Several elementary, junior high, and high school students are presented with a moral dilemma involving a young man whose best friend asks him to help him cheat on the upcoming history test. Using Kohlberg's theory, explain the level each of the different age students would most likely be in and how each might respond to this dilemma

What will be an ideal response?

Answer will include that the preconventional level is most characteristic of young children in elementary school (and delinquents), while the conventional level will be most characteristic of those in junior high and even most of the students in high school. Moral values are especially likely to come into sharper focus during adolescence and the transition to adulthood, as capacities for self-control and abstract thinking increase. Since Kohlberg estimated that about 20 percent of the adult population achieve postconventional morality, only a few of the high school students might exhibit the third level. The youngest of the elementary students will probably respond to the dilemma by explaining what would be the consequences of their actions, such as punishment by getting a zero or being rewarded for cheating by not losing his best friend. Both of these explanations would be at the preconventional level. Moral reasoning at the second level, or conventional level, is based on a desire to please others (either the teacher or the best friend) or to follow accepted authorities, rules, and values, such as following the rule not to cheat in school or following one's duty to help a friend. At the highest level, or postconventional level, moral behavior is directed by self-chosen ethical principles that tend to be general, comprehensive, and universal. People at this level place a high value on justice, dignity, and equality and would probably explain the long-term consequences of cheating, such as not learning material that could help them in the future.