Moral development

1. Moral development • Moral reasoning—the thinking process involved in judgments about questions of right and wrong. • Distributive justice—beliefs about how to divide materials or privileges among members of a group; follows a sequence of development from equality to merit to benevolence. • Moral realism—stage of development wherein children see rules as absolute • Morality of cooperation—stage of development wherein children realize that people make rules and people can change them. • Moral dilemmas—situations in which no choice is clearly and indisputably right.

2. Piaget and Moral Development Internalization The personal source of control for children’s thoughts and actions Stage two: Autonomous morality Children develop rational ideas of fairness and see justice as a reciprocal process of treating others as they would want to be treated. Stage one: External Morality (moral realism): Children view rules as fixed and permanent and externally enforced by authority figures. Rules & authority come from within—self control. Rules & authority outside of the child, controlling the child. Autonomous means independent; in this case, it means that a person has a sense of right and wrong internally and no longer needs an outside source to control him/her.

3. Kohlberg Kohlberg’s work is founded on moral dilemmas: ambiguous situations that require a person to make a moral decision and justify that decision in terms of right and wrong. At issue is NOT what people choose in a given situation but HOW they JUSTIFY their choice. There are six stages of moral reasoning.

4. Kohlberg Level 1: Preconventional Focus on self--egocentrism Level 2: Conventional Focus on others Level 3: Postconventional Focus on principles Stage 1: Punishment-Obedience People make moral decisions based on their chances of getting caught and being punished. Stage 2: Market Exchange: people feel that an act is morally justified if it results in an act of reciprocity on someone else’s part. Stage 5: Social Contract: people make moral decisions based on socially agreed-upon rules. Stage 6: Universal Principles: the individual’s moral reasoning is based on abstract and general principles that are independent of society’s laws and rules. Stage 3: Interpersonal Harmony: people make decisions based on conventions, loyalty, and living up to the expectations of others. Stage 4: Law and Order: people follow laws and rules for their own sake. Childhood Adolescence

5. An example of a moral dilemma • The Heinz Dilemma • A dilemma that Kohlberg used in his original research was the druggist's dilemma: Heinz Steals the Drug In Europe. • A woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to produce. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $ 1,000 which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said: "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it." So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man's store to steal the drug-for his wife. (Kohlberg, 1963, p. 19) • Should Heinz break into the laboratory to steal the drug for his wife? Why or why not? Answer this question before you move to the next slide. What would you do? Why would you do it? From Wikipedia

6. From Wikipedia Some responses to Heinz dilemma • Stage one (obedience): Heinz should not steal the medicine, because he will consequently be put in prison. • Stage two (self-interest): Heinz should steal the medicine, because he will be much happier if he saves his wife, even if he will have to serve a prison sentence. • Stage three (conformity): Heinz should steal the medicine, because his wife expects it. • Stage four (law-and-order): Heinz should not steal the medicine, because the law prohibits stealing. • Stage five (human rights): Heinz should steal the medicine, because everyone has a right to live, regardless of the law. Or: Heinz should not steal the medicine, because the scientist has a right to fair compensation. • Stage six (universal human ethics): Heinz should steal the medicine, because saving a human life is a more fundamental value than the property rights of another person. Or: Heinz should not steal the medicine, because that violates the golden rule of honesty and respect.

7. Kohlberg in the Classroom • Student behavior and administrative rule making can reflect the various stages of Kohlberg. As you read the next slides, think about what level of moral development you would like to encourage in your students and how your classroom management practices might encourage that level.

8. The following slides on Kohlberg in the classroom are based on: http://facultyweb.cortland.edu/~ANDERSMD/KOHL/kolexm1a.HTML Level 1, Stage 1 • Level 1: Preconventional • Punishment-Obedience orientation • Elementary school examples • A fourth grade girl refrains from running in the hallway to avoid the consequences involved in breaking that school's rule. • "Discussion rules" are placed on the blackboard in a combined 1st and 2nd grade classroom, and whenever a student breaks one of those rules, he or she cannot participate in the classroom discussion • High school examples • When a middle school student swears in the classroom, he or she has to complete a list of consequences developed by the teacher earlier in the year • One middle school teacher devised the most effective strategy for getting students to class on time. He has latecomers do pushups--50 of them--in front of the class • A high school English student is sent down to the office for forgetting her homework the third day in a row.

9. Level 1, Stage 2 • Level 1: Preconventional • Personal Reward Orientation (Market Exchange) • Elementary school examples • Two elementary school students were found arguing: • Student 1: "She called me a jerk!" • Student 2: "Well, he pulled my hair!" • A student offers to be last in line when going to the cafeteria so she can be first in line when going out for recess. • High school examples • A middle school student refrains from arguing with her classmate so she is able to participate in group work later in the period. • A group of high school students involved in a cooperative learning activity get upset because one of their group members is repeatedly absent and did not do any work. • A high school teacher has the rule: "Homework in late will receive five points off for each day it is received after the due date". One student hands in homework four days late with a story about how her boyfriend left her. The teacher takes 20 points off her paper. A second student misses several days of school due to an illness, and hands in the same homework four days late. The teacher gives him full credit. The class protests, saying it is unfair for him to change the rules in the middle of the school year

10. Level 2 Stage 3 • Level 2: Conventional • Good Boy/ Nice Girl Orientation (Interpersonal Harmony) • Elementary school examples • A student stays after school to clean all the chalkboards for the teacher. • A fifth grade teacher asks her students to: "Please help me clean up the mess from our science experiment so we can all get to recess on time!" • High school examples • A middle school student agrees to throw out the gum she is chewing to please the teacher. • In an inner city high school student's journal, she wrote "I am going to work harder in school so I won't let you down because if you think I can make it then I can make it" (Johnson, 1992).

11. Level 2, Stage 4 • Level 2: Conventional • Law and Order Orientation • Elementary school examples • "It is compulsory for all school-age students to attend school." This statement exemplifies a right available to students by the United States Constitution (Gathercoal, 1993). • "Respect the property of others". This sign, when hung in a middle school, reinforced the student's right to private property. • "Keep your hands and feet to yourself." School officials have both the legal authority and the professional responsibility to deny student rights that seriously disrupt student learning activities (Gathercoal, 1993). • High school examples • "Move carefully in the halls". This rule reinforces the fundamental purpose of government to protect the health and welfare of it's citizens (Gathercoal, 1993). • "Gang activity must be off school premises." School officials have both the legal authority and the professional responsibility to deny student rights that seriously disrupt student learning activities (Gathercoal, 1993). • "Wear appropriate shoes on the gym floor". Public property must be protected in the schools (Gathercoal, 1993) • Readers interested in learning more about Forest Gathercoal's Judicious Discipline, a model of discipline based solely on the United States Constitution are referred to the following readings: • Gathercoal, Forrest. (1993). Judicious Discipline, 3rd ed. San Francisco, CA: Caddo Gap Press. • McEwan, Barbara. (1990). Judicious Discipline. Democracy and Education, 4(3): 37-40.

12. Level 3, Stage 5 • Level 3: Postconventional • Social Contract Orientation • Elementary school examples • A combined first and second grade class makes its own rules during the first month of the year according to a class meeting where students discuss what is proper and improper behavior in the classroom and why a particular behavior is inappropriate (ie., who is affected by your actions) • A second-grade teacher helped her students understand all aspects of a moral dilemma during a science project in which the class was incubating chicken eggs. The assignment was to open an egg each week to look at the developing chicken at various stages. Later that day, one of her students confided in her that he thought it cruel to open an egg and kill the chick inside. She listened without comment and decided to hold a class meeting discussing the topic. The class discussed many aspects of the assignment, including whether it really was cruel to kill a chick each week and alternatives to the assignment. After discussing all the aspects, students were encouraged to vote as to how to continue with the assignment (Lickona, 1993). Did you think that elementary students could reason at high levels of moral development? Apparently they can. What would happen if all teachers encouraged their students to reason at this level?

13. Level 3, Stage 5 continued • High school examples • A high school teacher uses the following handout on the first day of class • (Lickona, 1991): "Please remember that this is your room and your class. The behavior and participation of each person will shape the type of learning that will occur. Since one person's behavior affects everyone else, I request that everyone in the class be responsible for classroom management. To ensure that our rights are protected and upheld, the following laws have been established for this classroom..." • A high school teacher was having many problems with aggression in her classroom. One day she decided she could not take the constant fighting anymore and had the students participate in a class discussion about why fighting was wrong. The class developed a long list of reasons why fighting is wrong. She then encouraged them to develop a list of alternatives to fighting or consequences of fighting during class time. The students developed a long list, and only the most agreed upon consequences were used. For example, "a person caught fighting will have to lick the floor" was deemed inappropriate by the class for hygiene reasons, while "a person who feels the need to fight will quietly step out of the room to cool down for a few minutes" was accepted by teacher and students (Faber and Mazlish,1987).

14. Level 3, Stage 6 • Level 3: Postconventional • Universal Ethical Principle Orientation • Elementary school examples • An elementary school class has little discipline problems with one simple classroom rule: "Respect everyone in this room“ (Lickona, 1995). • A combined first and second grade class makes its own rules during the first month of the year according to a class meeting in which all students are asked to reflect on what is right and wrong and why things are right and wrong. • A second grade teacher was facilitating an activity to make a model of the classroom as they saw it using wood scraps. A couple of her students were found discussing their ideas (Lickona, 1991): • David: That is the dumbest chalkboard, Martha. You put it in a stupid place. • Teacher (to David): You think Martha should put the block in a different place. Would you like to suggest to her where she might put it? • David: Yeah, right there. The chalkboard is BEHIND the table. • Teacher (to Martha): If you accept David's suggestion, you may move your block. But if you like it where you put it, you may leave it right there. • Teacher (to David): when you don't use the words "stupid" and "dumbest," people like to listen to you. You had an interesting point to make about the chalkboard.

15. Level 3, Stage 6 continued • High school examples • High school teacher: "I have only one rule in this classroom and that rule is not negotiable: Respect yourself and everyone else in this room. If you can't respect yourself, you can't respect other people. And if you don't have any self-respect, you have a problem. We're going to fix that problem because every person has the right to his or her personal dignity." • High school student: "That's bullshit!" • Teacher: It tells you everything...(for example)...Do you think it's respectful for you to get up and walk around the room while I am talking?" • Student: "No" • Teacher: "Well, then, do you think it's respectful to say 'shit' in school?" • Student: "No" • Teacher: "then you tell me an example of something you could do in class and get in trouble for that does not break my single rule" • He offered several suggestions but his classmates loudly disqualified each example (Johnson, 1992). • This same teacher later added another rule to her list: "I will not tolerate any racial, ethnic, or sexual slurs in this classroom. It is not fair to erase someone's face. In this room, everyone is entitled to equal dignity as a human being. (Johnson, 1992)" • At a high school for girls in Chicago, math classes studied demographic facts related to hunger , and religion classes discussed the question of "What is our ethical and religious responsibility for the starving people of the world? (Lickona, 1991) • For further reading on the fostering of moral development in children, the reader • is directed to the work of Thomas Lickona.

16. Research on Kohlberg’s theory • Every person’s moral reasoning passes through the same stages in the same order • People pass through the stages at different rates • Development is gradual and continuous, rather than sudden and discrete • Once a stage is attained, a person tends to reason at that stage rather than regressing to a lower stage • Intervention usually advances a person only to the next higher stage of moral reasoning • Social conventions vs. morality: social conventions are the rules and expectations of a group or society—such as what constitutes rudeness. Kohlberg’s work doesn’t differentiate between social conventions and true morality.

17. Criticisms of Kohlberg’s theory • It is culturally specific to Western thinking. For example, some cultures emphasize community over the individual, which is lower on the Kohlberg scale. • Kohlberg’s work doesn’t differentiate between social conventions (the rules and expectations of a particular group or society) and true moral issues • Kohlberg’s work focuses on reasoning, not behavior. Sometimes there is a difference. • Carol Gilligan criticized the theory for being based on male moral development, suggesting that women tend to be more oriented toward communal well-being and therefore score lower on Kohlberg’s scale.

18. Moral judgments, social conventions, and personal choices • Some rules are social conventions: agreed-upon rules and ways of doing things in a particular situation. • Americans eat with their fork in their right hand, generally, and then switch the fork to the left hand and knife in right hand when they need to cut their food. Brits eat with the fork in the left hand and knife in right hand and they cut their food as they go. There’s no moral right or wrong here, just how people tend to do things differently in different places.

19. Morality in the classroom • Your responses to a problem should relate to the domain of the problem: social or moral. • Moral issues: emphasize harm, encourage perspective-taking • Social conventions: restate the rules, give a command.

20. Diversity in reasoning • What is moral and what is a social convention may be different for different people. • Being a vegetarian may be a social convention for some but may be a moral issue for others (e.g., religious reasons or involvement in animal rights). • This may be the case for your students, as well. Wearing a head covering seems like a convention to those who don’t but it is a moral issue for those who do.

21. Moral behavior • The relationship between moral reasoning and moral behavior is not strong. • In other words, it’s easy to “talk the talk” but much more difficult to “walk the walk.” • Three influences on moral behavior: modeling, internalization (process whereby children adopt external standards as their own), and self-concept. • Children need to be exposed to people who model moral behavior. They will be more likely to internalize moral standards if they are given reasons they understand for them. Eventually, one’s morality becomes part of one’s identity.

22. Cheating • Cheating is often situational (lots of pressure and little chance of being caught are the characteristics of situations that lead to cheating). • Some individuals are more likely to cheat: males, low achievers, those who are focused on grades rather than learning

23. Diversity and Convergences in Personal/social Development • Different people mature physically at different times. • Teacher caring is interpreted differently by different people. At-risk students tend to prefer personal caring while high-achieving middle class students prefer help with academic tasks. • Self-concept is different across different groups of people.

24. Convergences • Children of divorce need teachers who are authoritative—warm and clear about requirements and limits. • Self-concepts are increasingly differentiated over time, depending on subject. • A major challenge for all students is developing a sense of identity. • Peer rejection is harmful for everyone. • High pressure situations can lead to cheating.

25. Punish-ment-obedience stage Social conventions Vocabulary Moral realism Internalization Moral reasoning Inter-personal harmony stage Morality of cooperation External morality Law and order stage Universal principles stage Market exchange stage Moral dilemma Social contract stage