While I read about the two students described and their reasoning on the Heinz problem, I could easily see myself as Jake. The answers he gave and his line of reasoning is very much in step with how I would think about this problem (although I would hope that I would rate a level 5 or 6 on the moral development scale). I also found that the reasoning used by Amy and Clair in the article very much matched what I would expect. In my own life, when discussing disputes or ethical dilemmas with a woman that I am dating, I have found that their general line of reasoning matches the depictions in this article. Understanding this and being aware of how I think differently than some people in my life is useful. But how will this apply as a teacher?
In the classroom there are hundreds of combinations of relationships happening all at once. Having an idea of how different people view relationships and make decisions based on those relationships is very important. Thinking about our students moral reasoning is an interesting but overlooked area of teaching; in fact the subject area is basically left completely out of education. In public schools, it seems, that there is only time for an occasional aside during the reading of a classic novel or during the study of civil rights for the discussion of morality. In my opinion, if we are trying to prepare young people to be productive members of society, we need to find more time to discuss morals, values and ethics. We also need to help students understand that they may have differing paths of reasoning toward their ethical answers. My ideal school system would incorporate lessons along these lines. However, the obvious question is then raised; what morals do we teach? are we teaching them to think morally or are we teaching them to think critically and then discover their own morals?
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