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Intellectual and moral development are the two areas in which students grow most in school, but somehow one area gets left out of the conversation most of the time. Everyone thinks of education as gaining knowledge in the areas of study such as math, science, and social studies, however, school as well as at home is where kids gain knowledge about morality and begin to form their own morals and beliefs. Different than at home students are met with vastly different situations with diverse people everyday and must use their morals to make decisions on what the appropriate way of acting is in each circumstance. Moral development must be taken into account by teachers when interacting with their students and a basic knowledge of the different stages of moral development with assist the teacher in dealing with issues that may arise with certain students. There are good and bad ways to discipline students and it should be a teachers goal to always discipline the right way. Teachers should also want to be a part of a students moral development, as to create not only a smart student but also a good person.
One of the most famous theory’s of moral development comes from Lawrence Kohlberg, who used Piaget’s analysis to come up with his own stages of moral development. Kohlberg breaks moral development down into three levels, with two stages in each, creating ultimately six stages of moral development. The first stage in Kohlberg’s model is labeled the preconventional stage. Here a child thinks to obey rules simply to avoid the repercussions or punishment for your actions. They move from that thinking that everyone needs to take care of his or her own needs. (Meece 433) The second level in the model is the conventional stage. This is when a child acts to satisfy or please others and to get congratulated for their actions. They then move to following rules because it is the law and everyone should be doing their part to obey the rules. (Meece 434) The...