MORAL DEVELOPMENT......................

In today’s competitive and complex world parents and teachers constantly think as to how they can inculcate right values and morals in children.

Moral development is a gradual process. Like intelligence it evolves in stages. Kohlberg, a renowned development psychologist identified six stages of moral development.

Stages evolve when children directly or indirectly encounter moral dilemmas and they seriously think about those ethical issues to find answers.

There is no direct way to teach children to think ethically so that they can move to the next stage of moral development. Children’s ability to understand, analyze and resolve the ethical issues will move them from one stage to the next stage.

Parents, teachers, peers and significant others can stimulate children’s mental processes to think about moral and ethical issues.

Authority, pressure /power to conform and fear of punishment hinder moral development. Children may conform to others but they will not be able to develop their own reasoning of what is right or wrong.

Integrity and character develop in a democratic environment. Such environment gives the opportunities to children to discuss their view- points. Children also learn that others may have their own point of views which may be different from theirs.

 Social interactions give them the opportunity to see things from a different perspective. They learn to accept and respect diversity. They become more accommodating and cooperative.

In the process of their moral development they challenge, modify and develop their own thinking. They can achieve the highest level of moral development when they start to discuss and stand for universal justice, human rights and equality.

Like children, societies and nations also go through similar stages of moral development.

We can assess the stage of development by analyzing the justification given for the resolution of ethical or moral dilemma.

Those who are at stage one will obey the authority, assuming that authority is always right. Not conforming to authority is wrong and that may lead to punishment.

Those at stage two understand that any issue can have multiple perspectives. So it is important to protect one’s own interests. They may negotiate and exchange favours.

Those who are at stage three also think about the interests of people who are close to them. They think about themselves as members of a particular community which has its own values, norms and culture.

The ones at stage four think about society as a whole. They believe in following laws for the smooth functioning of the society.

Those at stage five think and discuss about values and principles. They believe in changing the rules of the society if they are obsolete and doing no good to society.

The ones at stage six think and discuss about values and principles which are beyond the boundaries of their own community, society and even nation. They believe in universal principles of equality, rights, respect and dignity.

Unlike intelligence, moral development is an ongoing process. One may remain stuck at lower stages or one may move to higher stages at any time in their lives. One can do that by expanding one’s social circle, meeting new people, visiting new places, reading literature, listening to other’s experiences, discussing ideas and challenging one’s own thinking.

This is true for people, communities, societies and nations.