Responses Needed + Assignment - 12-13 Hours

1. Describe a moral dilemma; then describe how an individual might reason at each stage of Kohlberg's theory of moral development. You should create your own hypothetical moral dilemma and carry it through the three levels and six stages of Kohlberg's theory (label each level and each stage).

One common moral dilemma among teenagers is underage drinking. In the preconventional level and stage one, teens don't associate with underage drinking because they are told it is bad and not do so at a young age. They are probably warned that there will be strict punishment if they are caught drinking and the consequences will be harsh. They fear the consequences and the punishment that could be, so they stray from drinking. In stage two, teens still have respect for the authority, but also seek their own pleasure. In this stage, teens may try the occasional drink, knowing that it is wrong because they were told not to do so and still respect the consequences that could come. They may feel regret after doing so. In the conventional level, and stage 3 teens would be looking for the approval of their peers. In this example, to be accepted by their peers, teens may begin to drink with friends, while they question the authority or why they ever were told not to drink in the first place. In stage 4, drinking would be viewed as against the law for someone underage and therefore teens would obey the law as that is their societal duty. Stage 5 begins  level 3 and the postconventional stage. Stage 5 becomes opinionated decisions. Teens know the law and know what is right and wrong, but see it as to how it fits to them. For some, this may be adhering to the law and not drinking. For others, their opinion may be that everyone else is doing, so why shouldn't I? In stage 6, people choose which laws they feel ethical to follow and which laws do not fit that category. In this case, teens may decide that the law does not apply to them so they continue to drink or that the law is ethical and does apply to them and may choose not to drink.

2. Debate the following viewpoint, giving the pros and cons: To establish their identity, adolescents need to separate themselves from their parents so that they can discover who they are, other than being their parent's children. If parents are very strict and controlling, children must give so much energy to establishing the separation that they don't have the time and effort to give to defining their identity. For this reason, parents and teachers of adolescents would be more helpful if they were lenient with teenagers.

While this debate could go either way, I disagree. I think adolescents need structure and discipline. I would go as far as to say that adolescents want structure and discipline. I know that this statement would be refuted by many because when certain students are given structure or disciplined, they respond in a negative manner. In my experience, these are the kids that have never been disciplined before. Seeing structure and discipline teaches adolescents that there is consequences for their actions and mistakes. I was raised with fairly strict parents. This helped me in so many ways because I knew that when I did something I was not supposed to or vice versa, there was consequences. I believe this helps teach adolescents, responsibility for the real world. If your boss tells you to do something, you do it or there's a good chance you won't have a job. 

3. According to Piaget, around the ages of 10 or 12, students are more capable of conscientiously using and following rules.  How would you use this information if you taught 10-12-year-old children and wanted to use a class meeting to allow children of this age to set the classroom rules and expectations?  How might involving the students in creating the rules be beneficial and problematic?

Using this information, I think it would be very beneficial to use class time to allow the children to set the rules. Knowing that the kids of this age are more adept to following the rules, it would make sense for them to set the rules that they know they will follow. Now, arguments could be made in both cases. I believe it would be beneficial for the reasons stated previously. The kids are more conscientious of following the rules, so allow them to set the rules. Knowing what the rules are and that they made them, makes them to adhere to the rules more effectively. Now it could also be problematic, because if the children know that they must follow the rules, they could use that to their advantage and set the rules so that they don't apply to them directly. I have allowed the students to create the rules in my classroom the past two years and both years have went pretty well. When doing this, it is important that you as the teacher be a mediator and still develop the rules in a way to fit your classroom desires.