Feature article on Moral Development Approach in Teaching Values Education

1. Puzzling Quest
Finding answers to missing pieces.
When you’re puzzled, find the missing pieces. When you’re lost,
find the route in the map. But what if you’re stuck in between?
The pandemic hit everyone hard. And it doesn’t help to people who
are already struggling on their own. Some are still holding on while
others are trying to keep their eyes open to save their sanity. Because we
are all hoping for a pleasant future ahead of us.
Educators attempt to stimulate students to develop more complex
moral reasoning patterns through the sequential stages. Moral
development refers to the process whereby people form a progressive
sense of what is right and wrong, proper and improper. This approach
focuses primarily on moral values, such as fairness, justice, equity, and
human dignity; other types of values (social, personal, and aesthetic) are
usually not considered.
It is assumed that students invariantly progress developmentally in
their thinking about moral issues. They can comprehend one stage above
their current primary stage and exposure to the next higher level is
essential for enhancing moral development.
In this 21st century, where learners basically grew up with
technology, what they have read or seen on different platforms can’t be
controlled. It’s not shocking when a teen can talk to you casually without
morals.
This moral development approach or technique is most often
used to present a hypothetical or factual value dilemma story which is
then discussed in small groups. On how to present, first, the teacher or
instructor will present a situation or a case in the class. The situations
however, have difficult options wherein you depends the reasons on
which framework you’ll use. There are three critical variables that make
a dilemma appropriate; (1) the story must present "a real conflict for the
central character", include "a number of moral issues for consideration",

2. and "generate differences of opinion among students about the
appropriate response to the situation."; (2) a leader will be set who can
help to focus the discussion on moral reasoning; (3) a classroom climate
that encourages students to express their moral reasoning freely
(Gailbraith & Jones, 1975, p. 18).
Decisions about right and wrong permeate everyday life. Ethics
should concern all levels of life: acting properly as individuals, creating
responsible organizations and governments, and making our society as a
whole more ethical. It provides a set of standards for behavior that helps
us decide how we ought to act in a range of situations. In a sense, we
can say that ethics is all about making choices, and about providing
reasons why we should make these choices. There are three broad types
of Ethical theories. i) Consequentialist theories, which are primarily
concerned with the ethical consequences of particular actions; ii) Non-
consequentialist theories, which tend to be broadly concerned with the
intentions of the person making ethical decisions about particular
actions; and iii) Agent-centered theories, which, unlike consequentialist
and non-consequentialist theories, are more concerned with the overall
ethical status of individuals, or agents, and are less concerned to identify
the morality of particular actions.
Each of these three broad categories contains varieties of
approaches to ethics, some of which share characteristics across the
categories. In Consequentialist theories, there is the Utilitarian
Approach. Utilitarianism can be traced back to the school of the Ancient
Greek philosopher Epicurus of Samos (341-270 BCE), who argued that
the best life is one that produces the least pain and distress.
Utilitarianism is one of the most common approaches to making ethical
decisions, especially decisions with consequences that concern large
groups of people, in part because it instructs us to weigh the different
amounts of good and bad that will be produced by our action. Then,
Egoistic Approach where an individual often uses utilitarian calculation
to produce the greatest amount of good for him or herself. One variation
of the utilitarian approach is known as ethical egoism, or the ethics of
self- interest. Also, there’s the Common Good Approach, this approach
to ethics underscores the networked aspects of society and emphasizes

3. respect and compassion for others, especially those who are more
vulnerable. The most influential modern proponent of this approach was
the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), who
argued that the best society should be guided by the “general will” of the
people which would then produce what is best for the people as a whole.
In Non-consequentialist Theories, there are four approaches.
First, the Duty-Based approach, which is sometimes called deontological
ethics, is most commonly associated with the philosopher Immanuel
Kant (1724-1804). Kant’s famous formula for discovering our ethical duty
is known as the “categorical imperative.” It has a number of different
versions, but Kant believed they all amounted to the same imperative.
Then, the Rights approach, to ethics is another non-consequentialist
approach which derives much of its current force from Kantian duty-
based ethics, although it also has a history that dates back at least to
the Stoics of Ancient Greece and Rome, and has another influential
current which flows from work of the British empiricist philosopher John
Locke (1632-1704). This approach stipulates that the best ethical action
is that which protects the ethical rights of those who are affected by the
action. It emphasizes the belief that all humans have a right to dignity.
There’s also The Fairness or Justice approach. The Law Code of
Hammurabi in Ancient Mesopotamia (c. 1750 BCE) held that all free men
should be treated alike, just as all slaves should be treated alike. When
combined with the universality of the rights approach, the justice
approach can be applied to all human persons. Lastly, the Divine
Command Approach, as its name suggests, this approach sees what is
right as the same as what God commands, and ethical standards are the
creation of God’s will. Following God’s will is seen as the very definition
what is ethical. Because God is seen as omnipotent and possessed of free
will, God could change what is now considered ethical, and God is not
bound by any standard of right or wrong short of logical contradiction.
Moreover, for Agent-centered Theories, there’s Virtue Approach
and Feminist Approach. The Virtue Approach is one long-standing
ethical principle argues that ethical actions should be consistent with
ideal human virtues. A person of good character would be one who has
attainted certain virtues. The Feminist Approach often emphasizes the

4. importance of the experiences of women and other marginalized groups
to ethical deliberation. Like virtue ethics, feminist ethics concerned with
the totality of human life and how this life comes to influence the way we
make ethical decisions.
With everything that has been mentioned above, we can clearly say
that it’s always our choice what to do decide. Moral development and
ethics are what we needed in order to decide properly.
If you found yourself stuck in nothingness, drowning of choices
that you don’t know what to pick, you can always take a step backward
and think. Every decision we made has a reason. May it be good or bad,
it will lead us to something we never expected. If you are experiencing a
burnout, it’s not enough reason to not be kind. Talk to someone. If you
have problems, seek for solution not another problem. You can’t answer
a question with another question. Be considerate. It won’t cost you
anything to be benevolent.
In a matter between life and death, you can’t be an impulsive
person. You have to think carefully. If you know you can’t do it alone,
ask for help. Breathe and think. Do not let the pressure bottled up inside
you. A water pipe full of pressure could burst chaos. Let the thoughts
flow freely.
You don’t need a puzzle or a map to find out and finish the quest.
It’s your responsibility to know about what decision to make.
Be fearless. Be brave. You are the one who knows which adventure
to take.

5. Below are some photo documentation showing how moral
development as an approach and moral dilemma as a strategy were used
in teaching ESP.
References:
https://listverse.com/2007/10/21/top-10-moral-dilemmas/
http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/affect/values.html