Effects of a values clarification curriculum on high school students' definitions of success

Professional School Counseling, Dec, 2003 by Jacqueline Mosconi, Judith Emmett

Fifty-four students in a suburban, Midwest high school participated in a four-part values clarification curriculum. The majority of the students in the experimental group expanded their definitions of success. Student evaluations, focus group reports, and student journals indicated additional positive outcomes. The authors suggest implications for further research, and they offer suggestions to school counselors for the implementation of values clarification processes with students and their families.

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Much of the focus of career development for high school students has been on choosing a "successful" career. Those charged with the career development of our children want them to become self-sustaining, productive, successful members of society. However, educators, parents, and students themselves often have not questioned the measures of success by which they have evaluated career choices. A consideration of traditional Western views of success, the ways these definitions may or may not fit certain individuals or groups, and a consideration of evolving expectations for life success indicate ways values-clarification may positively impact the career development of high school students.

TRADITIONAL WESTERN VIEWS OF SUCCESS

While success has seldom been specifically defined in popular or research literature, images of success have been proliferative, especially in the media and in popular culture. Materialistic measures--money, job security, high salary, property ownership, a large retirement income, and money for leisure activities--have contributed to the "have-it-all" image, but these measures may have led ultimately to dissatisfaction with life (Duplisea, 1974; MacKay-Lassonde, 1996).

In Western culture, values that may be seen as inconsistent with one another have often been held in high esteem. Cornell (1987) reported that the norms of the culture specify individual achievement as a means toward the end of material success. Achieving this material or financial success has often competed for time with family, community, and personal growth. Obsession with material success tended to make individuals one-dimensional and to make them feel alienated from life. In this mindset, workers--women in particular--often have not satisfied their needs for balance, self-care, and maintenance of relationships. Thus, career success may have led to the experience of personal failure (Kasser, Ryan, Zax, & Sameroff, 1995; Westman & Etzion, 1990). The ethic of success has implied that if one had not found success, there was something wrong with him or her. Hence, Goldstein and Smucker (1986) described these material definitions of success as mythologies.

Living in such a society, young people have been socialized to identify with these mythologies and to place high value on hard work, success, and goal attainment (Westman & Etzion, 1990). It has also been shown that the more value people place on materialistic measures, the less they value warm relationships with others (Kasser et al., 1995).

Additionally, workers who receive minimum wage for their labor may not have seen their work as meaningful in terms of personal development, the development or maintenance of relationships, or creation of balance in one's life. Rather, labor has been necessary to gain income to meet basic needs. Additionally, individuals in lower-paying jobs may not have had opportunities to increase their self-esteem based on the level of their occupational status as compared with those who have earned larger incomes. This inability to develop self-esteem has been especially true in a society that has historically attributed higher prestige to those who have earned larger incomes. Marshall (1983) posited that individuals should emphasize creating a meaningful life for themselves in broader terms than just thinking about a career or a job. Thinking about success in terms of a meaningful lifestyle can help bring acceptance and self esteem to individuals in all levels of occupations, because achievement is determined by progress toward one's larger goals, whether that be the acquisition of money and belongings or the development of relationships and the freedom to choose how to spend one's time.

MULTIPLE DEFINITIONS OF SUCCESS

Because of diverse experiences during childhood and because of the various ways people have chosen to find meaning in their lives, multiple definitions of success may better serve the career development needs of students and young adults. Super (1980) acknowledged that all persons engage in a "rainbow" of life roles over their life span, and the work role varies in its salience to an individual at any given time. Hence, Super's (1995) career development theory has evolved from a point-in-time, decision-making model to a lifespan model. Vondracek (1992) recognized the joint influence of personal development and social and cultural influences on vocational identity. An increased awareness of best practices in multicultural counseling (Arredondo, 1999; Loscocco & Roschelle, 1991) has also suggested that the "American Dream" means different things to different people.