My College Story in Theories of Development

When I first came to Rutgers, I was beyond excited to be in a place I’d never been before. As an out-of-state student, I had a lot to adjust to. Going to Rutgers itself was scary, considering the new reality of being in a vigorous nursing program, living without my mom, making new friends, getting accustomed to the bus system, and finding all of my classes.

On top of that, however, I was also from over 3,000 miles away, from a place that many would consider the place no one should leave: San Diego, California. Because of this, I had even larger adjustments to make, such as making new friends without any safety net of high school friends, buying clothes to accompany the change in seasons from fall, winter, and spring, wearing snow boots and Northface jackets, and being able to connect with people that grew up in a culture I had no idea about beforehand. When I began school as a first-year at Rutgers, it’s needless to say that I was incredibly clueless. If I didn’t have an RA that was so open and friendly, I don’t know what I would have done for advice or information on how to get accustomed to New Jersey and Rutgers life in general. In the first two weeks, I was incredibly open with everyone. I wanted to make new friends, experience new things, and have fun. But as I went throughout my first year, I noticed a lot of new changes in myself, much of it having to do with my assimilation into “New Jerseyan society” and understanding how that fits with my identity.

Kohlberg’s theory of moral development describes three levels of moral reasoning (egocentrism, sociocentrism, and allocentrism), each having two stages, making a total of six stages. These stages describe how people develop their moral capacities. As a first-year at Rutgers University, I believe that every freshman, especially those that are living on-campus in residence halls, must go through an evolution in understanding their moral capacities in order to become more independent. Without your own moral compass, I don’t believe there is a way to grow as a person, better oneself, or better one’s identity. Furthermore, without an understanding of independence, morality, and identity, I don’t believe there is a way one can finish college and find a strong career. The first level, Egocentrism, states that children are attentive to the cultural rules defined by their parents, tending to interpret what is right and wrong by the physical reward or consequence of their actions. These types of moral decisions are based on self-gratification and generally only for yourself. In the first few weeks of college, I feel like I not only witnessed an awakening of this happening amongst many of my peers, but slightly in myself as well. When you live at home, go to high school, and live with your parents, mostly everything is provided for you. If you do something wrong, they’ll take away your car, or maybe you won’t get to go out with your friends. In college, no one is looking over your shoulder in order to tell you what to do.

You’re forced to grow up, do things on your own terms, and decide for yourself what you should be prioritizing and what you should be doing in moderation. In this way, incoming freshman are most likely to go through the rude awakening of the first level of egocentrism by learning that their simple right and wrong morality back home does not work when you live (typically) on your own.

The second stage in Kohlberg’s theory of moral development is sociocentrism, stating that individuals at this conventional level of morality experience moral judgments as approved by the expectations of a social group. These moral decisions are shaped in order to conform to the social norm of a family group, peer group, or cultural/social order, with no focus on consequences. Because the influence of family is gone in college, the largest influence on one’s moral decisions at this stage would be one’s peer groups and cultural/social orders. At Rutgers, this would mean your college friends and hall-mates, and the generally etiquette of the majority of students (which happen to be mostly from New Jersey). The most common example of this would be learning that skipping class is “okay” or “done by everyone”. Skipping class has large consequences to your grades and, ultimately, your degree, but because so many people at Rutgers do it and endorse it, it may become easily repeated and seen as moral to incoming freshman and new students.

The third stage in Kohlberg’s theory of moral development is allocentrism, stating that people at this postconventional level of morality have a shift to principled thinking and effort to internalize and personalize values. These decisions are made without regard towards response to authority or the need to conform oneself to a group. I believe this is the hardest for first-years to obtain. Many do not make it to the furthest subset in post-conventional morality, which would be stage 6, “the universal ethical-principle orientation”, showing evidence of making morally correct decisions in line with one’s own conscience and consistent to ethical principles that are logistic, comprehensive, and universal. I believe this is not only hard to obtain in college, but in the workplace, and continually as you are growing older. Morality itself is a difficult thing to obtain. But despite this, it does not mean one’s first year at Rutgers cannot help you along the way towards understanding this concept. I feel the best example here would be observing how professors interact with their students and how professors go about their everyday lives. Professors have no need to conform at all on a University campus. On the contrary, they make their own decisions and do their own thing. I believe that as an RA, one should strive to do their best at reaching something similar to this level of morality. Though it is a post-conventional level, I feel if one is striving towards reaching this goal, it could be entirely possible to get close.

Throughout this year, I feel like I’ve learned a lot from parts of all three of these levels, but I need to work the most on the last two. When I see other people doing something, it’s easy for me to conform and tell myself that it’s okay. Instead, I should be thinking of building my own moral conscience by making decisions myself, and not depending on other people to provide a guide of right or wrong for me. In this way, I would grow closer to being an independent woman who can make her own informed and moral decisions. As an RA, I hope to be a role model to residents. As a student, I hope to represent my best self at all times. I don’t think any of these will be possible if I am not constantly working on myself. Because of this, I hope to take examples from these three levels of morality and incorporate them into my life as a role model and as a current student at Rutgers University. As a future nurse, I would hope to build a strong knowledge of self-identity in order to maintain my own beliefs and perceptions. In this way, I will be able to find the best way to incorporate those ideals into my career. By utilizing others around me, I can understand other’s roles and relationships in regards to my identity, but I should also notice my importance in differentiating from this, and utilize myself to make new opportunities and accomplish new goals I couldn’t have done previously. I now recognize the important of having pride in one’s job. As an RA, I believe this experience has shaped me more than any other platform. As a future nurse, I know that position will also do the same for me.