Morals: Stealing to save a life?

Hey there, it’s been awhile since I have made a blog so please forgive me if it doesn’t sound as great as my other blogs. Well it’s second semester and here goes nothing.

Summary:

The reading this time is over the judgments made by two children a boy and a girl. Both children are the same age (11) and grade level (sixth grade), they were given a situation where this doctor created a medication that can save this man’s (Heinz) wife. However, the doctor overpriced the drug at $2000 (10x) what he spent to create the drug. Unfortunately, Heinz does not have the money to purchase the drug; therefore, he decided to steal the drug. The point was to see how each children react to the situation and their response relating to Kohlberg’s (psychologist) theory on development.

The boy’s response was approval on the man’s action, stealing the drug to save his dying wife. He reasoned that if the man did not steal than his wife would die and even if he did steal which means breaking the law, the judge would not punish him as harshly. In short, the boy’s view was a conflict between property and life. On the other hand, the girl was more elusive when she gave responded to the interviewer, her response was resolving the conflict through communication however, since Heinz did steal the medication the girl thought it was wrong for Heinz could be imprisoned for thievery and the medication could temporarily stop the wife’s illness from killing her. If Heinz is imprisoned, he would not be able to obtain more medication for his wife: temporary effect vs relationship.

Anyways, the main point is that apparently following Kohlberg’s stages of development, a child grows up and begins to think on their own. In stages 1 and 2 they develop an understanding of individual needs, then in stages 3 and 4 they develop morals and conceive many options based on societal agreement, and finally in stages 5 and 6 they make the decision that is fair to all. Following those stages the boy would seem to develop normally and mature faster than the girl who seems to be more naive in her decisions. However, I disagree completely with the claim that the boy has matured earlier than the girl. Not saying this because I am a girl or need to stand up for women/girls but the fact that the stages are biased. The stages are actually made to fit the males perspective because (no offense) men tend to do things that are most convenient and requires less work. As for females, they tend to over think and try to give up some things for their relationship, I do not know why but it is probably some maternal instinct passed down from our caveman ancestors (since I don’t like comparing us to apes… or if you don’t believe in evolution I am sorry… I’m not going to butcher Christianity because I am not a Christian and yeah… I’m done talking about religion and evolution now) so therefore, the stages do not apply to how a female thinks/develops. So the way the girl see things does not make her naive or immature, but different. I wish I could say more but I do not know the stages of female development (but I will next year… have to take developmental psych. wish me luck) but just saying that I think the children should not be compared to just Kohlberg’s stages of development, they should be compared to other psychologist’s theories on development (especially ones that include both genders) it would only be fair.