Inquire with each family or individual about their most important value, and you are likely to receive a variety of responses. A perceptive individual might argue that all values are important or that each value can be significant in a given context or situation.

This year, in designing the values program at Euroamerican College, we departed from the usual practice of solely relying on the attributes of the IB profile to propose the values that our community and country most need to develop. We had to make a selection and prioritize the most relevant values, beginning with respect.

We defined respect as considering oneself, others, and the world with esteem and worth. A respectful person accepts and understands differences, approaching others with consideration, even when they are different or think differently.

We associated some key concepts that contribute to the definition of respect, such as understanding, consideration, kindness, and self-control. When making this selection, we did not anticipate that three months later we would be facing a national state of emergency with mandatory social isolation measures and curfews, meaning staying at home to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we see that we were not mistaken. Anticipating that we would soon face phase 3 of community transmission, the government implemented rules that may have seemed very strict, but we must commend and respect them, considering the disasters that occurred in European countries where preventive measures were delayed. Despite this, we have seen individuals and companies in our country breaking these health regulations by going out for sports, walking their dogs for extended periods, and even forcing their employees to continue working despite the home restriction measure.

According to the sociodemographic study by M&C Saatchi, we are tasked with educating Generation Z, the post-millennial generation born in the late 90s and early 2000s. They are all under 20 years old, young digital natives who cannot conceive the world without cell phones or electronic devices. Consequently, they are constantly online, with social media being their primary source of information. They generally have a superficial knowledge of many topics but struggle to delve deeply into any one subject, finding it difficult to distinguish between fake news and real news. They are anxious, intolerant of frustration, and seek immediate gratification for their impulses and needs. They are vain, placing significant importance on their physical appearance and the number of “likes” their posts receive.

How can we convey the values of respect and responsibility to them? How can we help them understand that these two values will now help us save many lives? Perhaps this quarantine, which compels families to stay united, presents an opportunity to relearn old forms of communication and engage in healthy family fun.

Department of Psychology