Social and Moral Development Analysis Questions

Social and Moral Development (Chapter 4) Analysis Questions:
1. Laura, like any other human being, cares about what the people around her think about her. It is human nature to want to be accepted and not outcasted from the the social networks in our environments. Laura just wants to fit in and not be considered uncool, who wouldn't want that? When looking at Erikson's Theory, I would say that Laura is in the two stages that most high school kids are in:Identity v. Role Confusion and Intimacy v. Isolation. These two stages are where humans try to find out who they are, where they are going, and who they are going to create intimate relationships with. We all want to be attractive and loved, these two stages are the stages when we try and find both of those things. Ourselves and someone who we can share ourselves with.

2. If I was trying to find a niche for a student who was obessessd with attention and being the spot-light, I would see if they had interest in Television and have them join the schools news program. I think that giving them a little camera time, while learning about journalism, communications and research would do them some good. Aslo, another activity they could get involved in would be student government. See if they have an interest in working with their peers and being in charge of the other students in school. They could have the attention that motivates them while learning management skills, communication skills, politics and a lot of other great tools for future success.

3. Laura is in Kolberg's Individualism and Exchange stage of moral development. She only obeys the rules, such as the tardy bell, if they benefit her. She is more worried about her appearance than the concept of being punctual and responsible. Priority plays a huge part in this, Laura rather look good for class than be on time because she does not want to be a geek or have her appearance not meet a certain standard for her peers. Laura is for sure more concerned about her image and acceptance than any kind of rule or grade.

4. Debate covers so many learning styles and levels. Students have to be able to think at a deeper and more problem solving level, they have to be able to communicate their ideas and opinions effectively using language, they learn what is going on in their community and world around them and learn to think about the problems and try to solve them, and debate is a great subject to help students develop morally. I know that it wasn't until I started debating ideas and problems in my head that I finally realized that I had different ideas than the ones that I was raised with,and that is okay because my opinion was educated and I decided where I stood morally based on my research and not just information that was being fed to me. We all debate, everday. I think debate class is a great place for cognitive, linguistic, social and moral development. It covers all of these concepts and helps us realize that we debate over everything in our heads everday. Our morals become the conclusions to our debates.