Values are qualities based on normative judgments of good and bad, and in which there is an emotional investment. They may be moral or nonmoral in nature and may be judged on instrumental or intrinsic grounds. Values may be held consciously or unconsciously by groups or individuals, and they tend to infl uence behavior. Private values are internal principles, which one establishes in order to evaluate and critique the actions, ideas, and practices of one’s self and others. These standards are not fi xed but are in fl ux and changeable. Values are acquired or learned through a complex set of infl uences, usually over a long period of time. Public values are necessary for the common good in a pluralistic society, allowing for diversity and individualism to exist and infl uencing how people interact with each other. Public values are a set of overarching beliefs that all groups within a society or nation endorse to maintain societal cohesion. The acquisition of values and value systems is a signifi cant goal of educational practice, and a variety of theories concerning the acquisition of values exist. These include values clarifi cation, character education, cognitive developmentalism, and Robert Coles’s psychosocial theory of moral development.