Question:
Find all values of $k$ for which the system
\begin{align*}
x + ky - z &= 0, \\
kx - y - z &= 0, \\
x + y - kz &= 0
\end{align*}has a non-trivial solution.  (In other words, find all values of $k$ for which the system has a solution other than $(x,y,z) = (0,0,0).$)

Answer:
We can write the system as
\[\begin{pmatrix} 1 & k & -1 \\ k & -1 & -1 \\ 1 & 1 & -k \end{pmatrix} \begin{pmatrix} x \\ y \\ z \end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix} 0 \\ 0 \\ 0 \end{pmatrix}.\]This system has a nontrivial system exactly when the determinant of the matrix is 0.  This determinant is
\begin{align*}
\begin{pmatrix} 1 & k & -1 \\ k & -1 & -1 \\ 1 & 1 & -k \end{pmatrix} &= \begin{vmatrix} -1 & -1 \\ 1 & -k \end{vmatrix} - k \begin{vmatrix} k & -1 \\ 1 & -k \end{vmatrix} + (-1) \begin{vmatrix} k & -1 \\ 1 & 1 \end{vmatrix} \\
&= ((-1)(-k) - (-1)(1)) - k((k)(-k) - (-1)(1)) - ((k)(1) - (-1)(1)) \\
&= k^3 - k.
\end{align*}The solutions to $k^3 - k = k(k - 1)(k + 1) = 0$ are $\boxed{-1,0,1}.$