Morality and the College Environment

Like the former theory, students come to college as a mixed bag, morality included.  Through experiences and mentorship, collegians can work towards caring about their whole environment compared to just themselves.  In connection with my voice, it is interesting to explore the issue of moral development with consciousness to being Muslim and an adult learner.

When looking at my voice it is important to define two things when morality is brought up.  First, that her morality will be guided by her religion.  Secondly, that the morality of others will be a concern about her well being.  Religion, which is Islam in this case, Allah commands several things from a devoted Muslim like Noor.  These are:

-Islam is a religion of peace and well-being

-Allah condemns mischief

-Islam defends freedom of speech

-Allah has made the killing of innocent people unlawful

-Allah commands believers to be compassionate and merciful

-Allah has commanded tolerance and forgiveness (Paki, 2008)

When looking at Noor's life, she tries to spread her culture when asked and is open to questions about her religion and way of life.  She has lived in this country since she was a little girl and throughout the years she has experienced racism and intolerance.  Even though respect has not always been given to her, she takes pride in her culture and religion in order to be dignified enough to not seek revenge but instead be open to educate.  For Noor, she tries to empathize with others in order to see what they see.  Mostly, when doing this, she sees fear, misunderstanding, ignorance and people who are generally uneducated about the Islamic culture.  Noor, in my view, is in the later stages of middle moral development or early advanced development.  This is justified because Noor cannot often express what she is feeling or know how to communicate her morals and standards of ethics towards others.  She may be even in Rest's transition from goodness to truth.

When entering college, Noor will experience many younger classmates with the early stages of moral development.  They may be selfish, self-centered and stubborn with their ways in contrast to their whole environment.  In contrast, she may have classmates who are in the middle stages which keep good images in comparison to the environment and try their best to be considerate, nice, and kind. As an educator who has identified Noor with such an advanced stage, it would be helpful to continue encouragement and help her become an advocate for herself and her culture.  With this, it will help earlier staged students to become more aware of their assumptions in order to get a more worldly view of a different culture. 

Taken from in-class handout:

Comparison of Gilligan's Morality of Care and Responsibility and Kohlberg's Morality of Justice

Resources

Paki (2008). The true Islamic morals. Retrieved July 17, 2008, from http://ipaki.com/content/html/27/429.html