1. Mr. Wilson - ERC

2. Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980)  Born in Switzerland, this Philosopher / Psychologist focused on people’s stages of development. Sensory Motor Stage – Birth to age 2 Preoperational Stage – 2 to 7 years Concrete Operational Stage – 7 to 12 years Formal Operational Stage – 12 onwards

4. Lawrence Kohlberg  Kohlberg expanded on Piaget’s theory of development by adding the extra facet of MORALITY or ETHICS.  His theory is that as you go through life, you are faced with certain moral dilemmas, and your decisions vis a vis these dilemmas should provide us with an idea of your moral development.

6. Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development 1. Level one – Pre-Conventional 1. Obedience and Punishment (How can I avoid punishment?) 2. Self-Interest Orientation (What’s in it for me?) 2. Level two – Conventional 1. Interpersonal accord and conformity (social norms, The good boy/girl attitude) 2. Authority and Social Order maintaining orientation (law and order mentality)

7. Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development 1. Level three – Post-Conventional 1. Social contract orientation 2. Universal Ethical principles (principled conscience)

8. The Heinz Dilemma 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.

9. The Heinz Dilemma 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.

10. The Heinz Dilemma Should Heinz have broken into the laboratory to steal the drug for his wife? Why or why not?

11. Quickly write down your answer! (in your copybooks!)

12. Stage one (obedience):  Heinz should not steal the medicine because he will consequently be put in prison which will mean he is a bad person.  Or: Heinz should steal the medicine because it is only worth $200 and not how much the druggist wanted for it; Heinz had even offered to pay for it and was not stealing anything else.

13. 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.  Or: Heinz should not steal the medicine because prison is an awful place, and he would probably languish over a jail cell more than his wife's death.

14. Stage three (conformity):  Heinz should steal the medicine because his wife expects it; he wants to be a good husband.  Or: Heinz should not steal the drug because stealing is bad and he is not a criminal; he tried to do everything he could without breaking the law, you cannot blame him.

15. Stage four (law-and-order):  Heinz should not steal the medicine because the law prohibits stealing, making it illegal.  Or: Heinz should steal the drug for his wife but also take the prescribed punishment for the crime as well as paying the druggist what he is owed. Criminals cannot just run around without regard for the law; actions have consequences

16. Stage five (human rights):  Heinz should steal the medicine because everyone has a right to choose life, regardless of the law.  Or: Heinz should not steal the medicine because the scientist has a right to fair compensation. Even if his wife is sick, it does not make his actions right.

17. 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 others may need the medicine just as badly, and their lives are equally significant.

18. Where does your answer fall?

19. The Cheating Situation  Georgia’s hands were sweating. She was fifteen minutes into her math final when she began to panic. This exam was worth most of her grade in the class. She understood math—even liked it—and usually did really well. Her constant problem was that she wasn’t a strong test-taker. Her grades never reflected her understanding of the material she studied…

20. Now, here she was, once again stuck on one problem worth twenty-five points on the test, and she was drawing a blank. She put her head down on the desk and concentrated as hard as she could. She remembered doing a similar problem in class and explaining it to her friend Jessie, but now she was so stressed out by the test, she couldn’t even remember how to begin the problem…

21. She lifted her head and stared at her test. She listened to the clock tick on the wall and imagined her parents’ expression when she receives her report card. Jessie was sitting right in front of her. He is always a good test taker and had already solved the problem. The teacher had his backed turned and was on the other side of the room. Georgia could look over Jessie’s shoulder, get the answer, and no one would know.

22. Georgia needed to think quickly. She thought about how unfair it was that she regularly does badly on tests even though she works so hard in class and understands the material, too. She thought about how often she helped Jessie in class throughout the semester. What should she do?

23. She prided herself on doing what was right. But how right is it that she has to work in a system that doesn’t reward such hard work?

24. Finally, she took a deep breath. She looked to see if the teacher was still on the other side of the room, and glanced over Jessie’s shoulder just long enough to get the final answer to the question. Then, she figured out the rest of the problem on her own. In the moment, she felt great about her decision. She felt she had sort of created an ethical compromise.

25. But on the way home on the bus, Georgia’s good feelings started to fade. “What exactly is an ethical compromise anyway?” she thought to herself. Should she tell her teacher what she did or move forward and forget about the whole thing?

26. Reasons why Students Cheat  Denial of Injury: “No one’s hurt by it.” Twenty-nine percent of students polled in one of Schulman’s studies said cheating was justified if the student learned from it.  Denial of Victim: Blame the teacher for their behavior or say the work was meaningless anyway.  Appeal to Higher Loyalties: Seventy-five percent of students polled cited a need to please their families, or they felt peer pressure.  Denial of Responsibility: “Everyone does it. If I don’t, I’m left in the dust. Good guys finish last.”  Fear of Failure: Student doesn’t cheat to get ahead— student cheats because of fear of embarrassment or failure. “I have to go to Univeristy. I have to win.”

27. Question #1  Can you answer Georgia’s question at the end? Is there such a thing as an ethical compromise?

28. Question #2  Can you think of a time when you did something you knew could be considered ethically wrong, but decided it was worth it? What was the situation?

29. Question #3  What do you think about Georgia’s point about how it is unfair that she works so hard but isn’t rewarded for her work? Do you feel she should be given more leeway for making the choice she did?

30. Question #4  Have you ever had someone cheat off of you? What did it feel like? How did you handle it? Would you handle it the same way if you could re-live the same situation?

31. Question #5  Given the list of five reasons (above) that students say they cheat, which make more sense to you than others? Can you relate to any of them personally?

32. Question #6  What should Georgia do? Should she tell her teacher what she did?

33. Question #7  What would you do in this situation? Would you cheat? If so, could you do it and feel okay given the situation?

34. Other Interesting Developments….  Diffusion of Responsibility – Kitty Genovese  The “Bystander” Effect  Sex Role Socialization  Hyper-sexualization of the Male