Personal Development and Ethics - Coursework Example

 Personal Development and Ethics Introduction Development starts at the birth of a person and ends only at the death. Throughout the life cycle, a person learns many things from his family, society and the environment in which he interacts for his personal development. Learning is the entity which makes a human segregate from other living things. Most of our personality traits are either learned or inherited. Development of a person in controlled by inherited traits such as optimistic or pessimistic, dependent or independent based on the challenges and support received from the family and society. Life experiences control the learned traits. For example a kid never knows that fire is dangerous before he come in contact with it. Otherwise the parents need to teach him that fire is dangerous. In any case he learned about the burning potential of fire, either from his personal experience or from the lesson taught to him by somebody else. On the other hand it is difficult to make a person optimistic or pessimistic with the help of artificial methods. Most of such traits came from heredity. Morality, aggression, domination and optimism are also examples of traits normally acquired from parents. Development of a person, as mentioned above is controlled by many parameters. It is not possible for a person to develop in his life or achieve his targets or career goals without proper planning. Planning is the essential requirement for the success of every human action. ‘Man is a social animal’ which does not mean that he can live like animals. Intelligence or wisdom separates man from animal. Because of the above difference with animals, man has formulated certain legal and moral laws for the making his life more enjoyable and peaceful on earth. Every manly action needs to be legal and ethical in order to make it meaningful and personal development is also not an exception. This paper is written as a personal development plan which describes the importance of proper planning, self evaluation, identification of opportunities, ethical values etc. An analysis of my current education and training “The aim of education is to cultivate personality integration and creative intelligence” (Aim of education). Personality of a person can be developed only through the acquisition of knowledge. Knowledge can make a person more intelligent. Intelligence can be acquired through education. Currently, I am studying in Newport University for the Graduate course of Communication Engineering. Communication is the much needed requirement for any profession. Communication channels are increasing day by day with the improvements in science and technology. Earlier, postal mails were used for communicating with others. Later, the introduction of land phones, fax messages, mobile phones, internet and email have come into exists. Now it possible to contact a person anytime irrespective of in which corner of the world he is, using a mobile phone or internet. The training in communication engineering will help me to improve my knowledge about the importance of communication for the human development. I strongly believe that I can contribute something to the society after the completion of my course. Moreover, this course can help me in my future career ambitions. I would like to become a police officer in future and a police officer’s job need constant communication with the public. Moreover, the awareness about the modern communication equipments, its working, pros and cons will help me to excel in my future profession. A person may go through many phases of education during his tenure as a student like pre-primary, upper primary, secondary, bachelors and masters level of education. I am at the bachelor level at present. Most of the people finish their education after the completion of Bachelor or Masters Degree whereas some people may go for the doctoral degree courses. Bachelor Degree is basically the minimum qualification required for a profession whereas Masters Degree is essential for higher opportunities in career. It is difficult for a person with a Bachelor degree to excel in his profession whereas a person with a Master degree or doctoral degree achieves higher places. The communication engineering course, which I attend now, is only a base for my future academic ambitions. I would like to earn a master degree and probably a doctoral degree also in future in the same subject and for that this course will lay the foundation stone. A Personal SWOT Analysis Strengths I am a hard working youth who have lot of ambitions in my future. I know very well that little pain will result in immense gain and I am ready to suffer that little pain. The personality of a person depends on inherited traits as well as acquired traits. The care we received from our parents during our infancy and childhood period have immense effect on our personality and moral developments in future. Most of our character development, attitudes and interests are developed based on heredity and environment. I am really lucky to have fantastic parents for me who have given immense care and attention during my childhood which helped me in shaping a sound personality and philosophy of life. I strongly believe that my belief in ethical values and morality has helped, helping and will help me to achieve my career goals. I believe in God and in my opinion, we need to give only half, the rest half will be given by the God. In other words, belief in God is the beginning of wisdom and in my case it is 100% true. Weakness My major weakness is my lack of control over emotions. I am a person who can be agitated easily. If my friends or relative criticise me for something, such things will hurt me a lot and I will keep in mind for longer periods. Stress management abilities are less for me. Anxieties, worries, over concerns are some of the other weaknesses of me. I know that it is not a good quality and I need to overcome such silly things in order to excel in my future profession. I know the world is for courageous people, not for cowards. Another weakness is my in ability to mingle freely with my friends and fellow students. I have seen many people communicating freely with others even with strangers. I am a little bit conserved person and it is not easy for me to break the shadow to communicate freely and effectively with friends. The course which I am studying at present will definitely help me to remove my weakness mentioned above. Opportunities The world is so wide that it can accommodate all the people irrespective of from which continent, religion, gender or community he belongs to. The major thing is to identify the vast opportunities provided the world. At the same time I must remember that it is not possible for a person to excel in all the areas of human life or professions. The identification of personal qualities and traits or self evaluation would help a person to select suitable profession for him. Communication engineering is one of the rapidly improving segments in the word. In the absence of proper communication tools, nothing will happen in the world. The proper transmission and reception of data at the right time, through right channel is necessary for the success of all the human actions. Threats The loss of morality and ethical principles are the major threat for the sustainability of human generation on earth. Selfish interests are prevailing in most of the segments of human life which forced the human to engage in all sorts of unethical activities at present. Being a person who respects morality, I know it would be difficult for me to survive in my future professional life. I have doubts in my abilities to counter heavy pressures and I need to improve on that as mentioned earlier. Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes that need to develop to achieve qualification and employability as a graduate Knowledge Knowledge leads to intelligence and intelligence leads to achievements. The current world is filled with an ocean of knowledge. It is bursting virtually on every second from all corners. It is not possible for a person to master the entire knowledge existing in the world. At the same time, acquisition of as much as knowledge makes a person more powerful to face challenges in the human life. In the current world, everything depends on the knowledge level. Nobody respect or recognize a person with lack of knowledge. Knowledge is the base for academic and professional improvement. Knowledge can be acquired from many sources like, internet, televisions, and news papers or printed materials using our audio and visual sensory abilities. Reading is a hobby for me which helped me to acquire knowledge in many areas. I read articles not only related to my study area, but even general topics also attracted me a lot. I know the current professional world is looking for all-rounders rather than specialists. For example, relationship building is accepted as the core of every business activities at present. It is difficult for a software engineer with excellent in technical skills to excel min his profession if he lacks interpersonal skills at present. At the same time interpersonal skills or other skills alone may not help the software engineer, if he lacks technical knowledge. In other words, knowledge in the subject area along with other associated skills are essential for the success of a professional life. Skills Skills can be developed only through the acquisition of knowledge. In other words, skills and knowledge are the two sides of the same coin. Without knowledge, no skills can be developed or existed. Skills are essential for student life and professional life. Proper learning skills can help a person to learn the topics more quickly and effectively. Each person has a specific learning style. Identification of strengths and weakness or self evaluation can help a person to formulate correct learning style him. My learning style is associated with a combination of seeing, listening and practicing. As mentioned in the article learning styles explained (n. d)., I need to see the teacher's body language and facial expression to fully understand the content of a lesson. I prefer to sitting at the front of the classroom to avoid visual obstructions. Moreover, I like to learn through verbal lectures, discussions, etc. I interpret the underlying meanings of speech through listening to tone of voice, pitch, speed and other nuances (Learning Styles Explained, n. d). I have a habit of applying my knowledge in my daily life situations in order to see the practical result of the theory I learned from the class. This approach has helped me immensely in understanding the topics correctly. My problems solving, numerical ability, socialising and communication skills have developed a lot because of my peculiar nature of learning style. Since I use most of the learning theories for learning, my knowledge level of a particular topic is almost perfect both theoretically and practically. Attacking of a problem from all the possible dimensions helped me not only to understand the problems proper, but to suggest solutions also for it. Attitudes The formation of attitudes depends on the knowledge, understanding, application and skills developed by a person. My attitude formation can be better analysed with the help of Kohlberg's developmental model of moral development. As per this model the moral development takes place in six stages. At stage 1, children think of what is right as that which authority says is right. Doing the right thing is obeying authority and avoiding punishment (W.C. Crain, 1985). My early childhood (5-10 years) was completely controlled by my parents. They provided me the idea about the good and evils and also the do’s and don’ts of future life. At stage 2, children are no longer so impressed by any single authority; they see that there are different sides to any issue (W.C. Crain, 1985). During my later childhood (10 to 12 years), I hated the more control imposed on me by my parents. I usually objected many views of my parents argued for unnecessary things during this stage. At stages 3 and 4, young people think as members of the conventional society with its values, norms, and expectations (W.C. Crain, 1985). This stage (12 to 24 years) can be considered as a stage in which I started to develop moral values independently. I got some ideas about morality and the social customs and I have started to segregate the goods and the evils. As I have not reached the 5 th and 6 th stages yet, I think, it is not fair to anticipate what may happen to my attitudes at that period. As per Erik Erikson's developmental theory, up to adolescent period (from 12 to 18 years), development mostly depends upon what is done to us and from there onwards, development depends primarily upon what we do (Harder, 2002). I have already crossed the adolescent period and most of my activities are at present controlled by me alone. The parental control has been reduced a lot and I started to act independently. I started to think in terms of my future and career during this period. Risk taking attitude has developed in me during this period which I think would be helpful in my ambition to become a police officer. Motivation at workplace and studies As mentioned earlier, I would like to become a police officer in my future. The current world is facing increasing quantities of violence and terrorist attacks. Law and order is not so good in any of the countries. A police officer work to defend the country from antisocial elements and internal and external threats. The maintenance of proper law and order is essential for the development of a country and I like to support my country in achieving that. For me the purpose of a job or profession is much more than earning a livelihood. Of course, nobody will select any profession if they were not rewarded properly. But apart from the monetary gains, a profession is a domain for me to give something back to my country which has spent lot of money for my education, development and my protection. As mentioned earlier, my preliminary aim is to achieve a profession immediately after my graduation. At the same time, I don’t want to stop my studies there. I want to continue my studies along with my profession. I would like to take the Master degree and subsequently a doctoral degree as well. Profession is for supporting my family and to support my country whereas continuing education will help me to achieve the above objectives more comprehensively. Action Plan My immediate aim is to complete my studies with flying colours. I know a good grade in graduation is necessary for a better profession as well as for continuing my education. Next three years, I will have to concentrate 100% on my studies as the base need to be strong for further development. It is not possible to establish a long career on a weak base and I need to achieve a 2:1 standard in all of my examinations. Along with my studies I need to develop my physical and mental strengths as a police officer’s profession needs both of that. For that I have planned to spend one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening for the physical work out. Along with the physical work out, I would like to practice Yoga for mental fitness. Yoga can all people irrespective of their age or gender to overcome physical and mental problems. It can also balance hormonal mood swings, since regular exercise increases endorphins – the body's natural anti-depressant. Rapidly changing bodies can create muscular imbalances in boys and girls. Moreover, Yoga helps create a balance of strength and flexibility in all the major muscle groups (Brown, n. d) Conclusions In short, I strongly believe that I have lot of positive skills and attitudes which is required for a police officer even though I am studying an engineering stream. Good reading and hearing skill have definitely boosted my knowledge more than an average youth of my age. Moreover, the habit of practicing of the knowledge learned in daily life has developed lot of skills like problems solving, numerical ability, socialising and communication in me. My knowledge , understanding and attitudes have helped me to formulate a sound life philosophy based on the legal and ethical frame works which I think would be useful not only for me, but for my family, society , workplace and the country as well. References 1. Aim of Education (n. d), Retrieved on 11 January 2010 from http://www.holisticeducator.com/aimofeducation.htm 2. Brown Terry, (n. d), Teen Time Yoga for Mental and Physical Health, Retrieved on 11 January 2010 from http://www.iparentingfitness.com/articles/mental-fitness/teen-time-3944/ 3. Learning Styles Explained, (n. d), Retrieved on 11 January 2010 from http://www.ldpride.net/learningstyles.MI.htm 4. W.C. Crain, (1985), KOHLBERG'S STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT, Retrieved on 11 January 2010 from http://faculty.plts.edu/gpence/html/kohlberg.htm Plagiarism Statement I have read and understood the statement above concerning plagiarism. I confirm that the work attached is my own and that I will follow the College and University Regulations in respect of plagiarism or any other examination offence. Signed: _________________________________________________ Print Name: _________________________________________________ Student ID No: _________________________________________________ Module: Personal Development and Ethics : G106771 Assignment: Assignment 1 PDP Analysis Pathway: BEng/HND/HND Top Up/HNC/Fd (state:) _____________ Date: _________________________________________________ Lecturer: Dr. Louise Hung Read More