Pathway Prep

The 6 Levels of Moral…ACT Prep?

By Alex Pint


My favorite activity since starting Pathway Prep has been “reading” all of the education books I can find. “Reading” is in quotes because technically I’m “listening” to the books during my morning runs or as I’m driving to a prep session. If you think listening to audiobooks isn’t real reading, you likely haven’t tried it. The details can get lost, but often the overall picture and feeling comes through with strength and vividness.

Sometimes, I’m lucky enough to hear a book that completely grips me. Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire is one of those books.

Written by Rafe Esquith, an elementary school teacher in Los Angeles, Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire leads readers through a detailed summary of how his 5th grade classroom has operated over his 30+ years of teaching. From his methods for making math and reading stick, to his instincts on directing Shakespeare plays, to his tips for teaching music despite having no musical ability, to his survival strategies for students taking field trips to Washington D.C., Rafe leaves no stone unturned.

Of special interest to me was how he taught students to turn standardized tests into a game. He required them to not only learn the concepts but also learn the tricks and patterns of the test.  Hmm, that sounds familiar…

Out of all these details, descriptions, and methods, I couldn’t get one out of my head.

Every year, on the first day of school, Rafe establishes the culture of his classroom and lays the foundation for the upcoming year. The foundation, he says, is trust, not fear. He creates trust by showing he will work just as hard for his students as he expects his students to work for him. OK, fair enough. Nothing groundbreaking, I thought.

But the key lies in how Rafe builds on the foundation of trust to form the framework of his classroom culture. He leads students through Lawrence Kohlberg’s 6 Levels of Moral Development. The goal of your 5th grade year, Rafe says, is not to be a good student, do well, or get good grades. 

The goal is

THE 6 LEVELS OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

 

LEVEL 1 – I DON’T WANT TO GET IN TROUBLE

Level 1 behavior is slightly more advanced than pure animal instinct. If you’re at Level 1, your actions are centered around avoiding punishment. You complete your math homework because if you don’t, your teacher will give you a bad grade. Or even worse, your teacher will call your parents – the horror!

 

LEVEL 2 – I WANT A REWARD

If you’re at Level 2, you’re now at least striving towards positive behavior. You complete your math homework because you want a good grade or the satisfaction that comes from completing the assignment. The reward could even be something as small as the dopamine hit that comes from answering an email, crossing an item off a to-do list, or checking your phone when it dings.

 

LEVEL 3 – I WANT TO PLEASE SOMEONE

Congratulations! If you have reached Level 3, you’re now thinking about someone other than yourself. By completing your math homework, you’re striving to get that pat on the back from your teacher or parents. Fundamentally, though, this is still selfish behavior because you’re focused on what others can give you. The difference between Level 2 and Level 3 is that Level 3 isn’t necessarily a reward like a good grade, but could be intangible like praise or even imaginary, such as how you believe your teacher feels about you.

 

LEVEL 4 – I FOLLOW THE RULES

At Level 4, you’re now starting to rise above selfishness. Following the rules is built around a deep belief in the system. You trust that doing your math homework will later lead to positive outcomes, whether that be a better grade or a broader understanding of math itself. But it’s more than just following the carrot like you were at Level 2.

You believe rules exist for a reason and should be followed. And if nothing else, you can at least have comfort that you “do the right thing”, even if the reward never materializes.

 

LEVEL 5 – I AM CONSIDERATE OF OTHER PEOPLE

If you consider your actions by wondering how they will affect other people, you’re living at Level 5. The key to achieving this is empathy. You switch perspectives with others and you view your potential actions from their perspective. You do your best on your math homework because you know how hard your teacher is working to teach the information to you. You say please and thank you to be polite and to not hurt others’ feelings.

You go beyond the Golden Rule. You not only treat others the way they would want to be treated, but you act the way you would want others to act.

 

LEVEL 6 – I HAVE A PERSONAL CODE OF BEHAVIOR AND I FOLLOW IT

As good as Level 5 is, there’s a next level to strive for. Rafe acknowledges that Level 6 isn’t only challenging to live at but also challenging to teach and understand. To emphasize why it’s challenging, notice the two steps to this level: having a personal code and following it.

Let’s discuss Step 1 first. A personal code is personal, so it should vary among individuals. Sure, you could make the argument that a universal ethical code exists (which could likely be approximated by Level 5), but the point isn’t to follow a code to “do the right thing”. That’s Level 4 thinking. The purpose of Level 6 is to decide what is right for you. What are your principles? How do you want to act? What kind of person do you want to be? It’s your job to figure this out for yourself.

Step 2  acknowledges that merely having a personal code is not enough; you also need to constantly act it out. Since Rafe doesn’t want to assert his own personal code on his students, he refers to several fictional characters who he believes are at Level 6. For example, Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird and Red from The Shawshank Redemption. The thread connecting these characters isn’t the details of their personal codes, but that these characters live their codes, for no other reason except that’s who they are.  

You could argue that this is the purpose of life: to use your life experience to learn your code and then to use the rest of your life to act out that code.

 

Application to Life

 

Although these examples were originally presented with the classroom in mind, I immediately began thinking about how these levels apply to my life. I can’t say the exercise was encouraging. 

Most of the time, I don’t think I act above the first few levels. I have times when I hit Level 5, carrying out favors for my family and friends, but rarely do I act at Level 5 for strangers, and often I’m below Level 5 even with my loved ones.

 Level 6 is also mostly out of reach. I have thought about my principles, morals, and personal code, but I’m not great at acting any of it out. When I do succeed in acting on it, it’s definitely not because that’s “who I am”.  I mostly follow the code to follow the rules. I think I’ve spent much of my life at Level 4.

Regardless of my failings to date, I believe the framework of the 6 levels is a fresh, dynamic, and relevant way of thinking. I hope to revisit them regularly and continue to challenge myself to hit Level 6.

THE 6 LEVELS OF ACT PREP

 

So why am I writing this post for Pathway Prep? Since the 6 levels are so flexible, they’re applicable to almost any endeavor. I like to use the levels to challenge my students. Let’s discuss the levels again, but now within the context of ACT prep.

 

LEVEL 1 – I DON’T WANT TO GET IN TROUBLE

You sit in the sessions and do the homework to keep from upsetting your parents. Maybe you also don’t want to upset me, but since I don’t have the power to ground you or take your phone away, you likely don’t care too much about trouble from me.

 

LEVEL 2 – I WANT A REWARD

You’re doing these sessions to get a better ACT score – duh! This is a perfectly reasonable motivation for doing the work, but if you’re only in it for the score and not for the personal improvement, you likely aren’t going to see the results you want.

 

LEVEL 3 – I WANT TO PLEASE SOMEONE

Maybe you want to please your parents by getting a certain score or maybe you want to please me by being a good student in our sessions. This will get you farther than the first couple levels, but the motivation may fade when it’s late the night before our session and you still haven’t done the practice tests.

When push comes to shove, this likely won’t help you break through.

 

LEVEL 4 – I FOLLOW THE RULES

Now we are getting somewhere. You listen in our sessions. You’re actively involved. You do the work, taking extra care to stay focused and apply what we discussed in our sessions to the test.

This will get you a perfectly acceptable score increase and I have many students at this level. I can’t blame them either. I would likely have been here as well. But you perhaps aren’t reaching your full potential.

 

LEVEL 5 – I AM CONSIDERATE TO OTHERS

You’re no longer participating because it’s a rule, but because you want to repay your parents’ faith in you. They’ve invested in your future and you’re not going to let that go to waste. You practice delayed gratification and sacrifice your short-term desires for long-term results. You go the extra mile because you know if you do, your parents’ trust will be rewarded in the end. 

This level is where we can see dramatic results, likely beyond what you first thought was possible. But, maybe there’s still a next level…

 

LEVEL 6 – I HAVE A PERSONAL CODE OF BEHAVIOR AND I FOLLOW IT

This is no longer just about the ACT. You recognize these principles can be used to get better at learning itself. You decide to view the prep process as a way to learn how you learn so you can apply it to the rest of your life. You learn the art of problem solving. You learn pattern recognition. You learn common mistakes you make and recognize how you’re likely making those same mistakes in school and elsewhere. Most importantly, you realize that anything, even something as intimidating as the ACT, can be broken down into achievable steps and conquered. You use this knowledge to not only improve in academics, but in athletics, music, and extra-curricular activities.

You realize that you have the ability to learn and you use that to improve your life. You are now a Learner.

Are these realistic expectations for high school students? Forget high school students – are these realistic expectations for anyone? 

I believe that’s the wrong question. The point is not about missing or meeting expectations. The point is that there are expectations and that they don’t change on a student-by-student basis. I want to teach students that they can strive for Level 6 regardless of their perceived ability. I want to teach students that they’re capable of progress much beyond the scope of improving a standardized test score. Most of all, I want to teach students that it’s completely fair of me to expect this of them. In fact, it would be unfair of me to not give them these expectations. Why is that? Because who am I to say what they are or are not capable of? Who knows what they’re capable of. That’s what they need to find out for themselves.

So no, the question is not to wonder if these expectations are realistic. The question is: why haven’t these expectations been set already?