressures, and situational factors can quietly influence decisions, even for people who want to do the right thing. Recognizing these influences helps explain why ethical reflection requires both careful reasoning and intentional pauses to surface what we might otherwise miss.
Could encouraging students to pursue success “however they define it” risk over-prioritizing individual achievement? Without pausing to consider the broader impact, our responsibility to others and the wider community can easily be overlooked.
Furthermore, good ethical reasoning about impact is not arbitrary. Ethical judgments can be supported with reasons and evidence. Ethics is not simply a matter of opinion; it is a practice of thinking carefully about how our actions affect others.
These habits of reasoning have a ripple effect beyond campus. Consider a student intern asked to boost profits by increasing children’s engagement on a social media platform, without mindful consideration of the impact on those children. If refusing could cost the student their internship, is it enough to ask only, “What advances my career?” or “What supports my personal definition of success?” As two great thinkers have concluded:
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“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is ‘What are you doing for others?’” ~Martin Luther King Jr., PhD
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"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile." ~Albert Einstein, PhD
A Practical Path Forward
Engaging with ethics does not require turning students, faculty, or staff into moral experts, nor does it mean handing out rigid rulebooks. Ethics is often misunderstood as a list of prohibitions, but it is actually a way of thinking critically about how to live and lead well, which can be deeply freeing. As Mason student Afsana Ahmadi has expressed, “Ethics isn’t about blindly following rules or saying anything goes; it’s about balancing principles and adapting to the situation.”
Ethical reflection about values and principles can help students, and all of us, to find purpose, build trust, navigate conflict, and make a positive impact. Research shows that prompts encouraging reflection on just one or a few questions can change behavior. Three enduring ethical lenses, which balance one another, offer a helpful starting point:
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Character: What kind of person should I be (e.g., compassionate, fair, honest, respectful, responsible)?
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Code: What if everyone did this? Would it respect others’ rights & not just use others?
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Consequences: What will produce the most benefit & least harm over time for all who might be impacted?
These approaches, drawn from over 2,000 years of moral philosophy, provide a shared language without demanding uniform answers. This multifaceted approach is known as moral pluralism. Taken together, these lenses offer a practical way to engage ethical reflection without dictating beliefs or outcomes. See which approach(es) you lean towards with our brief Take5 quiz.
Toward a Shared Commitment
There are many ways to define success, but they are not all equally ethical. One person’s success can undermine another’s well-being. By engaging more intentionally with values and principles, we can support student success in ways that are not only effective, but fair and sustainable. Helping students think critically about ethics is not about telling them what to think. It is about equipping them to reason well, recognize impact, and pursue success we can all be proud of.
Interested in learning more, would like to discuss any of these ideas, or if you would like resources for helping students to think critically about values, ethics, and success, contact Dr. Nick Lennon at [email protected].
Helping Students Reflect on Values, Ethics, and Success
Practical guide for faculty and staff
Why this matters: Students are constantly making decisions about academics, relationships, leadership, and careers. How they define success, and how they pursue it, shapes not only their personal outcomes, but their impact on others. Ethical reflection helps students pair ambition with responsibility, intention with broad awareness, and success with the common good.