Seven Ethical Tests

There almost always comes a time in the sixth grade year when students begin to find themselves facing choices about a variety of issues. It just seems that, as young people reach the age of 11 or 12, there are things that have previously been defined by parents that, increasingly, become more a matter for students to control for themselves. This is the time of the year when students have to determine what to do about including others, what to do about handling their responsibilities, what to do about being honest and fair, what to do about treating others with kindness and respect, and what to decide about things like cheating on assignments and tests.

One recent study that I read about asked students in the upper primary grades and in middle school to answer questions like these:

1. We are playing Monopoly and I roll a 2 with the dice. If I move there then I land on someone's property. If I land there, I have to pay somebody money. Is it okay if I just go ahead one more space? 2. You are asked to draw a picture in Art class. The teacher wants you to draw a picture of a cat but you are not very good at it. You ask your friend to draw it for you. The art teacher thinks you drew the picture and gives you a good grade. Is that okay? 3. You are out on the playground and see a toy like a hot wheel, beanie baby, or a pair of sunglasses that someone left outside. No one is going to see you pick up this toy, so you get it and take it home with you. Is that okay? 4. Your mom and dad see that you have a new toy and they know they didn't buy it for you. They ask you where you got it. You tell them a friend gave it to you. You don't tell them you found it on the way home and just picked it up. Is that okay? 5. You are taking a test in spelling. You don't know how to spell a word. The person sitting next to you has the answer. The teacher is not looking at you so you look at the other person's paper and write the answer. Is that okay? 6. A teacher sees you talking in class and sends you to the principal's office. You tell the principal that you weren't talking and that you were just listening, but actually you were talking. Is that okay?

What researchers found was that, once students were really old enough to know what was "right" and what was "wrong" the number of times that seemingly "wrong" choices were viewed as "okay" decreased but still remained much higher than most people are comfortable with. The motivations are varied but if students see that it is important to get good grades or remain popular or obtain a certain level of performance, then they will choose in ways that they identify as "wrong" under other circumstances.

Clearly, it is very difficult for young people to choose to act in alignment with the values and beliefs which they know and have been taught. In the moment when a student is faced with a difficult ethical choice, it is important to have TOOLS or TESTS to apply to the situation in order to help make the right decisions -- the ones that will be "right" and not just "easy." How does a young person make those judgements?

Thomas Lickona, who is a well-respected author and educator on the subject of character, proposes that it is possible to evaluate most situations using these seven ethical tests:

1. The Golden Rule (reversibility) test: Would I want people to do this to me?
2. The what-if-everybody-did-this test: Would I like it if everyone else acted this way?
3. The parents test: How would my parents feel if they found out I did this?
4. The religion test: Does this go against what my religious faith teaches?
5. The conscience test: Will I feel guilty afterwards?
6. The consequences test: Might this have bad consequences, now or in the future?
7. The front-page test: How would I feel if my action were reported on the front page of my hometown paper?