Every textbooks on educational psychology published today includes a discussion of Jean Piaget's theory of child development. These books almost always state that the importance of this theory lies in the developmental stages that Piaget found and in the fact that children cannot be expected to understand certain concepts before they reach a given developmental level. This common interpretation of Piaget's theory is extremely limited. Presenting his theory in this way also fails to give teachers useful guidelines for improving the schools. This situations is particularly unfortunate, since we recognize that the schools are not working well. Low test scores, physical violence, alcohol and drug abuse, alienation, and vandalism are only some of the problems plaguing U.S. schools today.

My intent is to clarify Piaget's ideas about education. I will also show that the two ideas from his theory that Piaget himself identified as most important are autonomy and constructivism - not the stages of development, as current books would have us believe.

In one of the two books he published on education, Piaget stated that a school based on his theory would be radically different from those in existence today, because its very aim would be different. For Piaget, the aim of education was intellectual and moral autonomy. This goal is in sharp contrast with the conservative goal of traditional education, which is to transmit knowledge and values from one generation to the next.

Moral Autonomy

Autonomy means being governed by oneself. It is the opposite of heteronomy, which means being governed by someone else. Elliott Richardson provided in Watergate cover-up, an extreme example of the morality of autonomy. He was the only person who refused to obey President Nixon, resigning his position instead. The other participants in the Watergate cover-up illustrate the morality of heteronomy. When they were told to lie, they obeyed their superior, going along with what they knew to be wrong.

Leyden note:
After Richardson was fired for not firing the Watergate Special Prosecutor, Archibald Cox -- William Ruckelhaus (sp) became Attorney General. He wouldn't fire Cox, either. Nixon fired him.
Next in line of succession was the Solictor General. He was now Attorney. General. Nixon said - "fire Cox." He did.
This man was Robert Bork ! Remember him ? He wanted to be on the Supreme Court - but the Democrats politically killed him in the Senate Hearings. They pointed out his 'moral heteronomy.'

This evening in American History became known as The Saturday Nite Massacre - October 20, 1973.
Ten days earlier - Spiro Agnew resigned as Vice President of the USA -- or possibly go to jail.
The Viet Nam War was going full force. These were turbulent times.

p.s.
some people speculate that the first two men were not so much autonomous as they were SMART ! They knew the Nixon White House was going up in flames and they didn't want to be a part of it.

ms. kamii calls on educators to heed more carefully jean piaget's own words about the radical reforms his theories imply. By focusing on how children develop and how they learn best, she maintains, we can revolutionize education.

Piaget provided more commonplace examples of the morality of autonomy. He asked children between the ages of 6-14 whether it was worse to tell a lie to an adult or to another child. Young, heteronomous children consistently replied that it was worse to tell a lie to an adult. Asked why, they explained that adults can tell when a statement is not true. By contrast, older children tended to say that lying to adults is sometimes almost unavoidable but that lying to other children is rotten. These older children demonstrate a developing morality of autonomy.

Piaget also made up many pairs of stories about children, and he asked the 6-14 year olds which one of the two children in each story pair was worse. One story pair went this way:

Figure 1 shows the developmental relationship between autonomy and heteronomy. All babies are born helpless and heteronomous. Ideally, a child becomes increasingly autonomous as he/she grows older.

In reality, most individuals do not develop in this idea way. The great majority stop developing at a low level as shown by the solid line in Fig 1. Piaget note that only rarely are adults truly moral. We can easily confirm this observation by skimming a newspaper and noting the frequency of stories about corruption in government and about theft, assault, and murder.

The important question for educators and parents is, "What causes some children to become morally autonomous adults ?" Piaget's answer was that adults reinforce children's natural heteronomy when they use rewards and punishments, and they stimulate the development of autonomy when they exchange points of view with children.

When a child tells a lie, for example, the adult can respond by withholding dessert or making the child write 50 times, "I will not lie." Or the adult can look the child straight in the eye and say with a combination of skepticism and affection, "I really can't believe what you are saying because . . ." By thus exchanging points of view, the adult can help the child develop autonomy. The child, seeing that the adult cannot believe him or her, can be motivated to think about what he or she must do to be believed. Given many similar opportunities over time, the child is likely to arrive at the conviction that it is best, in the long run, for people to deal honestly with one another.

piaget stated that a school based on his theory would be radically different from those in existence today, because its very aim would be different.

• calculation of risks.

  The child who is punished will repeat the same act but will try to avoid being caught the next time. Adult can sometimes even be heard to say, "Don't let me catch you doing that again." Sometimes the child stoically decided ahead of time that, even if he or she is caught, the pleasure that the act will bring will be worth the price.

• The second possible outcome of punishment is blind conformity.

  Some compliant children become total conformists, because conformity assures them of security and respectability. As conformists, children no long have to make decisions; all they have to do is obey.

• The third possible outcome of punishment is revolt.

  Some children, after years of angelic behavior, decide that they are tired of pleasing their parents and teachers all the time -- the time has come for them to begin living for themselves. Such children may even begin to engage in various behaviors that characterize delinquency.

These behaviors may look like autonomous acts, but a vast difference exists between autonomy and revolt. In revolt, the individual is opposing conformity. Nonconformity does not necessarily make an individual morally autonomous, however.

Punishments thus reinforce children's heteronomy and prevent them from developing autonomy. Altho they are more pleasurable than punishments, rewards also reinforce children's heteronomy. Children who help their parents only to earn money or who study only to get good grades are governed by others, just as children who behave well only to avoid punishments. Adults exercise power over children by using rewards and punishments, and these sanctions keep children obedient and heteronomous.

If we want children to develop the morality or autonomy, we must refrain from using rewards and punishments and instead encourage children to construct moral values for themselves. It is possible for a child to think about the importance of honesty, for example, only if he or she is confronted with the fact that other people cannot trust him or her.

Autonomy enables children to make decisions for themselves. But autonomy is not synonymous with complete freedom. Autonomy means taking relevant factors into account in determining the best course of action for all concerned. There can be no morality when one considers only one's own point of view. If one takes other people's views into account, one is not free to tell lies, to break promises, or to behavior inconsiderately.

Piaget recognized that, in reality, it is impossible to avoid punishments. Streets are full of life-threatening cars. And we cannot allow children to touch dangerous power tools or electrical outlets. However, Piaget made an important distinction between punishments and sanctions by reciprocity. Depriving a child of dessert for telling a lie is a punishment, because the relationship between the lie and the dessert is completely arbitrary. Tell the child that w e cannot believe what he or she says is an example of a sanction by reciprocity.

we must refrain from using rewards and punishments and encourage children to construct moral values for themselves.

Piaget mentioned six types of sanctions by reciprocity. I will discuss four of the six types here.

#1 temporary or permanent exclusion from the group

#2 call the child's attentiton to the direct/material consequence of their act

#3 depriving the child of the thing they misused

#4 restitution

One day a kindergartner tearfully reported that his art project had been damaged. The teacher told the class that she wanted the person who had damaged the object to stay with her during recess, so that she would help him or her repair it. The child responsible for the damage could see the victim's point of view and was encouraged by the teacher's behavior to construct for himself the rule of restitution. When children are not afraid of being punished, they are perfectly willing to come forward and make restitution. The teacher helped the child repair the broken object; she also asked him to tell her if something similar happened in the future, so that she could help him again.

Piaget pointed out that all sanctions by reciprocity can quickly degenerate into punishments, if mutual affection and respect are lacking between adult and child. Indeed, mutual respect is essential if a child is to develop autonomy. The child who feels respected for the way he or she things feels is likely also to respect the way adults and other children think and feel.

Piaget's theory about how child learn moral values is fundamentally different from other theories and from common sense. Common sense suggests that a child internalizes moral values from the environment.

According to Piaget, however, children acquire moral values by constructing them from within, thru interactions with their environments. For example, no child is taught that it is worse to tell a lie to an adult than to another child. Yet young children construct this believe out of their own experiences. Likewise, no child is taught that it is worse to say, "I saw a dog as big as a cow," than to say, "The teacher gave me good marks." But young children construct such judgments by relating these two statements to everything they have previously been told. Fortunately, they go on to construct other relationships, and they often end up believing that it is worse to say, "The teacher gave me good marks."

an individual who is intellectually heteronomous will unquestionably accept what he or she is told, including propaganda.

It is probably safe to say that most of us were punished as children. To the extent that we also have opportunities to coordinate our viewpoints with those of others, we had opportunities to become more autonomous. Richardson's behavior in the Watergate affair suggests that he was reared to make decisions by considering other people's points of view, not by considering only the reward system.

The Watergate affair illustrates Piaget's view of autonomy as intellectual, as well as moral. The Watergate participants who eventually went to prison were immoral, of course. But they were also unbelievably stupid, behaving just as young children do, when they are still to egocentric to realize that the truth will come out sooner or later.

Intellectual Autonomy

In the intellectual realm, too, autonomy means being governed by oneself, and heteronomy means being governed by someone else. An extreme example of intellectual autonomy is the work of Copernicus -- or the work of any other scientist who ever invented a revolutionary theory. exchanging points of view contributes positively to children's social, affective, moral and political development.

Copernicus developed the heliocentric theory when everyone else believed that the sun revolved around the earth. Though his theory earned him derision from others, he was autonomous enough to remain convinced of its merit. By contrast, an individual who is intellectually heteronomous will unquestioningly accept what he or she is told, including illogical conclusions, slogans, and propaganda.