Moral and learning development in children Essay

Moral and learning development in children - Essay Example According to Piaget, the moral makeup of a child is a product of his/her own conception and understanding of the world. This view is contrary to the conventional view that children are taught what is right and wrong by parents and teachers. While moral preaching inevitably goes on, children made moral judgments based on their own observations of their environment. Further, morality is a product of interaction with peers and authority figures do not influence it much. Key moral concepts like fairness, equality, justice and mutual reciprocity were all largely constructed through their interactions with other children. Moreover, as per Piaget’s definition of morality, contemporaneous social norms do not matter much to children, but instead morality comprises of universal, generic principles. Of course, while these tendencies are evident during early childhood, the nature of moral development matures and becomes more sophisticated as they grow up. Lawrence Kohlberg’s work m odifies and refines several of Piaget’s theses. Kohlberg noted that the moral evolution of children is a lot more gradual and complex than what Piaget had proposed. Kohlberg identified a total of six stages of moral development, grouped under three major levels. Each of these levels represents a fundamental shift in the social-moral understanding of the individual.