Perception of the High School Environment as Related to Moral Reasoning.

ABSTRACT This study was designed empirically to determine the relationship between student's perception of the humanism, traditionalism, and strict control of the high school environment and their moral reasoning. The subjects, seniors at nine parochial high schools located in four midwestern states, completed an opinion survey and Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Interview. The results indicate that the perception of the high school environment is related to moral reasoning in much the same way as other studies have found behavior and attitudes of parents to be related to moral reasoning. The present study, however, failed to demonstrate conclusively that there is a relationship between student's perception of the humanism of the school environment and their level of moral maturity. There is a progressive decrease in moral maturity corresponding to an increase in the perceived Traditionalism score. On the Strict Control Scale, those who perceive the high school environment as being low in strict control are significantly lower in moral maturity than those who perceive it as being moderately low, moderately high, and very high in strict control. These results are discussed in relation to the findings of earlier and related studies. (SJL)